Document 1 Question(S)

Name: ______Date:______

9-1 Document Worksheet Document 1 The United States experienced great economic changes during the first half of the 1800s. For one thing, the country became more industrialized. One result of this was that workers spent the money they earned on goods made by others. This led many farmers to change their practices. Before, farmers raised a variety crops for their own families. Now they turned to specialization, raising one or two crops that they could sell. These changes brought about a market revolution, in which people bought and sold goods rather than making them for themselves. This new process depended on capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which private businesses and individuals control production in order to make a profit. Under capitalism, entrepreneurs, or business owners, invested their money in new industries. If the industries failed, these entrepreneurs lost their money. If the businesses succeeded, they grew wealthy. Inventor-entrepreneurs began making goods to make life more comfortable. Vulcanized rubber and sewing machines were two such important inventions. Farmers also did well. The growing populations in the cities needed more and more food. Farmers used machines to plant and harvest the crops that they then sold to the cities. With their cash, farmers bought manufactured goods. As technology improved, many of these goods grew less expensive. Soon, many Americans could afford to buy a variety of manufactured goods. Document 2: New inventions also changed life in the United States. Some inventions made life more comfortable. Other inventions helped cause an economic revolution by changing manufacturing, transportation, and communication. Samuel F.B. Morse invented the telegraph. This device could send messages by wire in a few seconds. Businessmen used this new communication device to transmit orders and relay up-to-date information on prices and sales. The new railroads used the telegraph to keep trains moving regularly and to warn engineers of safety hazards. By 1854, 23,000 miles of telegraph wire crossed the country. Inventions also improved transportation. Steamboats made river travel quicker and cheaper. In places that didn’t have passable rivers, people dug canals, which cut the cost of shipping goods. The Erie Canal reduced freight charges and transportation times. Soon, people began building railroads to move goods. Transporting goods by railroads was more expensive than by canals. However, railroads moved goods faster. Eventually, the cost of shipping goods by railroad became less expensive. By 1850, almost 10,000 miles of railroad track had been laid in the United States. By 1859, railroads carried 2 billion tons of freight a year. Document 3 By the 1840s, improved transportation made America’s regions interdependent. America’s regions developed regional specialties. The South exported its cotton to England as well as New England. The West sent grain and livestock to the East. The East manufactured textiles and machinery. The South remained mostly agricultural, raising cotton, tobacco, and rice. The Northeast became the nation’s manufacturing center. Workers there made more and better goods at lower prices than ever before. The Midwest became important for farming. Inventions helped make farmers’ lives easier. Farmers used a steel plow invented by John Deere to help them better prepare the land for planting. During harvest time, farmers used the mechanical reaper, a new invention by Cyrus McCormick. This invention made it possible for one farmer to do the work of five. Armed with plows and reapers, farmers could shift from farming for the family to producing cash crops, such as wheat and corn. The same trains and canals that brought them plows and reapers from distant factories would then carry their crops to markets in the East and in Europe.

Document 1 Question(s): 1. What is specialization?

2. What is the market revolution? 3. What were some of the general results of technological improvements?

Document 2 Question(s): 4. How did the telegraph and railroads change business and communications?

Document 3 Question(s): 5. What did each region of the country specialize in (North, South and West)?

6. How did the mechanical reaper change farming?

Writing Assignment: Directions: On a separate sheet of paper, answer the following question in the form of a short essay (of at least one paragraph) using the question answers, documents, claims and evidence from above:  Inquiry Question: What is the main idea, issue or theme that ties these documents together? What evidence can you offer to support this idea, issue or theme? (What is one thing that all the documents have in common? How do you know this?)