Regions of 1800s America

THE NORTHEAST, THE SOUTH, AND THE NORTHWEST

Regions of 1800s America

Region 1: The Northeast

Farming

Small family farms.Grew fruit, vegetables,

dairy.Usually no hired or

slave help.Grains grew in

midwest, where the soil was better.

ShippingNew England was the shipping capital of the

U.S.Whaling was a huge industry for the whale

oil.Steamboats began to replace sail ships.

Triangle Trade

The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution: Instead of being made by hand, goods were now made by complex machines in large factories.

Northeast Factories

Many of the workers were recent immigrants from Ireland, England, and Germany.

Took raw materials from the rest of the country and made them into products. (Cotton from the South, Lumber from the Northwest.)

Cities Grow

As factories grew, life in the Northeast became centered around large cities.

With the cities grew large slums where many of the immigrants and factory workers lived.

Politics in the Northeast

Cities were run by big political “machines” like Tammany Hall in New York. Gave immigrants a voice in politics.

Anti-immigrant parties also grew in response to immigrants gaining more power. (The Know Nothing Party)

Region 2: The South

Characteristics of The South

1. Primarily agrarian (Farm-based.)2. “Cotton Is King!”

* 1860 5 mil. bales a yr. (57% of total US exports).

3. Slave labor.4. Few factories, few cities.5. Poor transportation system.

Southern Society (1850)“Slavocracy”

[plantation owners]

The “Plain Folk”[white yeoman farmers]

6,000,000

Black Freemen

Black Slaves3,200,000

250,000

Total US Population 23,000,000[9,250,000 in the South = 40%]

Southern Population

Southern Agriculture

Slaves Using the Cotton Gin

Changes in Cotton Production

1820

1860

Value of Cotton Exports As % of All US Exports

Slave-Owning Population (1850)

Region 2: The Northwest Frontier

Frontier

The dividing line between the wilderness and civilization.

Travel on the Frontier

Rivers were the easiest way to travel.

There were no roads.Pioneers who had to

travel by land had to cut their own roads.

They carried very little with them.

They ate only what they brought with them or found in the woods.

Typical Frontier House

Families cleared the land to start their own farms.

Grew food to eat themselves. Canned food so they could get through the winter.

If they had extra food, they traded it for tools and supplies.

Traveling Workers and Peddlers

There weren’t any stores nearby most farms.

Traveling peddlers went from town to town selling goods. (Pots, pans, farm tools, etc.)

Sometimes skilled workmen came to towns. (Shoemakers, weavers, etc.)

Towns Grew Up

As small frontier towns grew, they got stores, churches, and maybe a school.