America Before the Civil War

Part I: MatchingMatch the invention to the inventor.

1. E Elias Howea. Mechanical reaper

2. D John Deereb. Clipper ship

3. A Cyrus McCormickc. Improved sewing machine

4. F Samuel F. B. Morsed.Lightweight steel blade plow

5. B John Griffithse. Original sewing machine

6. C Isaac Singerf. telegraph

Part II: Matching. Match how each invention changed and/or improved life for Americans. There may be more than one answer for each invention.

7. D and E and H Sewing machinea. Increased American exports overseas

8. C and G and H Telegraphb. increase overseas immigration to America

9. J and K Mechanical Reaper c. allowed merchants (sellers) and farmers (producers) to communicate about supply and demand from distant places.

10. F and K Lightweight plowd. Put tailors out of work!

11. I and G locomotivee. increased clothing production.

12. A and B Clipper ship:f. made tilling soil easier for farmer and horse.

g. Put New England farmers out of business because now crops could be imported from states with better growing conditions.

h. Factories and low-wage workers needed to operate machines.

i. Cut through farms, causing dangerous and polluted conditions

j. increased grain production by mowing more quickly.

k. put farm hands out of work on farms, forcing many to move to the cities to find factory work.

Part III: Short answer.Answer the following using complete sentences.

13. How did steam power and new machines change northern industry?

Now factories could be located anywhere, instead of just on a stream or a river. Will increase productivity.

14. From what you have read, what conclusions can you draw about how America was changing during the 1800’s?

America was becoming 2 separate countries. The industrialized north and the rural south. The north was dependent on cheap immigrant labor and was rapidly developing cities and new technologies. The south was becoming increasingly dependent on cotton as a cash crop and slavery to grow and harvest the cotton.

Life in the North:Pages 378-382. Read and answer the questions below.

  1. The story about Alzina Parsons under “Setting the Stage” shows that
  1. Young people were forced to work in brutal conditions
  2. Many young people didn’t attend school during the day
  3. Birthdays weren’t always celebrated with cake and parties
  4. All of the above
  1. Describe life in the factories in the 1840’s and 1850’s in the table below.

Families in factories / Hazards at work
•Entire families worked together
•If one member broke contract, entire family could be fired.
•4:00am start time, 7:30pm end time with 2 breaks for meals
•low pay (men ~$.50-$1/day and women ~$.20-$.50/day)
•Workers lived in dark, dingy houses near the factory / •No windows or heat
•Common accidents
•No laws regulating conditions
•Injured workers often fired
  1. Another word for a skilled worker who has learned a trade:
  2. Artisan
  3. Strike
  4. Merchant
  5. Apprentice
  1. Organized groups of workers are also called
  2. Political action committees
  3. Trade unions
  4. Strikes
  5. Artisans
  1. Workers who refuse to do their jobs are participating in a
  2. Political action committee
  3. Strike
  4. Trade union
  5. Artisan
  1. Due to the efforts of many unionized employees, President Van Buren passed which of the following reforms?
  2. Improved working conditions for government employees
  3. Improved working conditions for all employees
  4. Raised pay for all employees
  5. Declared that all employees had the right to strike
  1. Why did artisans receive better pay and benefits than unskilled workers?

Because skilled workers were…

  • Harder to replace.
  • Factory owners needed their skills
  • Unskilled workers were easily replaced.
  • Held no special skills
  1. Problems faced by women in the workforce included:
  2. Lower pay
  3. Not being allowed in the unions
  4. Dangerous work conditions
  5. All of the above
  1. More than 1.5 million Irish immigrants came to America in the 1840’s because of famine caused by the destruction of a potato crop. Most of this group was too poor to buy land, so they settled in cities. There, they worked in factories because they couldn’t’ afford to buy land. Others helped to build the canals and railroads, which crisscrossed the nation.
  1. Since revolutions had broken out in several parts of Germany, nearly one million German immigrants arrived in the United States. However, unlike the Irish immigrants, German immigrants often had enough money to buy land. As a result, many Midwestern towns had German grocers, butchers and bakers.

  1. A policy or an attitude that denies equal rights to certain groups of people is called:
  2. horribleism
  3. Racism
  4. Discrimination
  5. Terribleism
  6. C Henry Boyda. editor of Freedom’s Journal, an African American newspaper

BMacon Allenb. first African American licensed lawyer to practice in the US

A John Russwormc.operated a profitable furniture company in Cincinnati

Cotton Kingdom in the South:Pages 383-387. Read and answer the questions below.

  1. Read the quote under Setting the Scene. In 2 or more sentences, describe what the South must have been like in 1822 for Basil Hall to have made such an observation.
  2. The south was obsessed with cotton. It’s all people talked about! It was the basis for the southern economy.
  1. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793.
  1. The key reason for slavery spreading westward after the War of 1812 was:
  2. All of the Indians were now gone from the land
  3. Over time, cotton depleted soil of minerals and nutrients needed to grow cotton
  4. The war had ravaged southern plantations in the east
  5. None of the above
  1. How did the cotton gin cause slavery to expand in the South?

More cotton could be cleaned, therefore more cotton could be grown, therefore more slaves were needed to plant, harvest and clean the cotton.

  1. Why did the South not develop as much industry as the north? 3 reasons required.
  • Rich people invested in slaves, not industry.
  • Economy based on farming, not factories and new technology.
  • Northerners had money to buy factory goods. In south, slaves had no money, bought nothing.
  1. Since the South had little industry of its own, they came to depend heavily on the North and Europe

for their furniture, farm tools, and machines.

  1. Read the quote on page 387. Is the southerner praising or criticizing the economy of the South? Explain.

He’s criticizing it, saying that the South is not using the resources it’s been given.

Life in the South: Pages 388-393. Read and answer the questions below.

  1. A planter was someone who owned 20 slaves or more.
  1. In 1860, 1 out of 30 white southerners belonged to a planter family.
  1. Less than 1% owned 50 slaves or more.
  1. The wealthiest families in the south were called
  2. Camelot
  3. The One Percent
  4. Cottonocracy
  5. Richies
  1. True or False. If false, correct the statement.

Planters spent their days making sure the slaves did their jobs and worked hard in the fields participating in local, state and national politics ,to make sure slavery stayed legal!

  1. We know that members of the Cottonocracy made sure that slavery remained legal by doing which of the following:
  2. By donating funds to charity.
  3. By becoming political leaders at the local, state and national levels
  4. By bribing government officials
  5. By giving land to the slaves after they served enough time as a slave
  1. In the chart below, name three differences between “plain folk” small farmers and planters .

  1. Worked with their slaves in the fields

  1. Were 75% of the total population, instead of 1%

  1. Owned 1 or 2 slaves, instead of 50+

  1. A key difference between the lives of poor whites and slaves was that
  2. Poor whites owned their land
  3. Poor whites enjoyed equal rights in society
  4. Poor whites could buy their freedom
  5. Slaves could buy their freedom
  1. How were free African Americans living in the south a threat to the slave system?

Slave owners feared that free African Americans set a bad example by encouraging slaves to rebel. Also, slave owners justified slavery by saying slaves weren’t smart and independent enough to be free, but free AA prove this to be a lie.

  1. Laws passed by southern states to keep slaves from running away or rebelling were called
  2. Black codes
  3. Slave codes
  4. Laws
  5. Rules to live by
  1. Describe 3 rules that African American slaves were forced to live by.

  1. Could not gather in groups of 3 or more.

  1. Could not leave owner’s land without a written pass.

  1. Not allowed to own guns

  1. Could not learn to read or write

  1. How did African Americans struggle against the slave system?
  1. Match the resistor to the revolt.

______Denmark Veseya. a free African American who planned a failed revolt in 1822 and was hanged along with 35 others.

______Nat Turnerb. led a major revolt, killing 57+ whites. Was captured and hung, along with many other innocent African Americans who were captured during the hunt.