US History Chapter 9

• What transportation method began to displace canals in the 1840s and 1850s?


  Railroads
• How did railroad construction impact the iron industry?


  It stimulated the iron industry
• What was a significant financial side-effect of the railroad boom?

  It required enormous amounts of capital
• What new techniques were used to raise capital for railroads?

  Bonds and preferred stock
• What transformation did the Industrial Revolution bring to traditional crafts?


  It made production more efficient through mass production and division of labor
• What are the essential features of the factory system?


  Gathering of laborers, cash wages, and continuous manufacturing process
• How was agriculture changing during the Industrial Revolution?


  It was becoming mechanized
• How did advances in industry, transportation, and agriculture affect the Northern economy?


  They interacted to create a strong economy
• What percentage of the U.S. population were immigrants from 1845 to 1854?


  15%
• Why did immigrants come to America during this period?


  Due to economic depression, political upheaval, and religious persecution
• What characterized the trip across the Atlantic for immigrants?


  It was arduous and overcrowded
• Where did the Irish and Germans tend to settle in America?


  The Irish clustered on the East coast, while Germans moved further inland
• How did new immigration contribute to urbanization in the Eastern seaboard?


  It was tied to the rapid urbanization of the area
• What were the demographic changes in urban areas by 1860?


  • 20% of the population was urban
  • New York had 1 million people
  • Philadelphia had ½ million people
• What negative associations emerged with the growth of cities and immigrants?


  Urban areas became associated with vice and immorality
• What was the purpose of founding police forces during this period?


  To provide more professional crime detection
• How did many people view victimless crimes in relation to immigrants?


  They associated them with the new immigrants
• What term describes the hostility toward new foreigners in America?


  Nativism
• What was the primary crop in the lower South's economy?

  Cotton
• How did the population of blacks differ between the lower and upper South?


  In the lower South, blacks constituted nearly half the population, while in the upper South, whites outnumbered blacks three to one
• What was the significance of the introduction of “short-staple” cotton?


  It could be grown anywhere south of Virginia and Kentucky
• How did the cotton gin impact cotton production?


  It made it easy to extract seeds and required constant labor, making it suited for slave labor
• What percentage of the world's cotton was produced by the South by the 1850s?


  75%
• How did cotton's profitability affect industrial growth in the South?


  It hampered the development of other industries
• Who were considered planters in the Southern society?


  Individuals who owned at least 20 slaves
• What was the typical background of planters in the South?


  They were typically self-made and earned fortunes in commerce, land speculation, or slave-trading
• How did planters view their relationship with their slaves?


  They prided themselves on their paternal feelings toward their slaves
• What evidence suggests that planters' slaves had a better standard of living?


  Studies show they enjoyed a better standard of living than slaves elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere
• Why did planters treat their slaves relatively decently after 1808?


  Because their economic value increased after the importation of slaves from Africa was banned
• How did overseers fit into the plantation system?


  They managed the slaves on a daily basis
• What was the condition of slave-owners with fewer than twenty slaves?


  They generally provided the worst conditions for African Americans
• How did the lives of slaves differ from those of their masters?


  Slaves shared their master's poverty and were at their mercy
• What was the common occupation of most white Southerners?


  They worked their own farms
• How did small farmers in the South differ from yeomen farmers in the North?


  They generally lacked urban outlets for commercial farming
• Why did poor southern whites support the institution of slavery?


  They hoped to one day own slaves and move up the social ladder
• What role did racism play in the support of slavery by poor southern whites?


  They saw slavery as a system to keep blacks "in their place"
• What were the most dramatic forms of slave resistance?


  Slave rebellions
• Who were notable leaders of slave rebellions?

  Gabriel Prosser, Denmark Vesey, and Nat Turner
• What were some subtle forms of slave resistance?


  Feigning illness, working inefficiently, destroying tools, and poisoning masters
• What legal restrictions did free blacks in the South face?


  They suffered many legal restrictions amounting to semi-slavery