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The First Cotton Mill in America
Thomas Somers and the Cabot Brothers founded the Beverly Cotton Manufactory in Beverly, Massachusetts, the first cotton mill in America. It was a significant milestone in the research and development of cotton mills, and helped America advance into its Industrialization. -
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Northern and Western Industrialization
Concentrated industrial markets in Boston, Philidelphia, and New York led the industrialization of the North. One prominent industry was cotton textiles, which relied on raw cotton from the South. It grew thanks to a combination of entrepreneurship and a lowering of production costs. Lower wages for employees meant a greater gap between the rich and the poor. -
Ohio outlaws slavery, Jefferson accused of keeping slave as concubine
Ohio outlaws slavery
James Callender makes the accusation that Thomas Jefferson has "for many years past kept, as his concubine, one of his own slaves," Sally Hemings. It is published in the Richmond Recorder that month, and the story is soon picked up by Federalist presses around the country. -
Free Soil North
All Northern States abolish or begin the policy of gradually abolishing slavery within their borders. -
The Embargo Act
The Embargo Act—financial disaster, especially for New England since their ships rotted at the wharves and that oversea trade was tone of their economic stimuli. -
The War of 1812
The War of 1812—American victory at the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813, in which Tecumseh was killed. His death effectively ended the Native Americans’ alliance with the British in the Forth Detroit region, thus transferring the authority over the area to America. -
Missouri Compromise is passed by Congress
Maine is admitted as a free state; Missouri is admitted as a slave state to balance the power between the North and the South. Slavery is banned in Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30′. -
Lowell, MA
An industrial experiment to create a working industrial economy without forsaking the rights of the workers. Young women from farms were employed, but the creation of steam mills meant a change in the industrial process: increased production, a greater division of labor. The young women left and were replaced by desperate Irish immigrants, who worked for lower wages. Ultimatley the Lowell experiment failed, and became just another capitalistic cotton mill. -
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Steamboats
Steamboats came into wide use in the 1820s and 1830s. These boats drastically increased river traffic; at the same time, it lowered the cost of river trasnportation in general. It allowed materials to be sent up and down stream with effectivity; therefore, it increased the American economic by increasing the pace of transportations in between. -
Erie Canal, NY
The Eerie Canal connected the trade of the West and North. Grain, lumber, and pork could now be transported far faster than before. Factories in the Midwest could now thrive off of raw agricultural goods from New England and vice versa. Meanwhile, the Canal did not extend to the South, so it did not reap the benefits. -
The American Temperance Society
American Temperance Society was formed in Boston. They requested drinkers to sign the temperance pledge; it was an effort to reduce excessive drinking on hard liquor since it decreased the efficiency of labor. -
Slavey becomes illegal in New York
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Railroads
US had over 30,000 miles of railroad tracks, three-fourth of which were in the industrializing north. The first railroad was construction in the United States in 1828. Within only thirty years, the United States had built over 30,000 miles of railroad track. Railroads eased transportation and Americans were able to use time more effectively. -
Interchangeable Parts
The north industrialization and economy drastically boosted after Eli Whitney’s interchangeable parts. This supported manufacturing as well as mass productions. This led to the construction of factories in the north for mass productions. -
David Walker Publishes An Appeal to the Colored People of America
David Walker, a free black residing in Boston, Massachusetts, published the pamphlet An Appeal to the Colored People of America, arguing for the end of slavery and discrimination in the United States. -
Establishment of Mormons
Created by Joseph Smith a Christian at the burned over district (in Western NY)
claimed he received a prophecy from God
created a new book of the new testament
the new “moses”
Had a lot of persecution against them as they believed in polygamy where one man can marry as many women as he wanted -
James Kirk Paulding
James Kirk Paulding was proslavery, and believed that blacks were inferior to whites and when free, caused trouble. He had an unhesitating defence of slavery against every kind of religious, moral, and economical attack. -
Various Abolitionist Movements
William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing the Liberator, a weekly paper that advocates the complete abolition of slavery. Abolitionists, a minority of the Northern population but avid broadcasters, demanded the immediate end to slavery, viewing it as a moral evil. -
William Lloyd Garrison
1831: William Lloyd Garrison wrote the liberator and spoke out. He wanted to end slavery more than anything and was a strong abolitionist. -
American Anti-Slavery Society Established
December 1833, William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan establish the American Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Headquartered in New York City, from 1840 to 1870 the society published a weekly newspaper, the National Anti-Slavery Standard. -
The Boston Riot of 1835
Garrison, an abolitionist (a minority group of extremists towards slavery at the time) was dragged through the streets of Boston by an angry mob. -
The Cincinnati Riots of 1836
Caused by racial tensions at a time when African Americans, some of whom had escaped from slavery in the southern states of the USA, were competing with whites for jobs.
The racial riots occurred in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA in April and July 1836 by a mob of whites against black residents. -
Abolitionist Elijah Parish Lovejoy Murdered
Elijah Parish Lovejoy an African American abolitionist (minority at that time in the North) was murdered in 1837 by a pro-slavery mob while defending the site of his anti-slavery newspaper, The Saint Louis Observer.
His death deeply affected many Northerners and greatly strengthened the abolitionist (anti-slavery) cause. -
Women Education
Women’s education
Giving women education was semi-looked down upon
Caused by the “cult of domesticity
People believed that giving women education might hurt their delicate brains
Some reformers pushed education for women Overland college in NY accepted women in 1837 -
Oberlin College
Oberlin College in Ohio opened its doors to women as well as men. In the same year, Mary Lyon established an outstanding women’s school, Mount Holyoke Seminary in South Hadley, Massachusetts. -
American Anti-Slavery Society Gains Popularity
American Anti-Slavery Society gains 1,350 local charters with around 250,000 members in attendance. -
Free Soilers Bans Slavery and Blacks from Kansas
Free soilers establish government banning slavery and blacks from Kansas -
Irish Immigrants
Primarily 2 million crowded in US to escape from the Potato famine in 1840s
These Irish coming to NY and Boston most are catholic (a minority as most Catholics were discriminated in America)
willing to work for the cheapest job available to them
start to see a wave of discrimination
Irish were seen as a different race
store windows said “no Irish need apply” because they saw them as competition for
Native born Americans -
Prigg v. Pennsylvania
The Dorr Rebellion in Rhode Island leads to liberalised voting requirements. Supreme Court rules that state laws prohibiting the capture and return of fugitive slaves are unconstitutional (Prigg v. Pennsylvania), aggravates Northern abolitionists. -
Massachusetts Defys Supreme Court, Sojourner Truth Delivers Speech
Massachusetts passes law forbidding state officials from catching fugitive slaves
Sojourner Truth, African American abolitionists and women right’s advocator begins delivering speeches across the nation. -
Methodists Church Splits
Bishop James O. Andrew, a native and resident of Georgia and a former member of the South Carolina Annual Conference, married a woman who had inherited slaves from her late husband.
Many northern Methodists were appalled that someone with the responsibilities of a general superintendent of the church could also own slaves.
Became the main topic of debate when the General Conference convened in New York City on May 1, 1844. -
Frederick Douglass Publishes Book, Baptist Convention Splits
Frederick Douglass publishes Narrative of the Life of an American Slave
Baptist Convention splits over the issue of slavery into northern and southern sections -
The “Know Nothing” Party
The Native American Party, also known as the “Know Nothing”, was founded with its headquarters at New York City. It promised to purify American politics by limiting the influence of Irish Catholics and other immigrants, reflecting nativism and anti-Catholic sentiment. -
Wilmot Priviso
Northern states in House of Representatives pass the Wilmot Priviso, which would prevent slavery in territories gained from Mexico. It ultimately does not pass, but increases tension between the North and South. -
"Lowell System"
Francis Cabot Lowell combined spinning and weacing machines to create the Lowell Manufacturing Company in Massachusetts. Two thousand people lived in a town owned by Lowell. This leads to the American Civil War since there were differences between Southern slaves and Northern "wage slaves." The northern slaves gets little money; however they are free. -
Irish Potato Famine
An influx of Irish immigrants, desperate for work, drive out the old workforce. Willing to accept lower wages and longer hours, they changed the American economy by being a deciding factor in the rise of capitalism and a growing wage gap. -
Women's Suffrage
First wave of the Women’s suffrage movement begins with the Seneca falls Convention held in New York
Demanded women’s suffrage, believed that all men and women are created equal
This reform movement was prompted by/as a result of the Second Great Awakening. -
Free Soil Party
Opposed the expansion of slavery in western territories. They argued that the economy of the north was morally better than the Southern institution of slavery. -
German Immigrants
German Immigration
Over 5 million came in
Many after the 1848 revolution happened in Germany
Most were Protestant but a significant minority was Roman Catholic
Moved mostly to the Midwest (St Louis, Baltimore, NYC) Provided many educational improvements
They brought their ideas on education, art, music, and opposition to slavery
creation of Kindergardern
However enclosed themselves in communities in order to retain this culture/language which raised American suspision -
The Woman’s Rights Convention
The formation of the Woman’s Rights Convention at Seneca Falls. Stanton read a “Declaration of Sentiments”, which in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence declared that “all men and women are created equal”. -
Oneida Community
The formation of the Oneida Community in New York. It practiced free love, birth control, and the selection of parents to produce superior offspring. The community lasted for more than thirty years. -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay's compromise to admit California as a free state, but allow Utah and NMexico vote for slavery in their territories. It would also end the slave trade (but not slavery) in the District of Columbia, and enacts a stricter fugitive slave law requiring Northeners to turn in runaway slaves The omnibus bill did not pass, because neither the North or South is happy with compromising. -
"Factory Girls"
“Factory Girls” in the north: 10% of white women were working for pay outside of their own homes and about 20% of all women had been employed at some time prior to marriage. In a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts, the workers were virtually all New England farm girls. -
Henry Clay
1850: Henry Clay proposed Compromise of 1850. This was Henry Clay's last compromise and it postponed the Civil War for 11 years. This compromise admitted California into the Union as a free state, allowed new territories to use popular sovereignty in deciding the slavery issue, passed a Fugitive Slave Law, and stopped the slave trade in Washington D.C. -
Maine Law of 1851
Prohibited the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor. -
More Abolitionist Movements
1852
Frederick Douglass delivers speech “What to a Slave is the Fourth of July?”
Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
The novel depicts slavery as a horrible evil, but treats white Southerners sympathetically.
The villain of the piece is the cruel slave-overseer, Simon Legree, a transplanted New Englander.
The book is banned in the South, while Northerners make it a bestseller. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
The publication of anti-slavery Uncle Tom's Cabin helps fuel the abolition movement. The novel receives widespread criticism in the South. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe
1852: Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin which caused an uproar in the South and the North loved this book. The goal of the book was to educate northerners on the realistic horrors of the things that were happening in the south. The other purpose was to try to make people in the south feel more empathetic towards the people they were forcing into slavery -
Kansas-Nebraska Act, George Fitzhugh
Kansas-Nebraska Act passed by Congress, repealing the Missouri Compromise and allowing Kansas and Nebraska settlers to decide status of slavery in the territories
George Fitzhugh publishes The Failure of Free Society -
Bleeding Kansas
1854-1861
Intense local warfare erupts between pro and anti slavery settlers
A miniature civil war, known as Bleeding Kansas, erupts in the Kansas Territory over the issue of slavery.
In May 1856, a proslavery group attacks the free-soil town of Lawrence, destroying and stealing property.
In response to the "sack of Lawrence," radical abolitionist John Brown and his followers attack a proslavery settlement at Pottawatomie Creek, killing five men.
y the end of 1856, nearl -
Dred Scott Decision
1857
Supreme Court holds that Congress has no power to regulate slavery in the territories, that African Americans are not citizens, and that residence in free territory does not confer freedom on enslaved persons -
Dred Scott
Dred Scott was a free black who went to a free state and was sued for his freedom. He then went to supreme court and they ruled him as property. -
Abraham Lincoln Delivers "House Divided" Speech
Illinois Republicans nominate Abraham Lincoln for the U.S. Senate.
In accepting, Lincoln delivers his "House Divided" speech in which he asserts that the nation can not endure permanently half-slave and half-free.
Incumbent Senator Stephen Douglas agrees to an unprecedented series of debates held in towns across the state.
Although the Democrats win control of the state legislature and reelect Douglas, Lincoln gains notoriety and becomes a contender for the 1860 presidential nomination. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Lincoln and Douglas travel around Illinois holding a series of debates while competing for the Senate seat. The main topic was slavery in the US. Though Lincoln loses the election, the debates help him become a nominee for the presidential elections of 1860. -
John Brown
1859: John Brown gave up everything to help the slaves raid at Harper's Ferry. He was then arrested and killed. -
Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln wins the presidential election. He supported preventing slavery in any new states and territores.
