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1750
In 1750, steam was used with machines to take the place of human labor. This enabled the Industrial Revolution in England. It took a while for the Industrial Revolution to spread to America because soil in America was cheap and peasants preferred to grow crops as opposed to working in factories. There was a lack of investment money available in America. The large British factories also had a monopoly on the textile industry, with which American companies could not compete. -
1800
The Second Great Awakening began; A wave of religious fervor swept over the country. Women became more involved in religion during the Second Great Awakening. It widened the gap between the societal classes and regions. The more prosperous and conservative denominations in the East were little touched by revivalism. -
1811
In 1811, the federal government began to construct the National Road, or Cumberland Road. It went from Cumberland, in western Maryland, to Illinois. Its construction was halted during the War of 1812, but the road was completed in 1852. -
1824
No one won a majority of electoral votes, so the House of Representatives had to decide among Adams, Jackson, and Clay. Clay dropped out and urged his supporters in the House to throw their votes behind Adams. Jackson and his followers were furious and accused Adams and Clay of a "corrupt bargain.", John Quincy Adams won after Henry Clay gave his support to Adams, securing his Presidency. Adams appointed Clay as his secretary of state. -
1825-1850
Tax-supported public education came about. Americans eventually saw they had to educate their children because the children were the future. The teachers of the schools were mostly men and did not know how to teach. There were not very many schools in the U.S. because of their high costs to communities. -
1828
In 1828 an energetic new party, the Democrats,
captured the White House. By the 1830s the Democrats
faced an equally vigorous opposition party in
the form of the Whigs. This two-party system institutionalized
divisions that had vexed the Revolutionary
generation and came to constitute an
important part of the nation’s checks and balances
on political power