The American Journey © 2012

Chapter 13: North and South

Chapter Overviews

Section 1: The North’s Economy

Innovations in industry and technology changed the way Americans worked, and increased the amount of goods produced. Business grew with the construction of roads and canals, and the introduction of steamboats and clipper ships. By the 1840s, steam locomotives pulled trains, and railroad tracks linked major cities of the East and Midwest. Fast, affordable travel by train brought goods and people into the Midwestern states where new towns and industry were growing. The telegraph allowed people to communicate over vast distances. New inventions, like the steel-tipped plow and the mechanical reaper, changed farming methods in the 1830s. Agriculture became more profitable as farmers were able to grow more. Improvements in transportation provided farmers with better opportunities to sell their goods.

Section 2: The North’s People

Some factory owners were more interested in profits than in their workers’ comfort and safety. Working conditions were often harsh. Workers formed trade unions to fight for higher wages and fewer working hours. With notable exceptions, African Americans and women experienced discrimination and had fewer rights than white men.

Between 1820 and 1860, many immigrants came to America and settled in Northern cities. Immigrants brought new languages and cultures to the United States along with a willingness to work.

Section 3: Southern Cotton Kingdom

The economy in the South remained largely agricultural and depended on slavery. Growing cotton became profitable with the invention of the cotton gin. In addition to having little incentive to develop new industry, people in the South often lacked the capital that building factories would need. With fewer railroads and interlinked rail lines, Southern cities grew more slowly than those in the North.

Section 4: The South’s People

Some of the South’s people were tenant farmers or among the rural poor. Relatively few were plantation owners. Most enslaved African Americans worked as field hands under the strict rules of plantation owners. Many enslaved people resisted.

By the mid-1800s, there were several large cities in the South, including Richmond and New Orleans. Free African Americans were able to form communities, yet did not have an equal share in economic and political life. The literacy rate in the South was lower than elsewhere in the country, in part because of a slowly developing system of public education.

Glencoe Online Learning CenterSocial Studies HomeProduct InfoSite MapContact Us

The McGraw-Hill CompaniesGlencoe