Slavery and Cotton | Mining Towns | Transportation Revolution
Slavery and CottonIn 1820, cotton production had begun to move into the Carolina and Georgia upcountry, as well as central Alabama and the Mississippi River valley. The slave population was still concentrated in the Chesapeake in the low country of South Carolina and Georgia. By 1860, the "Black Belt" had taken shape, marking the expansion of cotton production from the Carolinas all the way to Texas. The internal slave trade also shifted the slave population from the eastern seaboard to new cotton producing regions.
What was the correlation between cotton cultivation and slavery? Did slavery grow only in areas of cotton production? Did slavery grow elsewhere during this period? Choose two states in the map and discuss this relationship.
Using the map, discuss whether slavery was a "dying institution" in 1860, or whether it was expanding in scope.
How did the cotton gin change the economy and geography of slavery?
How did the abolition of the slave trade change the source of slaves for the American South? Which region profited most from this abolition?
Examine the map for 1835. How might the expanding cotton kingdom have contributed to the pressure for Indian removal? Use the map to support your argument.
Mining TownsMining sparked the West's first economic boom. The lure of precious metals also attracted the first mass migration of Anglo-Americans to the future territories of Colorado, Nevada, and the Black Hills of southwestern Dakota. This map shows the rapid rise and fall of mining communities searching for gold and silver. Gold mining, for example, moved quickly from California in the 1850s, to Idaho and Montana in the 1860s, and to South Dakota in the 1870s.
Estimate the average duration of gold or silver booms. List the stages of a typical mining town from the first strike to ghost town. Why did most mining towns experience this boom, decline, and bust cycle? What techniques did corporations employ to extend the profitability of some regions well into the twentieth century?
For each time period on the map, pay special attention to the changing boundaries of the United States, Mexico, and the Native American nations. How did the previous occupants of the mining areas receive the Anglo-American migrants? Where did mining rushes spark conflicts between the United States and Native Americans? How were these conflicts resolved?
Describe in a few sentences the everyday life of mining boomtowns. Characterize relations between men and women, between various ethnic and racial groups, and between upper and lower classes. Contrast this society to that of northeastern cities like Boston and southeastern cities such as Charleston.
A young relative from Philadelphia writes that he or she is tired of the crowded city and wants to join you out West. From the perspective of a miner, a farmer, or a rancher, write a letter back to your relative with a fair appraisal of the opportunities, challenges, and conditions of life in your specific region. Describe your precise location, your living quarters, surrounding countryside, climate, and social conditions. What should your relative bring? Comment on his or her prospects for marriage and family life. When you are finished, explain how your advice would change if your correspondent were Mexican, Indian, Chinese, African-American, European, male or female (pick three different scenarios). Finally, does your portrait of opportunity in a mining town support or contradict the picture of the West presented by the historian Frederick Jackson Turner in his "Frontier Thesis"?
Transportation RevolutionThe amount of railroad trackage in United States tripled between 1850 in 1860. The Northeast developed the most comprehensive and efficient system, with twice as much trackage per square mile as the Northwest and four times as much as the South. Over time, the main "trunk lines" (shown in black) tended to displace traffic from the Erie Canal and the Mississippi River. By lessening the dependence of the West on the Mississippi, the railroads help to weaken the link between the Northwest and the South. As the number of railroads crossing America's rugged terrain increased, canals and trails fell out of use. By 1860-1880, the eastern half of the United States was covered with a network of rail lines, and the remainder of country was soon to follow.
Why was there a greater concentration of railroads in the Northeast and Midwest than in the South? Give three hypotheses, and look for evidence on the map and in your text to back up each one. What effects would this have on sectional division and conflict?
Which cities grew up as a result of the new rail traffic? What economic impact did railroads have on the growth of cities across the North and Midwest? Which products were behind this growth in rail traffic?
Railroads in the South were fewer in number and served mostly to bring agricultural products from the hinterlands to cities and ports. Why did the railroads fail to bring about the economic changes it brought about in the North and Midwest?
You are a businessman interested in entering the railroad industry in 1840. Write a letter to Congress or to your state legislature asking for support of your project. What area of the country do you believe will offer the highest return on profit? What arguments will you make about the economic, political and social benefits of your enterprise? What assistance will you request?
You are a nineteenth-century rail traveler on a cross-country journey. Write a diary of your travels, the landscape you pass, the travel experience on the railroads, and the people you meet on your trip.
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