Throughout the 1800’s the United States changed physically, culturally and economically. This blog allows students to critically think about the impact on human lives that these changes had. It creates a connection between the creation of new technology and how these new technologies increased the desire for both material goods and personal freedom. It allows students to experience the influx of immigration and the treatment that these immigrants received. Finally it allows students to see that there were both positive and negative consequences of the industrial revolution. This blog is a life long journey through time, allowing the traveler to drift along the currents of change that occurred during the 19^th century.

This blog will guide students through the new ways of transportation and communication during the 1800's. Please answer the questions by reading, listening to or watching a movie .

Trains

Where did the first train travel from? to?
What impact did trains have on America?

• http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/railtran.html
• http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/tomthumb.htm

Erie Canal

Where is the Erie Canal Located?
Was the creation of the Erie Canal a benefit to the United States or a cost?

• www.eriecanalvillage.net/pages/song.html 
• http://www.eriecanal.org/
• http://geography.about.com/od/urbaneconomicgeography/a/eriecanal.htm

National Road

Where was the National road located?
Why did Americans need this road?
How did this road change the lives of Americans?

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Road 

Steamboat

Who invented the steamboat?
What did it look like?
How did the steamboat change the lives of Americans?

• http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mayhouse/mayhouse/photos/steamboats/CANDO2.JPG 
• http://www.kiac-usa.com/clermont.html 
• http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blsteamship.htm 

Telegraph

Who invented the telegraph?
What was the telegraph used for?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1WdoKKGM5o 
• http://www.history.com/topics/telegraph

Please watch this video because it will make all the connections for you. It is a great review of the Industrial Revolution in the United States.

• http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=B0E70FC4-542F-47C3-80DA-8084560C76E3&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

This blog will discuss the different groups of people that immigrated to the United States to work in the Factories. Students will be able to analyze immigration charts and read about the reasons for leaving one's own country .


Please read the following information and answer the questions below.

 Why did people migrate?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSVlrcAdpOM
• http://www.angelfire.com/ns/immigration/
•  

What were the factors that pulled people  to America? What factors pushed them out of their home country?

•  www.shufsd.org/schools/middle/Scheiber/EighthGradeWebPage/PushAndPullFactors.html

• http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/italian_immigration.cfm 

Why did Catholic-Irish immigrants migrate to the United States?

• http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/irish_potato_famine.cfm 

How many immigrants arrived during the 1840's?
chart on immigration

• http://www.willisms.com/archives/immigrationtousa.gif     

Where did most of the immigrants come from?
1800s Countries where immigration to US came from

This blog will discuss how the Industrial Revolution was brought about by the creation of technology. This technology was placed in a building called a factory. These new factories would allow young women to leave home and find work in the city allowing them more independence.

Factories
How did factories change life in America?

• http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=609

• Where were the factories located?
• Why were they located there?
• Who worked in the factories?

1. Please look at the images and view the video that describes life in the factories of Lowell Massachusetts.

 Images of what the inside of the factory looked like
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkJwOYagvuI

• Describe what the factory looked like.

2. Read the explanation about what it is like to work in a factory by clicking on the attached  documents:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19c30xVZFr3HtEG1It7YVeu7wXyl00j2vxC9UuEfSFM8/edit
http://library.uml.edu/clh/All/doc02.htm
http://library.uml.edu/clh/All/np01.htm
http://library.uml.edu/clh/All/lof03.htm
Letter samples are from: Mary Beth Norton.1989. Major Problems in American Women's History. Documents and Essays. D.C. Heath and Company. 1989. pg 176.

Letter samples from : Jesus Garcia, Donna M. Ogle, C. Frederick Risinger, Joyce Stevos.  Creating America. McDougal Little. 2007. pg. 330-331



As you read these letters please answer the following questions.

1. What were the basic ideas presented in the letters?
2. What were some of the injuries that the women suffered?
3. Do these letters present a positive  image of factory life?Explain

This blog entry is focused on developing your understanding of technology and how it applies to the industrial era.

Read about Samuel Slater:  In a nut shell, he brought over the technology from Europe to start the first factory in the United States.

• Read article: Samuel Slater 
• As you read, identify the following:
• Who is Samuel Slater?
• Why did he want to start a factory in the United States?
• How did he bring the technology to the United States?
• Think about the type of person he was and his impact on the United States.
• Learn about the Water Wheel
• Water Wheel
• http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/waterwheel.htm 
• Who created this?
• How was it used?Where?
• Why was it a significant piece of equipment during this era?
• What impact did the cotton gin have on plantations?
• Cotton Gin-What everyone needs to know 
• Who invented it?
• What did it do?
• What were the lifelong implications of this piece of technology?
• Every plantation needs a steel plow!
• The Plow
• Who invented this? 
• How did it work?
• What life-long implications would this have?

• Spin that Jenny
• Spinning Jenny
• the facts
• Pictures
• Info  Quick Peek
• How did the Spinning Jenny work?
• How did the machine change the outlook of factory life

• Change those parts 
•  Who invented interchangeable parts?
• What were some of the products that were produced using this technique?
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli_Whitney 
• http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi101.htm 
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interchangeable_parts