PRESENTATION OUTLINE
A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separated cotton from its seeds. In 1793, an inventor named Eli Whitney created the cotton gin to minimize the amount of labor for slaves in fields. On the contrary, it increased the number of slaves in cotton fields and made work harder for them. To use a cotton gin, you would put the cotton through the top of the machine. Then you would turn the handle, which would put the cotton through wire teeth that separated the seeds from the cotton fibers.
Slave population was growing just as the amount of cotton. Plantation owners needed more labor to plant and grow more crops. This also increased the general population in the South, which held four million slaves by the Civil War. This idea of more slavery spread across the South, from Virginia to the coast of South Carolina to what is now the state of Mississippi.
The cotton gin improved and worsened life for many people. Cotton is very difficult to separate from its seeds. Before the cotton gin was created, slaves had to hand-pick each seed out of the cotton fibers. In fact, it took nearly ten hours to pull out the seeds to make one pound of lint. Whitney overheard complaints about the amount of time, and decided to invent a machine that shortened the process. This, in a way, did help slaves save time. But as it was getting easier, plantation owners saw the advantages of this new invention. They used the saved amount of time to grow more plantations and buy more slaves. In the end, the purpose of the cotton gin changed, as it put a bigger load of work in slaves' hands.
A telegraph is a system for sending electric signals from a far distance using a wire. It was created by Samuel Morse around 1835 and used with a special code called Morse Code that had a set of dots designated for each letter of the Alphabet. The invention' purpose was for it to make communicating with others at a far distance easier. This way, urgent messages could passed along at a faster rate. The first message that was ever sent out was from Washington D.C. to Baltimore, Maryland. Morse made the machine so that when you pressed the telegraph key, it would work just like an "on" button. For each letter typed out, it completes a circuit, letting the electric current flow easily. On the other side, a message was received by listening to a series of clicks that spelled out a certain word.
During the mid-1800's, the telegraph was needed in the means of communication. It offered lots of help during the Westward Expansion. For example, it gave information about the forecast. Even throughout the late 1800's, it was a fast and efficient way for the rail-road system to communicate with each other. Newspaper reporters also used telegraphy to send messages of what they have found.
Before the telegraph, communicating was hard to do. Not many people knew what lied west of the Colonies or if it was even safe to travel there. There were no ways to communicate with family members or to pass important information. When the telegraph was made, people could finally be able to tell what new discoveries they found in the West. The telegraph also helped in the years of the Gold Rush in which is now present-day California. It helped the government communicate with those digging for gold. Without it, communication would nearly impossible, as California is on the far West coast. The telegraph has also led to influence the first telephone and mobile phones, which are frequently used nowadays.
A steamboat is a boat mobilized by a steam engine, and forced ahead with a paddle-wheel. An American inventor nepamed Robert Fulton built the first successful steamboat called the Clermont in 1807. Earlier, a man named John Fitch attempted to create a steamboat four times, but all were unsuccessful. The purpose of the steamboat was to move large cargo upriver in a faster and more efficient way.
The steamboat was especially good at moving upstream. In fact, this specific invention made trade on the Missouri River easier and created a city just west of the river. There were many cities built and economies created now that there was easy transportation of traded goods. People living on the east side of Appalachian Mountains slowly traveled towards the West of the Missouri River to trade crops.
During these times, many chose to travel on the rivers. This invention of the steamboat helped citizens with transporting goods and made lives easier. Before the steamboat was created, many people took a boat or floated goods across the river on flatboards. There were many problems with these ideas. One was that both could only go downstream, which did not help those east of the Appalachians. Since the steamboat was the only type of boat that could move upstream at the time, it was the most popular. People were eager to explore new areas around the rivers and to make canals, or man-made rivers, for new routes.
The railroad system is a set of tracks made out of steel that trains run on. Railroad transportation became popular in around 1828 on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. The purpose of the system was to transport people in an easier way. This invention helped expand the land and improved lives with communication and transportation.
Railroad systems allowed people to move West without too many worries on their trip. It was the most efficient way of traveling on land. Many people decided to go West, especially during the Gold Rush. It was hard for those traveling toward the West coast to get there, but the transcontinental rail lines "securely linked California to the rest of the country." The Gold Rush was one of the ways our country sped up Westward expansion, thus making the railroad system an important part of it.
As previously stated, the railroad system was very popular for its easy transportation. Because of the huge amount of citizens traveling toward the West, cities around that area became larger and population increased. Cities in the west were dramatically changed due to the simple transportation. In fact, many major cities were usually on the West of rivers and lakes. Since the railroad system, cities such as Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago were created.
