A New Kind of Revolution

1. A New Kind of Revolution Chapter 12, Lesson 2 4-5.2, 4-5.5

2. The Industrial Revolution • The Industrial Revolution was a change in the way goods were produced, from handmade goods to goods made by machines. • The invention of machines helped businesses manufacture goods much faster and more cheaply than before. • To manufacture is to make goods, like cloth, from raw materials, like cotton fiber.

3. Inventions Change Factories and Farms • The harvesting of cotton had been given a huge boost by the invention of a young New Englander, Eli Whitney. • While visiting Georgia, he heard planters complain about how hard it was to clean the seeds out of cotton. This step was necessary before cotton could be sold. • A worker could clean only about one pound of cotton a day. • Eli’s machine was called a cotton gin and could clean 50 times as much cotton a day as could be done by hand.

4. Inventions Change Factories and Farms • Cyrus McCormick developed a horse-drawn mechanical reaper that harvested wheat by swinging a long blade. • John Deere developed a plow made of steel rather than iron. It could plow through thick soil more easily.

5. Inventions Change Factories and Farms • The new machines Americans were inventing meant that factories could produce more goods, often more cheaply. • Farms could grow more foods, and planters more cotton. • More goods and more food meant more products for people and for trade.

6. Moving Goods and People • More goods were being produced than ever before and people needed a better way to get their products to market. • Traveling by road, wagons would get stuck in mud and boats powered by sails or oars had difficulty traveling upstream against a river’s current. • Therefore, Robert Fulton, an American engineer, developed a riverboat powered by a steam engine.

7. Early Railroads • Railroads began simply as rails laid down in a road. • The rails were made of wood topped with iron. • Horses pulled carts running along the rails • Since the rails were smoother than the roads, the horses could pull the carts faster than they could pull wagons over roads.

8. Early Railroads • In 1830, Peter Cooper built a steam-powered locomotive. • He raced the locomotive beside a horse. The locomotive was winning until a safety valve broke in the engine. • Over the next 20 years, railroads became the easiest and cheapest way to travel. • By 1840, the U.S. had about 3,000 miles of railroad tracks, almost twice as much as Europe.