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Period: to
America; 1820-1850
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American Diversity
Lowell Mills Open for Business Thanks to the revolution of spinning and making cloth by machine, factory owners can hire workers that don't have to be specifically skilled for their job. Now young, single women can get jobs and earn their own money. -
Environment
The Erie Canal Opens for Use The Erie Canal, started six years prior to its official opening, shows the indominable human stubborness, showing nature who's boss and shaping the land and its waterways with our bare hands. -
Reform
The Temperance Movement The American Society for the Promotion of Temperance is founded to encourage the elimination of the consumption of alcohol. The ASPT acquires more than 200,000 members by the mid-1830s. -
Politics and Citizenship/Culture
The Indian Removal Act President Andrew Jackson passes the Indian Removal Act. Indians push for legal protection, but fail and are pushed back onto reservations in the west. -
Religion
Revivals in Rochester Lead revivalist Charles G. Finney, encourages Christians to begin a moral reform across the country. Much of America is swept by the religious fervor, but the middle class is most prominent in their effort to provide support to their communities. -
Reform
First Strike at the Lowell Mills Women organize a strike in response to wage cuts. It is unsuccessful and many return to work despite the low wages. -
Economic Transformation
The Panic of 1837 Caused by inflammation, the Panic of 1837 caused an eight year recession and collapsed the banking system, also made the unemployment vote to spike to 10%, the highest it had ever been. -
Technology Advances
John Deere Invents Steel Plow Now farms can more efficiently plow their fields and get planting ahead of time. (This is nice to have during a financial crash, such as the Panic of 1837) -
Slavery and Its Legacy
La Amistad The slave ship, La Amistad, is found in American waters, dispute begins over the fate of the African mutineer/passengers. Former president, John Quincy Adams, being an abolitionist, is a prominent speaker in these matters. -
Reform
Dorothea DIx Dorothea Dix travels to asylums and institutions and pushes for reform in the treatment of their patients after seeing the brutal conditions they are subjected to. By 1860, 28 states had public institutions for the insane. -
Technology Advances
The Telegraph is First Tested Samuel F. B. Morse operates first telegraph. The drive towards more efficient communication continues. -
Slavery and Its Legacy
Frederick Douglass publishes his biography. Very heart-rending and starkly simple, it tells of the brutalities of slave life. "One of the best accounts of American slavery..." - Wikipedia -
American Identity
Manifest Destiny John O'Sullivan coins the term "manifest destiny" and convinces settlers that moving west is America's God-given duty. -
American Identity
Gold Rush of 1849 James Marshal discovers gold in Sutter's Mill in California. Later, in the autumn of the same year, word gets to the east coast and settlers pour into the unsettled land by the wagon-full. The image of the American settler and the stereotypical Miner '49er is born. -
Demographic Changes
Chinese Immigrants Join the Rush Chinese immigrants move to America attracted by the Gold Rush. Often discriminated against and given menial jobs.
