A History of the United States: Chapter 14: North and South

The early years of the 1800s saw much innovation in industry and technology.

Clipper ships got their name because they "clipped" time from long journeys.

Railways and canals transformed trade in these regions.

The growth of industry and the new pace of travel created a need for faster methods of communication. The telegraph—a device that used electric signals to send messages—filled that need.

Telegraph operators sent messages quickly by using Morse code. This code uses different arrangements of short and long signals—dots and dashes—to represent letters of the alphabet.

Skilled workers formed trade unions. These were groups of workers with the same trade, or skill. The idea was that by working together, union members would have more power than they would as individuals.

The workers staged a series of strikes in the mid-1830s. A strike is a refusal to work in order to put pressure on employers.

In the North, slavery had largely disappeared by the 1830s. Still, racial prejudice—an unfair opinion of a group—and discrimination—unfair treatment of a group—remained.

In the North, slavery had largely disappeared by the 1830s. Still, racial prejudice—an unfair opinion of a group—and discrimination—unfair treatment of a group—remained.

In addition, most communities in the North did not allow African Americans to attend public schools.

In 1845 Macon B. Allen became the first African American licensed, or given official authority, to practice law in the United States.

The people of Ireland faced famine, an extreme shortage of food.

With a cotton gin, productivity—the amount a worker can produce in a given time—shot up.

The cotton gin helped workers process 50 times more cotton each day than they could by hand.

The use of the cotton gin had important consequences.

The Upper South became a center for the sale and transport of enslaved people. This trade became known as the domestic slave trade.

Most white people in the South were yeomen, farmers who generally owned small farms of 50 to 200 acres (20–81 ha).

Most enslaved African Americans, however, were field hands. They worked from sunrise to sunset to plant, tend, and harvest crops. An overseer, or plantation manager, supervised them.

In 1808 Congress banned the import of slaves. Slavery remained legal, but traders could no longer purchase enslaved people from other countries.

Enslaved people prayed for their freedom. They expressed their beliefs in spirituals, African American religious folk songs.

In 1831 he led a group of followers on a brief, violent rampage in Southhampton County, Virginia.

A runaway might receive aid from the Underground Railroad, a network of "safe houses" owned by people opposed to slavery.

The South lagged behind other parts of the country in literacy, the ability to read and write.