Chapter 15 Essay Questions

  1. Explain why the Northeast became the first industrial center of the United States and why the South lagged behind in economic industrialization.
  2. Explain why the United States was a full generation behind England and Europe in the industrialization of its economy.
  3. In what specific ways did the American government contribute to and promote industrial growth and economic expansion in the early nineteenth century?
  4. What was the impact of industry, urbanization, and the transportation revolution on American agriculture?
  5. Summarize the impact of the industrial revolution on American labor, on the rich and the poor. and on families and home life.
  6. Write your definition of revolution. Then use this definition to argue that the industrial revolution was or was not a revolutionary event.
  7. Explain the part played by each of the following in the industrialization of the American economy: technology, immigration, investment, government aid, and internal improvements.
  8. Rank the following in terms of their contribution to industrialization: cotton gin, principle of interchangeable parts, Erie Canal. Justify your ranking order.
  9. Identify the single most significant development in (a) manufacturing technology, (b) transportation, (c) communications technology, and (d) business organization that encouraged industrialization in the United States. Explain why you chose each development in each category.
  10. List the five most important inventions of the early nineteenth century. Rank them in order of importance. Justify your ranking scheme.
  11. How can it be argued that the Erie Canal was the single most important accomplishment contributing to economic expansion prior to the coming of the railroad?
  12. The text’s authors claim that on the eve of the Civil War, "a truly continental economy had emerged... tin which] the principle of division of labor .. . applied on a national scale." Briefly explain the operation of this "national" economy and its political implications.
  13. If America is indeed a "nation of immigrants," why do we have a history of native prejudice toward new immigrant groups?
  14. Identify the five most typically American traits nurtured on the American frontier. Justify your selection.
  15. What traits fostered by America’s early nineteenth-century frontier experience are less than admirable? Why did they become American traits?
  16. Compare and contrast the Irish and German immigrants of early nineteenth-century America in terms of their motives for leaving Europe, pattern of settlement in the United States, impact on American life, and reception by native Americans.
  17. The text’s authors state that "the West, with its raw frontier, was the most typically American part of America tin the early nineteenth century]." Explain what they mean by this remark. Do you agree or disagree? Why?
  18. It has been claimed that the frontier acted as a "safety valve" for the East, allowing the discontented to find an alternative life on the frontier. To what extent does this seem to have been true?
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