Key Item | Definition |
New York City | New York City became a major trading center after it was connected to the Great Lakes by the Hudson River and the Erie Canal. |
Hudson River | The Hudson River was connected to the Great Lakes by the Erie Canal. This will allow people and goods to travel west faster and easier than before. |
Moses Brown | Together with Samuel Slater in 1793, he built the first textile mill in the United States in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. |
forty-niners | There were miners that came to California to get gold. They came in 1849. |
Jim Bowie | He was one of the famous pioneers that was fighting for Texan Independence at the Alamo. |
locomotive | railroad engine, Peter Cooper built the first locomotive called Tom Thumb |
Lake Erie | This Great Lake was connected to New York City and the Hudson River by the Erie Canal. Increase trade between the east and the west. |
dictator | A leader who has complete control of the government |
cession | something given up, usually land |
lock | a section of water held by two gates in a canal |
Cyrus McCormick | He was the inventor to the mechanical reaper to harvest wheat. |
Manifest Destiny | The idea that the United States was meant to stretch from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. |
Samuel F. B. Morse | He invented the telegraph and Morse Code. This allowed people all over the country to communicate faster and more efficiently. |
Independence, Missouri | It was the beginning of the Oregon Trail for people heading west. |
interchangeable parts | parts made exactly alike, used especially in the manufacturing of guns, made by Eli Whitney |
Oregon Country | Located in the Pacific Northwest. The fertile land attacked many settlers. |
Davy Crockett | A famous pioneer who was among the Americans fighting at the Alamo for Texan Independence. |
Canal | a human-made waterway that connects two bodies of water |
Narcissa Whitman | One of the first Americans to reach Oregon Country. Her letters and descriptions of the land encouraged thousands of people to head west. |
Brigham Young | He was the Mormon leader who lead the Mormons from Illinois to Utah due to persecution the Mormons were experiencing. |
cotton gin | A machine invented by Eli Whitney that removed the seeds from cotton. This increased the demand for cotton and for slaves to farm the cotton. |
Eli Whitney | The inventor of the cotton gin and interchangeable parts. A major contributor to the Industrial Revolution. |
John Sutter | The owner of the saw mill in California were gold was discovered in 1848. |
John Deere | He invented the steel plow to cut through the heavy soil of the midwest. |
James K. Polk | He was the president of the United States who strongly believed in manifest destiny. He offered to by California and other lands from Mexico. When they refused he ordered Taylor to march into Mexican territory. This would spur Congress to declare war. |
Francis Cabot Lowell | He built a textile mill in Waltham, MA. Not only did he build a mill but he also built dorms, stores, schools. recreational halls, and dining halls for his workers. |
Alamo | Texans and other Americans turned this mission into a fort to defend against General Santa Anna. The fight here allowed for Texan leaders to create a declaration of independence and a government. |
Sam Houston | He was the Commander of all Texan forces during their struggle for independence. After the war, he became the first president of Texas. |
Robert Fulton | He built the first steam engine that he called the Clermont. |
Samuel Slater | Memorized the design of a mill and left England to bring the mills to the United States. He built the first textile mill with Moses Brown in Pawtucket, Rhode Island in 1793. |
Peter Cooper | Created the first locomotive that he named Tom Thumb. |
annex | an add on to an additional thing |
gold rush | a sudden rush of people to an area where gold has been discovered. |
Industrial Revolution | This was a huge change in the production of goods. Before the revolution all goods were produced by hand. After the revolution, factories and machines were created to produce mass quantities of goods. |
James Marshall | The first person to find gold at Sutter's Mill in California. This caused the gold rush. |
ford | to cross a river |
Waltham, MA | The location of Lowell's textile factory. |
Pawtucket, RI | The location of the first textile mill created by Slater and Brown in 1793. |