• textbook --> 308 - 321.
• AMSCO --> pp. 150 - 152.

1. Why were natural means of carrying commerce [lakes and rivers] unsatisfactory to most Americans in the early 19c?
2. How did Americans propose to overcome the geographical limitations on water travel?
3. Which area of the country took the lead in canal development?  Why?  What was the effect of the new canals on that section of the country?  How did other regions respond to this example?
4. What were the contributions of steamboats to the improvement of water transportation in the United States during the early 19c?
5. What role did the Irish play in the construction of canals and railroad lines?
6. How did railroad building in the United States during the 19c impact sectionalism?
7. What role did state governments play as funding agents for railroad construction?  List the ways in which the federal government provided support for railroad construction during the early 19c.  How did the federal government justify its active role in railroad construction?
8. Compare and contrast the effectiveness and efficiency of canals and railroads as modern modes of transportation in the early 19c.
9. Identify two Supreme Court decisions which offered protection and support for the railroads.
10. Why did American cities grow so rapidly in the first half of the 19c?  What population shifts took place as a result of this growth?
11. Why was the rise of New York City so phenomenal by the early 19c?  What forces combined to make it America's leading city?
12. What new forms of city transportation emerged during the early 19c?
13. What were the major interior cities in the United States in the early 19c?
14. What major immigrant groups came to America at this time?  What impact did they have on the character and distribution of the population, especially in the North?

                          ASSIGNMENT 2:

• textbook --> pp. 321 - 327.
• AMSCO --> pp. 153 - 155.
• document --> Lowell Factory Rules.
• document --> A Description of Early Factory Life - Lowell, MA.

1. What was the putting-out system?  Why is it so often considered the first step in the Industrial Revolution?
2. List the major advantages of the factory system of production of both household and artisanal manufacturing.
3. Identify and explain the differences between the Rhode Island and Waltham Systems of employment.
4. What were the working and living conditions of the "Lowell" girls?  What was their typical background?  What problems did these young women have in adjusting to factory and factory-town life?
5. What business innovations occurred in the early 19c?  What effects did they have on the general distribution of goods in America?
6. What was Eli Whitney's contribution to the American system of manufacturing?
7. What was the impact of steam power on the expansion of industrial growth in the United States by the mid-19c?
8. How did the Industrial Revolution in America impact ecologically on the natural resources of the nation?

                         ASSIGNMENT 3:

• textbook --> pp. 328 - 334.
• document --> Rules for Husbands and Wives - Mathew Carey.

1. Describe the changes in composition and distribution of wealth within the American upper class during the early 19c.
2. What was life like for middle class Americans during the first half of the 19c?
3. What changes took place in American middle class ideology regarding the family?  Why did these changes occur at this time?
4. What conditions put women in a "separate sphere?"  What were the characteristics of the "distinctive female culture" which women developed in the early 19c?
5. Describe the concept of the "Cult of Domesticity."  What costs and benefits did it bring to middle class women?   to working class women?
6. Why was the increasing wealth of Americans not equitably distributed?  How was this unequal distribution manifested in daily life?
7. Why was temperance such a popular issue during the 19c?
8. What is nativism?  Why did it become a popular issue during the early 19c?  What is the connection between it and the temperance movement?
9. Identify the major distinction among Americans including workers of the early 19c?  To what extent did skill, class, and national origin contribute to this division?
10. How did the working class voice its concerns during the early 19c?