CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

After you finish reading and studying this chapter, you should be able to:

Explain changes in agriculture from 1800 to 1860 and describe their social and economic impact. List and describe improvements in transportation from 1800 to 1860. Analyze the significant advances in technology from 1800 to 1860 and their impact on society. Account for the emergence of the factory as a method of production and assess its social impact. Explain how the growth of manufacturing affected urbanization and vice versa. Understand the development of an urban popular culture. Describe the nature of immigration prior to 1860 and the reaction of previously settled Americans to this new immigration. Analyze the early development of labor unions and account for their failure to gain widespread acceptance. Explain the rise of the major professions in the decades before the Civil War. Describe and explain the distribution of wealth in the United States in “the era of the common man.”