How Has America Changed In The Late 1800s

As America matured during the 1800’s it had some help from the dramatic evolution in transportation. The railroad system was improved dramatically, for example, the transcontinental railroad. Before the transcontinental railroad, traveling coast to coast took so long but the railroad gave people fast transportation from coast to coast. According to GTG Technology Group “Before the railroad, it took almost six months and cost $1000 to travel between California and New York. After the transcontinental railroad was completed, it cost $150 and took one week.” (GTG Technology Group) In 1862, the time of the railroad, Americans could travel faster and for less money. In the early 1800’s foot trails and roads were the only form of transportation.

In 1832, a New York University professor developed his version of the telegraph including his own Morse code. As the telegraph started improving it made delivering messages much faster. When reading the article Imagining the Internet you learn “It took days, weeks and even months for messages to be sent from one location to a far-flung position. After the telegraph cable was stretched from coast to coast in the 1850’s, a message from New York to London could be sent in mere minutes, and the words suddenly became smaller.” (Imaging the Internet- Telegraph) Around forty years later in 1875, E. Remington & Sons manufactured the typewriter. The typewriter created a faster way to create documents, therefor they became very popular in workplaces. The typewriter created an escape for women to join office work, a much better and safer job. Together, the typewriter and telegraph pushed America to a better future in

Eli Whitney was responsible for these, for example, the cotton gin. Whitney invented the cotton gin to make removing the seeds from cotton bolls faster. The main reason Whitney looked into his invention was because demand for cotton was growing so he wanted to find away to quicken work for the slaves in the South. The cotton gin led to big changes, England and North America demanded more cotton quicker to help expand their textile mills. Making production of cotton easier, the cotton gin turned cotton into a cash crop, making it more valuable in trade. Whitney helped agriculture in America grow but he also had a huge part in industries. Whitney was searching for a way to give unskilled workers the ability to produce large numbers of weapons quickly and cheaper. His idea was interchangeable parts to speed up the time it took to manufacture a gun but also repair it. When the nation was at war with France, Whitney took this opportunity to make money off of his interchangeable parts. When reading on History.com it say “He obtained a government approve contract to manufacture 10,000 muskets within an extraordinarily short time frame of less than two years.” (History.com) Both of Whitney’s inventions made certain tasks easier and cheaper, leading America into easier