US History

U.S. History Study Guide

Young was made territorial governor of Utah. Nevertheless, friction developed with the federal government. By 1857, public outrage over polygamy prompted President James Buchanan to replace Young with a non-Mormon governor. Threats of Mormon defiance led Buchanan to send twenty-five hundred army troops to compel Mormon obedience to federal law. Young responded by calling out the Mormon militia and blocking the passes through which the army would have to advance. This standoff, known as the “Mormon war” which was resolved in 1858, with the Mormons accepting the new governor and Buchanan issuing a general pardon. 11.4 Inventions and Innovations In Industry The level of technology used in American manufacturing already exceeded that of European industry. Eli Whitney's applications of interchangeable parts were being introduced into a wide variety of manufacturing processes. Coal was replacing water as the major source of industrial power. Machine tools were reaching a high level of sophistication. Much of this progress was due to the contributions of America's inventors. Between 1830 and 1850 the number of patents issued for industrial inventions almost doubled. Charles Goodyear’s process of vulcanizing rubber was put to five hundred different uses and formed the basis for an entire new industry. The Elias Howe's sewing machine was to revolutionize the clothing industry. The mass production of iron, with its new techniques and uses, created a new array of businesses. The railroad industry was the largest consumer. Samuel B. Morse’s new electric telegraph was first used in 1840 to transmit business news and information. In Agriculture Large-scale farming on the prairies spurred critical inventions. McCormick's mechanical reaper, patented in 1834, enabled a crew of six men to harvest in one day as much wheat as fifteen men could use other methods. John Deere's steel plow, patented in 1837, provided a more durable tool to break the heavy prairie sod. Jerome Case's threshing machine multiplied the bushels of grain that could be separated from the stalk in a day's time. 11.5 Transportation and Leisure Railroads The railroad was first developed in Great Britain. Americans who had visited England to see the steam trains were impressed how railroads dropped the cost of shipping. Baltimore, the third largest city in the nation in 1827, had not invested in a canal. Baltimore recognized that the development of a railway could make the city more competitive with New York and the Erie Canal in transporting people and goods to the West. The result was the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad the first railroad chartered in the United States. Soon railroads would dominate the American landscape. The development of the railroads was one of the most important phenomena in U.S. history. With their

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