Summary: Chapter5 (Short version)
Page 1: Westward Expansion
As population increases rapidly, Americans are increasingly driven to pick up stakes and head west, to make a start fresh on cheap vacant land
Page 2: Bold Investment
The great canal era begins with the opening of the Erie Canal, the first major public works project financed with government backing
Page 3: Dramatic Private Investment
America's first industry is large-scale textile mills, running newly-developed machinery on waterpower, with private investors ushering in a new era of risk-taking
Page 4: First Industrial Complex
After a proof-of-concept textile mill succeeds, Boston investors team up for a follow-on venture that rivals the Erie Canal in scope and cost, paying off handsomely
Page 5: First Industrial Complex
Starting with a single canal and just two mills, the Lowell Mills project keeps expanding until it utilizes the full power of an entire river
Page 6: Textile Equipment
Making fabric from raw fibers requires equipment to clean, comb, and spin fibers, before they can be woven into the final product, but Americans take up the challenge
Page 7: Giant Game-Changer
In the past, factories had to be located near sources of waterpower, to drive their great waterwheels, but new steam-powered engines enable factories to be located anywhere
Page 8: Steamboats Power Commerce
Canals continue to increase the reach of waterways, while steam-powered vessels can now power against the current, and permit confident docking in congested harbors
Page 9: Investors and Corporations
Advances in transportation promote a new wave of corporate ventures, which sell stock to private investors to finance canals, turnpikes, bridges and steamships
Page 10: Indians, Cotton and Locomotives
With setters pouring into Indian country, tribes are evicted from land that will soon be growing cotton, being moved to far-distant Oklahoma just as rail lines begin to appear
Page 11: Railroads Begin Displacing Canals
As canals have sprouted seemingly everywhere, railroads are already moving into the same territory, offering even greater speed without being confined to nearly-level routes
Page 12: Cotton vs Manufacturing
Leading up to the Civil War, the South is experiencing a cotton boom, with money pouring in, while the North is beginning to develop manufacturing at rail hubs
Page 13: Reaching the Pacific
Pioneers are heading all the way to Oregon, by wagon, when California gold attracts a fresh surge of settlers heading west, this time by boat
Page 14: North and South Drifting Apart
Northerners continue heading west, while Southerners take their slaves to Gulf Coast cotton country, political power shifts westward, and the Mexican War delivers yet more land
Page 15: Snapshot, Before the Coming Clash
Americans in mid-century are developing early urban centers that now reach well into the Ohio River Valley
Page 16: The New Midwest
The new 'West' (known today as the Midwest) is developing its own distinctive flavor, while the Mississippi River continues to block migration even further west
Page 17: Wild West
Even as most settlers continue to develop America's Midwestern heartland, the Pacific coast is acquiring its own distinctive character, effectively cut off from the rest of the country
Page 18: Century of Movement
The period leading to the Civil War is marked by unrelenting westward movement, and the beginning of a new era devoted equally to manufacturing and land development