An Illustrated History of the USA

AN t.wNATION

M an yownedlargefarmsand livedinEuropean- style
h ou sesbuilto f b rick.TheyhadbecomeChristians
and artcudc dchur ch and sent their child rento schoo l.
Theirtowns had stores,sawm illsand black smith s'
shops. T hey hadawrittenlanguageand publishe d
th eirownl1e\vspaperin bo thC h erokeeand English.
T heyevenw ro tefo rthemselvesa C o nst itut ion
mod eledon thatoftheUnitedStates.
N on eofthissavedtheC herokees.In the1830s
Congressdeclaredthatth eirlan dsbelonged to the
stat eofGeorg iaandtheyweredividedup for saleto
white settlers.T heCherokeeswered rivenfromtheir
ho mesandforccdtomarchhundredsofm iles
overlan dtowhatis no wth e stateofOklaho m a.

T heworstyearwas1838.In bi tterlycoldwinter
w eatherAmericansoldiersgatheredth ousand so f
Chero keemen,women,and children. anddrove
themwest. Thenighrma rcjou rncvlasted almo stfive
m on ths.Bytherimeit wasover.4 .000ofth e
A m erin dian s- aquartero fthew holeC herokee
narionc-wcrcdead.ThisepisodeISst ill remembered
w ith shamebymodernAmericans. It cam eto be
called"TheTrailofT ears."

Lo ngbeforetheInd ianRem o valAnth e feder al
govCTnllle!Hhadbeguntoorganizetheneww estern
land sforsettlement.Itorderedthattheland sshould
besur ve yedand d ividedin tosquareunits called
" to w nsh ip s.,. Eac h tow nship wasto be sixmiles by
six milesinsizeandeachwasto befurther d ivided
intosm allersquareunits,ailem ile byonemile,
called"sections."

As eachtownshipwassurveyedandmarke doutIII
sectionsthelandwasso ldby aucti on.Landd ealers
sometimesboughtwholetownships.Theyu su ally
so ld thelan dlater. at ahigherp rice.to settle rs
arrivingfromtheEast.

Ever yyear m o resettlersmovedinM an yfloatedon
ra ftsdownthewestward- flowingO hioRiver.T hey
usedth e riverasa road to carrythem selves, their
go odsandtheiranimals intothenewland s.Others
movedwestalongroutesliketheWildernessRoad
th atD an ielBo o ne's axmcnhad cutthroug hthe
Cum b erland Gap1IltheAppalachians. Suchroads
weresimplyrought racks,Justw ideenoughfo r a
w ago n and fullofho les,rocksand tree stum p s. 'lhe
averagespeedatwhicht ravelers cou ld mo vealon g
them wasabouttwomilesan hour.

3R

SamuelSlaterimportsthe

IndustrialRevolution

Attheendofth e WarofIndepend ence theU ni ted

Stateswasm ain lya lando f far mers.Itremai ne dso

for anotherhu ndredyears. It earneditsliving by

sellin g foo d andrawmaterials toothercoun m cs.

Inrerumit impo rtedth eirm anu factu redp ro d ucts.

Yet as ea rlyas the 1790sAmerica'sfirst factor y

opened.

During th e eighteenthcenturyan In dustrialRev-

ol uti on had come to Britain. N ew machin es

d riv en by water and steam power had made

poss ibleg reatincreasesinproduction.

In 1789an En glishmechanicn am ed Samuel Slater

tookth e Ind us tr ialRev olut ion acrosstheAtlantic

to Am er ica. Befo re leav ing En gland, Slater

memorized the details of thelatest Englishcott on

sp inn ing mach ines.H e carriedtheminhismcmo ry

becau se itwasagainstthelaw totakeplans of the

m ach in esoutofEnglan d.

In th eUnited StatesSlater wentin topartnersh ip

with abusinessma n name d Moses Brown. To-

gether theyopened a m ill,or factory, to Sp ill

cottonatPawtucket.Rho deIsland .Slaterbuilt the

m achinery for th e mill from m em o ry.It w as a

greatsu ccess andSlaterbecameawealthyman.

T h e suc cessofSlater'scoltonmillbeganaprocl~ss

o f change in the Uni ted States. In time that

p roc essturned the northeastofthenationintoits

firstImportantmanufarrurmgregio n.

T il t(<'I{'lIImill,1I1'<lw{J/ikn,RI",Jehland.