American Economic Vocabulary Quiz

Vocabulary

• Protective Tariffs: Taxes on foreign imports, used to raise government funds and shield American businesses from foreign competition by increasing the price of foreign goods.
• Factory System: Used water-powered machinery to produce textiles (cloth items), employing many unskilled workers.
• Free Enterprise System: An economic system where individuals have freedom in buying, selling, and competing in the marketplace, with minimal government interference.
• Textiles: Cloth items.
• Urbanization: The growth and expansion of cities.
• Mass Production: Making large quantities of goods.
• Efficient: Maximum productivity using minimum effort.
• Push Factors: Factors that drive people away from a location (e.g., war, famine, or religious persecution).
• Pull Factors: Factors that attract people to a place (e.g., job opportunities, freedom).
• Sectionalism: Devotion to a particular region rather than to the nation as a whole.

Industrial Revolution Inventions Impact

• Interchangeable Parts: Machine-made parts that are identical and easily replaceable, increasing the speed and affordability of product assembly and repair.
• Steamboats and Canals: Faster upstream travel, cheaper transport costs, connecting regions, facilitating increased trade and growth of towns and cities along waterways.
• Telegraph: Instantaneous long-distance communication.
• Cotton Gin: Significantly increased cotton production, leading to a rise in the use of enslaved labor in the South.
• Mechanical Reaper and Thresher: Increased the speed and efficiency of harvesting and wheat processing throughout the west.
• Steel Plow: Easily cut through the hard soil of the Midwest, enabling easier farming.
• Railroads and Trains: Rapid and affordable transportation, connecting cities across the North, promoting trade and growth.

War of 1812 Effects

• Increased American nationalism,
• Weakened the Federalist Party, and
• Spurred increased American manufacturing and industry.

Industrial Revolution Causes

• Americans relied too heavily on imported goods; needed to push manufacturing.
• Population growth provided a labor force.
• Technological advancements changed manufacturing processes.

New England Geographic Factors for Factories

• Fast-flowing rivers, providing power for machines in early factories.

Women's Role in Industrial Revolution

• Women moved to urban areas, seeking work in factories, earning their own wages for independence.

Impacts of Improved Transportation and Communication

• Faster, cheaper, and easier transport of goods.
• Increased migration west due to improved connections and communication with the east.
• Improved communication and connection with family.

Population Shift Impact on Industrial Revolution

• Increased population provided a large labor force for factories, including Irish immigrants who were cheap labor.

Role of Government in Free Enterprise System

• Minimal government interference; people have the freedom to produce, sell, and buy as they wish.

Westward Expansion Motivators

• Reduced transportation costs and increased mobility made westward expansion accessible and cheaper. Inventions such as the steel plow, mechanical reaper, and thresher benefited westward expansion because they made it more efficient to farm in the West.

Equation for the Plantation System

• High demand for cotton (from Europe and the North)
• Cotton Gin's efficiency increased cotton production greatly.
• Southern farmers expanded production to meet demand, needing more workers.
• Slave labor increased in the South as a result.