Skip to content
Chronological Reasoning and Causation

How did technology drive expansion?

  1. Load Photograph of land being prepared for digging of the Barge Canal, Montezuma, 1906 in Main Document Viewer
  2. Load Contract between John Richardson and the canal commissioners for the grubbing, clearing, excavation, embankment, and construction of the first section of the Erie Canal near Rome, New York, July 12, 1817. in Main Document Viewer
  3. Load Contract between John Richardson and the canal commissioners for the grubbing, clearing, excavation, embankment, and construction of the first section of the Erie Canal near Rome, New York, July 12, 1817. in Main Document Viewer
  4. Load Contract between John Richardson and the canal commissioners for the grubbing, clearing, excavation, embankment, and construction of the first section of the Erie Canal near Rome, New York, July 12, 1817. in Main Document Viewer
  5. Load Contract between John Richardson and the canal commissioners for the grubbing, clearing, excavation, embankment, and construction of the first section of the Erie Canal near Rome, New York, July 12, 1817. in Main Document Viewer
  6. Load Sketch of an engineering and survey crew at work investigation a site for the enlargement of the Erie Canal, c. 1851 in Main Document Viewer
  7. Load Letter from Henry I. Megasey to John B. Jervis, New York, May 27, 1826 in Main Document Viewer
  8. Load Letter from Henry I. Megasey to John B. Jervis, New York, May 27, 1826 in Main Document Viewer
  9. Load Letter from Henry I. Megasey to John B. Jervis, New York, May 27, 1826 in Main Document Viewer
  10. Load Engraving showing excavation of the "deep cut" near Lockport, New York, 1825 in Main Document Viewer
  11. Load Engraving showing the completed "deep cut," 1825 in Main Document Viewer
  12. Load Petition from Canvass White to Secretary of State Henry Clay concerning White's patent for waterproof cement, and certificate, signed by Clay and dated November 30, 1825 in Main Document Viewer
  13. Load Petition from Canvass White to Secretary of State Henry Clay concerning White's patent for waterproof cement, and certificate, signed by Clay and dated November 30, 1825 in Main Document Viewer
  14. Load "Directions for Using White's Patent Hydraulic Cement" in Main Document Viewer
  15. Load Engraving of "The Lock," Erie Canal, 1852 in Main Document Viewer
  16. Load Delta Dam, Near Rome, 1916 in Main Document Viewer
  17. Load Delta Dam, Near Rome, 1916 in Main Document Viewer

Suggested Teaching Instructions

 

As the nation expanded, growing sectional tensions, especially over slavery, resulted in political and constitutional crises that culminated in the Civil War. American nationalism was both strengthened and challenged by territorial expansion and economic growth. 

Students will examine the market revolution, including technological developments, the development of transportation networks, the growth of domestic industries, the increased demands for free and enslaved labor, the changing role of women, and the rise of political democracy