Industrial Revolution Vs Westward Expansion Analysis

During the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution and Westward Expansion were both important developments in America. The Industrial Revolution was when Americans’ mindsets changed as a result of new innovations and the changing economy. For example, after factories could turn cotton into yarn, farmers knew they could grow wealthy from cotton growing because the demand for raw cotton increased (Hakim NN 106). Also, since factory goods cost less than handmade goods, “ordinary people could afford things they had never been able to buy before” (Hakim NN 108). People had the chance to gain more opportunities, but they wanted even more. Westward Expansion was when Americans went west for wealth and opportunity. Most went there for economic gain because there was a lot of land that was fertile and cheap (Danzer 222). They had so much greed that farmers “who lost their farm sold whatever they had left and used the money to go west” because cash …show more content…
For instance, three U.S. marshals captured an escaped slave, but a group of citizens immediately rescued him (Hughes 134). Newspapers described them as heroes. Abolitionists claimed that the Fugitive Slave Law was made to be broken (Hughes 134). This triggered further disobedience to the law. Jerry McHenry, a runaway Negro who had lived as a free man for year was captured to be returned South. However, a group of men rescued him “in such open defiance of the law that prosecution was deemed futile” (Hughes 136). This made it harder for slaves to be captured. Defiance to the fugitive slave law made it harder for the South to enforce slavery and made Southerners more willing to fight against the abolitionists. The Compromise of 1850 caused major conflict among the North and South, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act furthered