The opening of the nineteenth century saw innovations, inventions, and improvements in the old ways

of doing things that allowed Americans more personal freedom.

With the Industrial Revolution came inventions that
promoted economic growth and enhanced agricultural
production. Eli Whitney's cotton gin and the new
American textile mills made available mass-produced
fabrics and clothing. Improved systems of
transportation moved goods swiftly across the
countryside. With Robert Fulton's steamboat, the new
National Road, the Erie Canal, and the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad, the Transportation Age officially began.
People had the freedom and means to travel greater
distances than ever before.
While the southern economy remained agricultural,
the north became increasingly industrialized and
urbanized. Some entrepreneurs and factory owners
made fortunes. However, the immigrants who flocked
to the cities encountered grueling and dangerous
working conditions. Some employers created villages
that provided for their workers needs, but most saw
no need to modify inhospitable working
environments.

This lithograph by Currier & Ives depicts four of

the major inventions of the nineteenth century:
the lightning steam press, the electric telegraph,
the locomotive, and the steamboat, all of which
were developed during the Industrial Revolution.

American culture experienced a creative freedom with the writings of Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Stowe,
Thoreau, and Emerson. In 1855, Walt Whitman created a new, democratic American verse in his
groundbreaking collection Leaves of Grass.
With personal freedom increasing for many, the lack of freedom for some groups became more
apparent. By the 1830s, many Americans began to see that the concept of liberty for all as outlined in
the Declaration of Independence must be more broadly applied to African-Americans. The cotton gin
had increased the production of cotton, but at the same time it increased the needs for slave labor.
Women, too, found themselves left behind in the freedom movement.
As American freedom took on new meaning, both the abolition and the woman suffrage movements
took form and grew in strength. For a nation to be truly free, all must share in that freedom.