Transportation and Communication Innovations in the 1840s
Steve Inskeep, host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” discussed the size and demographics of the United States in the 1840s and how innovations such as the railroad and telegraph impacted the country.
Description
Steve Inskeep, host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” discussed the size and demographics of the United States in the 1840s and how innovations such as the railroad and telegraph impacted the country.
Bell Ringer Assignment
- How does the map of the United States in the 1840s compare to the map today?
- Describe how the population of the United States was changing in the 1840s.
- What does Mr. Inskeep mean by “distances were shrinking”?
- How did the railroad and telegraph change how connected Americans were?
Additional Resources
Participants
Vocabulary
- Doubling Rate
- Generation
- Immigration
- Median Age
- Mississippi River
- Population
- Railroad
- St. Louis
- Telegraph