1) Erie Canal Opens: It is an artificial waterway that connects the east and Midwest. It was built in 1825 and is considered as an economic superhighway. It is very significant because it helped villages along the canal like Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester boom into cities. New York City became a boom town and the city quadrupled surpassing New Orleans as the nation’s number one port. Wall Street became the hub of financial centers. It also helped trading of goods cheaper and faster.
Cotton Gin: The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney in 1794. Cotton is native to the tropical regions, making the southern part of the country explode in the cotton industry. It is very significant because separating cotton from its fiber was a labor intensive process but this invention changed everything. It made cotton production much easier and a single person produce 50 times more cotton. By 1850, America started producing 3/4th of world’s cotton.
Industrial North & Slave South: With the cotton industry booming, slavery critical to the southern economy. Each slave was 50 times more profitable. Slavery was actually on the decline before the invention of the cotton gin. The cotton gin made cotton production very efficient and easy for people to produce more. Over production destroyed the southern land so the cotton industries moved to the North along with the slaves and thus slavery spread to the North.

2) Trail of Tears: This is a very heart breaking story of the very first