| A | B |
|---|
| cotton gin | a machine that removes seeds from cotton fiber |
| interchangeable part | a part of a machine or device that can be replaced by another, identical part |
| patent | sole legal right an invention and its profits |
| capitalism | economic system in which people and companies own the means of production |
| capital | money or other used to create wealth |
| free enterprise | a type of economy in which people are free to buy, sell, and produce whatever they want |
| census | the official count of a population |
| turnpike | road on which tolls are collected |
| canal | an artificial waterway |
| lock | separate compartment in which water levels rise and fall in order to raise or lower boats on a canal |
| sectionalism | rivalry based on special interests of different areas |
| monopoly | a market where there is only one provider |
| interstate commerce | economic activity taking place between two or more states |
| innovation | a new method, idea, product, etc |
| industrialization | the development of industries in a country or region on a wide scale |
| clipper ship | a fast sailing ship, especially one of 19th-century design with concave bows and raked masts |
| fabric | cloth or other material produced by weaving or knitting fibers |
| Great Train Wreck of 1856 | Two trains, traveling on the same track in converging directions, collided, killing between 59 and 67, and injuring over 100 |
| morse code | an alphabet or code in which letters are represented by combinations of long and short signals of light or sound |
| reaper | a person or machine that harvests a crop |
| child labor | the use of children in industry or business, especially when illegal or considered inhumane |
| strike | a refusal to work organized by a body of employees as a form of protest |
| license | a permit from an authority to own or use something, do a particular thing, or carry on a trade |
| prejudice | a favoring or dislike of something without good reason |
| nativist | relating to or supporting the policy of protecting the interests of native-born or established inhabitants against those of immigrants |
| immigration | the action of coming to live permanently in a foreign country |
| potato blight | a destructive fungal disease of potatoes resulting in dry brown rot of the tubers |
| famine | a serious food shortage leading to starvation |
| domestic slave trade | buying and selling enslaved people within the boundaries of the United States and its territories |
| iron | a strong, hard magnetic silvery-gray metal, the chemical element of atomic number 26, much used as a material for construction and manufacturing |
| plantation | an estate on which crops such as coffee, sugar, and tobacco are cultivated by resident labor |
| legal | allowed or permitted by law |
| steamboat | a boat that is propelled by a steam engine, especially a paddle-wheel craft of a type used widely on rivers in the 19th century |
| river | a large natural stream of water flowing in a channel to the sea, a lake, or another such stream |
| lake | any relatively large body of slowly moving or standing water that occupies an inland basin of appreciable size |
| consumer | a person who purchases goods and services for personal use |
| Tom Thumb | America's first functional steam train |
| skilled labor | jobs that require specialized training, education, or experience to perform complex physical or mental tasks |
| plow | a large farming implement with one or more blades fixed in a frame, drawn by a tractor or by animals and used for cutting furrows in the soil and turning it over, especially to prepare for the planting of seeds |
| profit | a financial gain, especially the difference between the amount earned and the amount spent in buying, operating, or producing something |
| labor union | an organized association of workers in a trade, group of trades, or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interests; a labor union |
| American Party | a former political party in the United States; active in the 1850s to keep power out of the hands of immigrants and Roman Catholics |
| productivity | making or producing easily or in large amounts |
| lumber | the wood of trees cut and prepared for use as building material |
| textile | a type of cloth or woven fabric |
| yeoman | a man holding and cultivating a small landed estate; a freeholder |
| overseer | a person who supervises others, especially workers |
| telegraph | a system for transmitting messages from a distance along a wire, especially one creating signals by making and breaking an electrical connection |
| process | perform a series of mechanical or chemical operations on (something) in order to change or preserve it |
| railroad | a track or set of tracks made of steel rails along which passenger and freight trains run |
| locomotive | a powered rail vehicle used for pulling trains |
