DSG - Early Technological Developments (Lesson)

Early Technological Developments

Introduction

Georgia began to boom thanks to King Cotton! Between the expansions of cotton growth, thanks to the cotton gin, the increase of railroads connecting all regions of the state, Georgia increased its economic prosperity. After the American Revolutionary War Georgia had been in financial chaos. Inflation and farms in despair troubled the state in the early years of the United States, but Georgia had plenty of land and people ready to work.

 

Technological Developments

Review the information in the activity below.

 

A Word About Gold

No one really knows who discovered gold in the hills of north Georgia. There are stories that gold was first found in Duke’s Creek in present-day White County. There is also a story that a prospector from North Carolina found gold in Ward’s Creek near Dahlonega. And yet another story says that gold was found near the Chestatee River.

Yet there is no documented evidence that gold was found prior to August of 1829 when the newspaper, the Georgia Journal in Milledgeville, printed this report:

 

GOLD - A gentleman of the first respectability in Habersaham County, writes us thus under date of 22d July: "Two gold mines have been discovered in this county, and preparations are making to bring these hidden treasures of the earth to use." So it appears that what we long anticipated has come to pass at last, namely that the gold region of North and South Carolina, would be found to extend into Georgia.

-Williams, David. "Gold Rush." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 12 September 2018. Web. 01 October 2020.

 

Gold rush towns popped up across north Georgia, mostly in Lumpkin County as miners flocked to the area.

Congress approved a federal branch of the U.S. Mint in Dahlonega that began operating in 1838. (By the time the mint closed in 1861 it had produced more than 1.5 million coins worth over $6 million.)

The residents of north Georgia viewed the mint as a stamp of federal approval for the removal of the Cherokees to allow white settlers to occupy the Cherokee land through the land lottery system and to restrict the Native Americans’ access to any gold that might be on that land.
Gold became scarce by the early 1840s; and in 1849 gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in northern California and the nation’s attention shifted west

 

 

Review

Review what you've learned by completing the activity below.

 

 

 

 

New inventions such as the cotton gin and the expansion of transportation methods such as the railways had a great impact on the growth of Georgia. Take the time to reflect over these questions as you read the following article: The Crowning of King Cotton Links to an external site..

• Is the cotton gin responsible for the progression of slavery?
• Is cotton the sole reason slavery expanded within Georgia?
• Could Atlanta be the transportation powerhouse it is today without starting off as a connection on two railway lines?
• How is Georgia’s economy today still reliant on agriculture and transportation?

 

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