A Profile of the United States

Chapter 6.1

A Resource Rich Nation

The wealth in the United States

The United States is the world’s fourth largest country with the third highest population. This has helped benefit the people who live there because there are so many resources available for use.

The wealth ($$$$) of the U.S. is called the Gross National Product (GNP) The total amount of goods

and services produced by the entire country

Why is the U.S. so wealthy?

There are at least four factors that made the United States so rich An abundance of natural resources

Innovations in transportation

Innovation in communication

Respect for individual freedom (liberty)

An abundance of natural resources

People who settled in America produced lots of goods because they lived on farms or started businesses to collect the resources available

Innovation in transportation

The railroads, highways and automobiles all helped to create wealth and transport goods

Innovation in communication

The radio, telephones, televisions, computers and internet are just some American inventions that helped to make communication faster and easier to obtain.

Respect for individual freedom

In America, you have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. What does that mean to you?

Moving resources, goods, and people

The Mississippi River was/is a main channel for transportation. Why?

The invention of the steamboat helped move goods faster, because it was easier to move against the current.

Started building canals to allow water access in more places.

Moving resources, goods, and people

Building Railroads made it easier to move people and things across the country faster and for cheaper because trains can carry so much stuff.

Cars helped people have more freedom to move around and go where they want.

The highway system helped companies ship their products with more speed and for cheap

Moving resources, goods, and people

1837- Samuel Morse invents a system of dots and dashes that can be used to communicate across long distances Telegraph was placed along

railroad lines. Why?

1876- Alexander Graham Bell shows off his new invention, the telephone. Today, we use

telecommunication (electronic communication) which is access to the internet and allows businesses across the world to communicate in real time.

Respecting individual freedoms

Part of the success of America is due to the freedom to make what you want and participate in the Free Enterprise system of capitalism This means that the

less government interferes in business, the more things they can produce, the more money they make, the more jobs they provide, and that makes the whole country richer.

The opportunity to make a success of yourself is what draws so many immigrants to the United States.

Chapter 6.2

A Nation of Cities

Metropolitan Areas

A metropolitan area is a city and it’s surrounding suburbs. Can you identify where the City and the metropolitan areas are on this map?

https://www.google.com/maps?authuser=0&dg=optperm

Transportation affects pattern of settlement

Cities are built along major trade routes. At first, they were near the ocean since the easiest way to get to America was by ship. Baltimore, Maryland

Boston, Massachusetts

New York, New York

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Transportation affects patterns of settlement

Canals- connected the great lakes and rivers New Orleans, Louisiana

Buffalo, New York

Detroit Michigan

Cleveland, Ohio

Chicago, Illinois

Duluth, Minnesota

Transportation affects patterns of settlement

Railroads- brought goods across the country where there were no rivers. Cities along the railroads grew rapidly Chicago, Illinois

New York, New York

Denver, Colorado

Automobiles allowed freedom to travel where ever you want, whenever you want. More transportation means people

could live further from their work and this increased population in suburbs.

Interconnected

People used to be forced to live near where they work. Now they can choose to live further away in an area that has surroundings they prefer.

Products are made in different locations than they were sold. Look at a can of vegetables in Soriana.

Where does it say they were made? Probably a larger city.

Were they grown there? Probably not.

Vegetables used to have to be eaten shortly after being picked, but with advances in technology, we can find fresh and canned fruits and vegetables mile away from where they were grown.