The Mid-1800's
Education and the Mississippi River
Education before 1840
Before 1840, schools in the U.S. were much different. In order for kids to get into schools their parents would have to enroll them into an optional school house where the kids sometimes stayed home to work on the farm. Kids in america used to go to single school houses with all ages. The students would all learn together in the same room. They din't have different curriculum but simply different ability and had to work together.
America's Schooling Revolution
In 1840, the much thought about happened. People all around the U.S. were waiting for the day where everyone could get a full education, and it finally happened. The U.S. leaders wanted a system that could teach americans how to live their lives in a good way. Leaders in Connecticut and Massachusetts forged the road for other states. Soon after required attendance came and in 1918 all these laws were in all states.
African American Schooling
Education for African-Americans was hard to find on the east coast. School houses didn't except them for the most part. The only way desperate "negros" could find schooling was white people who wanted them to be able to read the bible, which was illegal. Nevertheless this made getting jobs very difficult.
History of the Mississippi
The US occupied the land on both sides of the Mississippi River. Eastern settlers moved west for two reasons. One, they thought that the Mississippi was a good place to live. Two, the soil in the east was exhausted. On 1861, a year into the Civil War, Mark Twain was publishing a book on his accounts of life on the Mississippi River.
Changes made to the Mississippi
The Mississippi Valley was home to the most complex, cultural, commercial. and diplomatic changes. Culture, commerce, and diplomacy around the Mississippi region underwent interconnected changes. The valley went from the frontier to the heartland of the nation; from the peripheral to the center of the nation.
How the land around the Mississippi River got fertile
At the bottom of the river are layers of silt, which made the land fertile. When the river floods, the silt comes out of the river onto the land. Due to the location and length of the river, the river makes a lot of fertile land.