Today's lesson examined how new technologies created affected different regions of the US differently. We discussed the most significant inventions, such as the cotton gin and the development of the Erie Canal, and later, railroads, which led to westward expansion in the South which, in turn, led to increased dependence on slavery. We saw that the Missouri Compromise divided the land from the Louisiana Purchase into separate regions defined by slavery and how slavery increasingly became an issue dividing the North and South. (a precursor to the Civil War). We then began a new chapter examining how the westward expansion pushed Indigenous people off their land and President Jackson's Indian Removal Act. We read about the policy of removing Indigenous people westward to what is now Oklahoma from 1830-1850, which forced the displacement of 60,000 people. To end our session, I showed Ben a video showing the truth behind the Trail of Tears. Ben said he appreciated seeing a clip that was not 'whitewashed.'