1790 - 1860

FORGING THE NATIONAL ECONOMY

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OVERVIEW

• The First Industrial Revolution• “2nd Industrial Rev” would be post-Civil War, with

Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc.• Americans look to western territories and states

for new economic opportunities• Innovations in transportation make distant

markets accessible• Links North and West economically• West absorbs large number of immigrants• “Market Revolution” relation to cult of

domesticity, that ”a woman’s place is in the home”

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POPULATION INCREASES

• Population “whitened” over time – why?• Total population increases tenfold (3.9 mil to 31

mil)• Immigration & anti-immigration movements

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INDUSTRIALIZATION & ITS EFFECTS

• Industrialization transforms nation from Jeffersonian small farmers to wage laborers

• Wage labor: at mercy of factory owner, cheap form of labor• Rise of organized labor• Women in the industrial workplace

• Factory jobs attract large numbers of immigrants• Immigrants play significant role in politics• Industrialization focused in North, while southern

economy remains agrarian

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THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT

• “demographic center” of nation keeps moving west

• Young country – in 1850, 50% of Americans were under age 30

• Frontier life often led to isolation, self-reliance, “Rugged Individualism”

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THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT

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SHAPING THE WESTERN LANDSCAPE

• Western movement affected physical landscape• Tobacco farming exhausted soil, and then people

moved on• Kentucky Bluegrass made for ideal pasture, lured

many pioneers into Kentucky• Ecological Imperialism: exploitation of nature’s

resources• In West, almost near-extinction of beaver, buffalo,

and sea otter

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GEORGE CATLIN

• Famous painter of West and of Native American life

• Feared the destruction of natural beauty• Beauty of the untamed west = symbol of

American identity• One of the first advocates of National Parks

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GEORGE CATLIN PAINTINGS

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THE MARCH OF MILLIONS

• As Americans moved west, population doubled each 25 years

• 1860: US was 4th most populated country in western world

• Growth of Cities:• 1790: only NY and Philadelphia had more than 20,000

pop• 1860: 43 cities claimed population of over 20,000

• Problems of urbanization: slums, sanitation nightmares, inadequate police/high crime, disease

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IMPACT OF IMMIGRATION

• 1830s: about 60,000 immigrants per year• 1840s: 180,000 immigrants per year• 1850s: 240,000 immigrants per year• During this time period, approximately 3 million

Irish and German immigrants came to US.

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WHY SUCH AN INCREASE?

• Europe was running out of room• 1800-1900: European population doubled• Opportunities in America, “land of freedom and

opportunity”• No aristocracy, no state religion, low taxes, no

compulsory military service• Political changes in Germany• Potato famine in Ireland• “Hibernian” is an adjective for “Irish” (Latin word for

Ireland was Hibernia)

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IRISH IMMIGRATION

• Potato famine in mid 1840s• 2 million Irish (about 25% of population) died due

to starvation and disease• New Irish immigrants were poor, did not have

money to move west• Settled in Eastern cities, mainly New York and

Boston• Work on canals and railroads• “An Irishman lay buried under every railroad tie”

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THE IRISH AND POLITICS

• Especially in New York, politicians competed for the Irish vote

• Growth of urban “political machines” e.g. Tammany Hall (run by Boss Tweed)

• Irish helped by political machines• Irish later become prevalent in law enforcement

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ANTI-IRISH SENTIMENT

• Until Irish immigration, Catholic population in US had been a very, very small minority

• Many Protestant Americans scorned the Irish Catholic “menace”

• Many factories outwardly discriminated against hiring the Irish

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GERMAN IMMIGRATION

• 1830-1860: over 1.5 million Germans immigrate to US

• Displaced by economic and political conditions• Typically pro-democracy, anti-slavery• Most Germans had more money to start with, so

they tended to head west • Scattered population, no significant political bloc

like Irish

Introduced Christmas tree,Kindergarten, and made beer really popular

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ANTI-CATHOLICISM IN AMERICA

• All Irish and a significant minority of Germans were Catholic

• 1840s: beginning of Catholic schools in US• Anti-Catholic sentiment was exceptionally strong

in US at this time (and still is to some degree)• Fears of Irish and Germans introducing ‘popish

idols’• Anti-Catholic propaganda – “diary” of Maria Monk,

circulated widely• 1834: anti-Catholic riot in Boston, convent burned• 1844: anti-Catholic riot in Philadelphia, 2

churches burned down, 13 killed and 50 wounded

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ANTI-CATHOLICISM IN AMERICA

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NATIVIST RIOT IN PHILADELPHIA, 1844

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NATIVISM

•“Native” Americans: of old Protestant stock, families had been established in America for some time•Anti-Catholic, also feared Irish were taking jobs and depressing wages in cities•Formation of “Know Nothing Party” in US•Nickname from secretiveness•Platform of rigid restrictions on immigration and naturalization, and deportation of poor immigrants

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NATIVIST CARTOON

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CREEPING MECHANIZATION

• Industrial Revolution began in Britain in 1750s, but carefully protected secrets (and 2 wars!) made spread of technology to America very slow

• British developed factory system• Americans early on followed Jeffersonian ideal of

small farmers (and land was cheap)• Embargo of 1807 and War of 1812 helped boost

industry/factories in America• Samuel Slater: Father of Factory System in

America, escaped with plans from England.

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ELI WHITNEY

• 1793: Eli Whitney invents cotton gin (short for “cotton engine”)

• Made it really inexpensive to process cotton• Indirectly increased demand for slavery• Southern Agriculture began to focus less on

tobacco and rice and more on cotton• Later, South will be called “King Cotton”• Also a reason factories did not take off in the

south… cotton was so profitable.

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MARVELS IN MANUFACTURING

• 1798: Eli Whitney and interchangeable parts• Basis of modern mass-production and assembly

line• Helped North produce more weapons, which

helped them defeat the cotton dependent South in Civil War. Eli Whitney had a hand in both!

• Singer & Howe: sewing machine – made clothes making a factory job, took it out of the home

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MORSE AND TELEGRAPH

• 1844: Samuel Morse: telegraph – instant communication

• Telegraph would be another northern advantage in Civil War

• Telegraph = Twitter of its time. Lincoln was obsessed with it, while the South ignored it.

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WORKERS AND “WAGE SLAVES”

• Industrial Revolution moved work from small shops to large, city-based factories

• Unions were illegal• Child workers were vulnerable to exploitation• Jacksonian democracy: extended right to vote to

the working man (not just property owner)• Jackson & Van Buren Democrats: fought for ten

hour work day, higher wages, better working conditions

• 1842 Supreme Court: Commonwealth v. Hunt: Unions are not illegal

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WOMEN AND THE ECONOMY

• Textile mills of New England employed women• Example: Lowell Factory Girls. Bad conditions but

did gain economic independence• 1850: 10% of white women worked• Catherine Beecher: urged women to go into

teaching profession

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THE CULT OF DOMESTICITY

• Industrial Revolution creates separation between work and home

• Home looked at as “women’s sphere”•Cult of domesticity: Woman completely runs

the home, but no rights/influence outside of it• Worked well with “Republican Motherhood” –

women responsible for raising good, moral citizens

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AGRICULTURAL ADVANCES

• 1837: John Deere invents Steel Plow to replace wooden plow

• Stronger and can be pulled by horses rather than oxen

• 1830s: Cyrus McCormick invents the “McCormick Reaper”• Allows one man to do what previously took 5 men to

accomplish

• West was now producing more crops, but needed a way to transport it to the East

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HIGHWAYS

• Turnpikes: People invest in building a road and make money back from tolls• Lancaster Turnpike in Pennsylvania

• 1811 Federal government constructs Cumberland Road from MD to IL.

• War of 1812 and veto of Clay’s American System eventually put federally funded internal improvements to a halt.

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STEAMBOATS

• 1807: Robert Fulton – steamboat up Hudson River• Steam powered, can go up or down current• Turned rivers into “two way streets”• Major influence on Mississippi… now ships could

travel North, rather than only South• Major influence on economic development of the

West

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CANALS

• “Clinton’s big Ditch” = Erie Canal, led by NY governor DeWitt Clinton

• Linked Hudson River to Great Lakes• Land along canals became valuable• Western crops could be transported to eastern

cities• Helped spur growth of Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland

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CANALS: NORTH & WEST

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CANALS & RAILROADS

• Canals mainly facilitated east-west traffic• No comparable network of canals existed in the

South--a disparity that helps to explain northern superiority in the Civil War

• Note the explosion of new railroad construction in the 1850s and its heavy concentration in the North.

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RAILROADS

• The “Iron Horse”• Fast, reliable, cheaper than canals• No weather limitations (canals froze in winter)• Lots of early technological problems (accidents,

brake failures, fires, etc)• Eventually stitched country together• Most railroads concentrated in North – a decided

advantage in Civil War• Troops from Maine could be on the battlefield in a

matter of days, where it used to take months

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RAILROADS

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TRANSPORT WEB BINDS THE UNION

• South raised cotton to export to New England and Britain

• West grew grain and livestock to feed factory workers in the East and in Europe

• East made machines and textiles (clothing) for the South and West

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THE MARKET REVOLUTION

• American economy matures and diversifies – trade, industry, and commercial farming

• From isolated farms to a national network of industry and commerce

• Greater investment in big companies• Less self-sufficient households• Store-bought goods replace homemade products• Home becomes the special sphere of women, as

men are “at work” now

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END OF MARSHALL COURT

• Chief Justice John Marshall died in 1835• New Court became less federalist as rise of mass

democracy/Jacksonian• Old court: would force states to grant monopolies• New court: rights of the community more

important than rights of corporations• Increased investment and competition• Famous case: Charles River Bridge v. Warren

Bridge

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CRASHCOURSE: MARKET REVOLUTION

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNftCCwAol0