Chapter 11:Technology, Culture, & Everyday Life

Section 1

•Focus Question: What technological improvements increased industrial productivity between 1840-1860?

•Big Picture: ▫Technology improves lives, agriculture, and

the economy at a price.

Just Think About It

•How does technology improve our daily lives?

•How does technology improve our lives, but comes at a price (consequences)?

Agriculture

•1834: Cyrus McCormick—Mechanical Reaper

•1837—John Deere—Steel Tipped Plow▫Both assisted farmers harvest “frontier”▫Civil War

•Farmers could work more land▫Downfall: purchased land & loans = debt▫Farm land without conservation

Technology & Industry•1800—Eli Whitney began metal tool

production▫Cotton gin & interchangeable parts▫Most parts still purchased from BR

•1840-1860’s—U.S. creates “American System” (H.Clay)▫U.S. less reliant on European goods▫Tariffs for manufacturing (N)

Encouraged entrepreneurs & inventions▫RR & Canals for trade (W)

Communications for business—telegraphs ▫No plans for agricultural south

Railroad Boom• 1850’s—American rail 3x’s faster than

BR Dangerous Conditions Improvements: Time zone invented +

• 1860—Chicago major RR shipping hub to connect East to Midwest (replaced NO)

Depression of 1830’s slowed down RR creation

1850’s led to RR boom = stock exchange

Prosperity•New technologies = more efficient working

= lower prices▫Small artisans could not compete▫More wages = more buying = more demand▫Growth of cities (more $ = expanding)▫Women & children had opportunities to work

and supplement farming family income▫Urbanization in N & W = economic

opportunites for all

Section 2

•Focus Question: How did American pastimes and entertainment change between 1840-1860?

•Big Picture: ▫People have more educated, have more

leisure time, and are forming social groups.

Dwellings

•Urban Setting: Brick row-homes▫Working class homes sectioned off and

popular among immigrants (Irish) and free blacks

•Middle class: building odd shaped houses▫Fancy, lots of wood, & upholstered

•Rural poor class: poorly constructed cabins

1840-1850 Life ImprovesConveniences Inconveniences

• Transportation & industry• Coal stoves• Railroads• Pipes & aqueducts for

fresh water in urban areas▫ NY

• Coal dust & carbon monoxide

• Fresh fruits/veggies only available to wealthy

• Salted pork• Lack of running water• Conditions

▫ Body odor▫ Hogs as street cleaners▫ Poor sanitation

Diseases & Health

•Epidemics—rapidly spreading diseases▫Cholera & Yellow Fever killed 1/5 of New

Orleans▫High infant mortality▫Distrusted doctors b/c they could not cure

•Quarantine—separate sick from society

Diseases & Health

•1840—Health Advancements▫Nitrous Oxide (laughing gas) anesthetic▫Sulfuric Ether in surgery▫Lack of sterilizing equipment

•Health Movements▫Water Cure 1840s (Europe)▫1832—Sylvester Graham▫Abstinence & utopian communities

Phrenology•Orson & Lorenzo Fowler 1830s

▫“bumps” in head are connected towards personality

▫Exercising “bumps” = improved character▫Popular for helping pick mates &

employees

Section 3

•Focus Question:

•Big Picture: 1830-1860 allowed Americans higher wages = more leisure time

Newspapers•3-4 pages, paid for by political supporters•1830s—steam driven press

▫James Gordon Bennett & penny press▫NY Sun & NY Herald

•Included daily events & “stories "of crime

Theater

•50 cents/seat & crowded•All classes, even prostitution allowed•Astor Place Riots•Melodramas like Shakespeare & short

performances

Minstrel Shows•1840-1850—shows depicting stereotypical

blacks▫“dancing, stumbling, poor language” ▫Whites painted faces▫Popular shows traveled across the U.S.,

even the White House

P.T. Barnum

•From CT, journalist, & “crook”•1834—began career in “circus shows”

▫Books 80 yo black woman who claimed to be GW nurse (169 yo!)

•1841—purchased the American Museum in NY▫Typical museums had stuffed animals▫Barnum displayed “oddities”

Magicians, Tom Thumb, Mermaid, albinos

Tom Thumb

Section 4

•Focus Question: How did Americans express their distinctiveness in their literature in art?

•Big Picture: Move from “fancy” writing/art to more accessible material for the masses/

Roots of the RenaissanceEconomic & Philosophical Fiction & Poetry

• Transportation Revolution = ideas of fiction and unknown

• Prior to 1800s▫ Classicism—educated

writers showing off understanding of Ancient literature.

• During 1800’s▫ Romanticism▫ Popular b/c more were

educated and now had access to new type of literature.

▫ Books taught morals with interesting and identifiable characters

Authors Subject Titles

Cooper Focused on adventure & saving nature

Last of the Mohicans

Emerson Nationalism (pride in nation )Transcendentalism—God & nature is in writing

Poetry with optimism

Thoreau “Civil Disobedience” 1849– defending rights against unjust laws.

Walden 1845

Fuller Free thinking/spirit, inspired by Emerson

Whitman Democratic thinker, against slavery

Leaves of Grass

Focus on Novels

Focus on Poetry and Essays

Authors Subject Titles

Hawthorne Fiction 1840-1850, explored human motivation

Scarlett Letter 1850—NE witch trials

Melville Pessimistic writer, interested in psychology v society

Moby Dick

Poe Short stories & poetry, connection to human struggle

The Fall of the House of Usher

PaintersHudson River School

Central Park

• Interpreted nature & landscapes

• NA & Hudson River

• 1858• Frederick Law Olmsted &

Calvert Vaux• Nature inside a city

Changes in Society Reflected in Literature