Economic Transformation1820 -1860

Chapter 9

American Industrial Revolution

• Industrialization came to the United States between 1790 and 1820 as merchants and manufacturers increased output of goods by reorganizing work and building factories

• Mass Production allowed goods that were once only available to the wealthy, can now be bought by almost anyone.

American Industrial Revolution

American Industrial Revolution

• two great changes defined the early nineteenth century American economy:

• 1) the growth and mechanization of industry• (the Industrial Revolution) • 2) and the expansion and integration of

markets (the Market Revolution).

Out Work System

• The “outwork system” was a more efficient division of labor and lowered the price of goods, but it eroded workers’ control over the pace and conditions of work.

• Manufacturers used newly improved stationary steam engines to power their mills and used power-driven machines and assembly lines to produce new types of products

James WattInventor of the Steam Engine

Born in Scotland in 1736

Developed the Unit of measure Horsepower.

One Horse could pull 33,000 pounds for one foot in one minute.

His steam engines were adopted by American and British Textile Mills.

Factories

• For tasks not suited to outwork, factories were created where work was concentrated under one roof and divided into specialized tasks.

The Textile Industry and British Competition

• Some Britons feared that American manufacturers would become exporters not only to foreign countries but even to England.

• British textile manufacturers were particularly worried about American competition; Britain prohibited the export of textile machinery and the emigration of mechanics who knew how to build it, but many mechanics disguised themselves as ordinary laborers and set sail.

The Textile Industry and British Competition

• Samuel Slater brought to America a design for an advanced cotton spinner; the opening of his factory in 1790 marked the advent of the American Industrial Revolution.

• America had an abundance of natural resources, but British companies were better established and had less-expensive shipping rates, lower interest rates, and cheaper labor

The Textile Industry and British Competition

• Congress passed protective legislation in 1816 and 1824, levying high taxes on imported goods; tariffs were reduced again in 1833, and some textile firms went out of business.

• American producers used two other strategies to compete with their British rivals . First, they improved on British technology; second, they found less expensive workers.

The Textile Industry and British Competition

• By copying the machines of British textile mills, Francis Cabot Lowell’s Boston Manufacturing Company was able to build the Waltham factory, the first American factory to perform all the operations of clothmaking under one roof at higher speeds than British mills and with fewer workers.

The Textile Industry and British Competition

• “Waltham plan,” in which the company recruited farm women and girls as textile workers who would work for low wages.

• By the early 1830s more than 40,000 New England women worked in textile mills; women often found this work oppressive, but many gained a new sense of freedom and autonomy.

Conclusion

• By combining improved technology, female labor, and tariff protection, the Boston Manufacturing Company sold textiles more cheaply than the British.

American Technological Innovation

• 1820’s American Craftsmen replace British Craftsmen

• Creation of Mechanical Institutes help to spread technological innovation

• Creation of Machine Tools help to keep industrial revolution going in the United States

• Eli Whitney developed Inter-changeable parts. Aids in creation of American Firearms Industry.

Eli Whitney • 1765 – 1825• Attended Yale College • Known for invention of the Cotton Gin• Created interchangeable parts which

helped to speed up manufacturing. • The Cotton Gin increased the South

reliance on Slaves for its economics• Even though the Cotton Gin is arguably

Eli Whitney’s most well known invention, he made very little money from the invention due to constantly fighting patent infringement lawsuits.

Wage Workers and Labor Movement

• Industrial Revolution changed the nature of work and the lives of workers.

• Craftsman Developed an “Artisan Republican Ideology”

• As outwork increases, more workers become wage workers and the Artisan Republican Ideology dies out.

Wage Workers and Labor Movement

• Some journeymen formed unions and bargained with their employers, particularly with the hope of setting a ten-hour workday.

• The new industrial system divided the traditional artisan class into two groups: self employed craftsmen and wage-earning craftsmen.

Wage Workers and the Labor Movement

• In 1830, factory workers banded together to form the Mutual Benefit Society to seek higher pay and better conditions. In 1834, the National Trades Union was founded.

• By the 1850s, labor supply exceeded demand, and unemployment rose to 10 percent, resulting in a major recession and the Panic of 1857.

The Market Revolution

• As Factories turned out more goods, Businessman and legislators created faster ways to get those goods to market.

• This creates need for a faster more efficient transportation system.

• 1) Building of roads and bridges• 2) Canals and water transportation to ship goods• 3) Rail roads.

Erie Canal

Erie Canal

Erie Canal

• When the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, it spanned New York State from the Hudson River in Albany to Lake Erie in Buffalo. Although the canal did not receive much support in the beginning, it soon proved to be a great benefit to New York and the entire country

Erie Canal

• The National Road and other interregional, government-funded highways were too slow and expensive to transport goods and crops efficiently.

Erie Canal

• shipping costs from New York to the Midwest dropped from $100 a ton to less than $10 a ton.

• The time it took to ship the goods was cut down by a third.

• Greatly increased trade for New York City businesses

Erie Canal

• This influx of people opened up new markets for New York City businesses. It also increased the financial and physical growth of cities along the canal route.

• Influx__________________• The canal also created easy access for

European businesses wanting to reach the Midwest

Erie Canal

• New York became the main international gateway to the resources of the Midwest. It also became the financial capital of the nation.

• the canal created a bond between the people living in the East and West. This helped strengthen the Union.

• The East also began to rely on the West for agricultural products, as well as the profits from exporting them to Europe.

Erie Canal

• The North grew rich from trade. The South, with its slave economy, became the weaker region.

• Northerners became the dominant group in the Midwest and began to influence the politics and culture of this region.

• For example, many Northerners felt that slavery should not be brought into the Western territories

Steamboat

• Steamboat is invented by Robert Fulton in 1807, named the Clemont, used to navigate up the Hudson River.

• Helps to ensure the success of water borne transportation.

• Gibbons v. Ogden- Supreme Court voided a monopoly on steamboat travel in New York City and established federal control over inter-state travel.

• No state law could impede the flow of goods, services and new across the nation

Assignment

• Directions: Write a one to two page paper discussing the following topics

• 1. Describe in your own words three key changes (geographic, economic, and political) that the construction of the Erie Canal brought to New York.

• 2. Describe in your own words three key changes (geographic, economic, and political) that the construction of the Erie Canal brought to the United States.

Changes in the Social Structure

• The Industrial Revolution shattered the traditional rural social order and created a society composed of distinct regions, classes, and cultures. (MAIN IDEA)

• In the cities the Rich 1 Percent own 40% of the property and nearly all the stock and bonds. Gov’t taxed property, but not stocks and bonds, thus allowing the rich to get rich at the expense of the poor. ( Think: Rich get richer; poor get poorer). (Economic & Political)

Changes in the Social Structure

• Wealthy families begin to distance themselves from their less wealthy counterparts

• Cities become segregated based off of wealth, class, ethnicity, and race. (Social)

Emergence of a Middle Class

• A distinct middle-class culture emerged as the per capita income of Americans rose about 2.5 percent per year between 1830 and the Panic of 1857. (economic)

• Middle-class Americans secured material comfort for themselves and education for their children, and they stressed discipline, morality, and hard work (Social)

Emergence of A Middle Class

• Business Elite and the middle class stress, hard work as the key factor in economic mobility

• Reflected in the idea of the self-made man • Self Made Man

• Hard Work is key to success • Those who work harder and succeed are better than

those who are lazy or handed everything in life • Celebrate individual accomplishment.

Urban Workers and the Poor

• Bottom 10% of the labor force owned little to no property (economic)

• Jobs for this group were: seasonal, dangerous, part-time or inconsistent.

• This forces parents to send their children into the labor force/ Death of a parent means poverty for the family. (Social)

Urban Workers and the Poor

• Crowded and filthy living conditions, poor sanitation, high rates of alcoholism and use of opium or other narcotics

The Irish

The Irish

• The Great Famine or the Potato Famine occurred between 1845 to 1852.

• This was a time of disease and mass starvation that caused many to leave Ireland

• The United States became the destination for many Irish due to the booming industrial economy, open land, and relatively easy immigration requirements

Irish Immigration

The Irish

• Found work in New York City, New England City and the industrial centers of Mid-West (think Chicago, Detroit).

• The Irish were the poorest of all immigrants that came during the Industrial Revolution

• Took the lowest paying / dirtiest jobs• The vast majority of the Irish that came to the

United States were Catholic• Causes growth of the American Catholic Church.

Irish in America

Irish and Nativism

• Nativism-belief that the native born people are culturally superior to those that are not native born.

• Native Born in United States = W.A.S.P • White. Anglo-Saxon. Protestant• Arrival of Non-Native immigrants creates Social

tension • Formation of Nativist Groups try to block/create

immigration quotas. Anti-Catholic Leagues

Irish and Nativism

• Leads to Anti-Irish Violence– Many feel that the Irish labor competition causes wages to

be lower / They Took our Jobs!!!!!!!– Protestant business owners would not hire or promote Irish – Some businesses, hotels, saloons and stores banned Irish

from entering. – Irish are viewed as being Un-American/ lacking American

values• Alcoholic• Papists- Hold the Pope over American Republicanism• Violent/ Always Fighting

Social Reform

• The Second Great Awakening- Protestant Revivalism.

• Key Figure: • Charles Grandison Finney

• Man could choose salvation; material wealth does not determine salvation

• Appealed to new middle class and upper classes • Rejected by the Irish due to his Protestant background • Focused on the importance of social work, primarily

with the poor

•

Temperance Movement

• Temperance- Social movement to end the sale and/or consumption of alcohol

• Alcohol is viewed as the caused of social and moral decay in America. – Blamed for Irish poverty and domestic violence – Drinking causes laziness, violence and sloth.

Barrier to social and economic mobility.

Temperance Movement

• Most successful of all social movements • Focused on religion, family, prayer and group

confession • 1830 alcohol consumption 5 gallons per

person/yr• 1845 alcohol consumption 2 gallons per

person/ yr

Exit Questions

• What social classes were created by the economic revolution? Describe their characteristics

• Describe the importance of Industrial and Market Revolution in changing the economy of the United States.