Transcript Forging the National Economy 1790-1860

Forging the National Economy
1790-1860
Ch 14
Industrialization
• All of the following gave rise to a more dynamic,
market-oriented, national economy in early
nineteenth-century America:
– push west in search of cheap land
– a vast number of European immigrants settling in the
cities
– newly invented machinery
– better roads, faster steamboats, further-reaching
canals, and tentacle-stretching railroads.
The Frontier
• Life on the frontier was downright grim for
most pioneer families.
• Unbearable loneliness haunted them,
especially women who were often cut off
from human contact.
• Pioneers as they were called felt isolated
and called upon the government for help in
building internal improvements.
• Although life on the frontier was difficult,
many like George Catlin, believed in
preserving nature as a national policy.
• His idea created the national park system
like Yellowstone Park (1872).
Rapid Urbanization
• In early-nineteenth-century America, the urban
population was growing at an unprecedented
rate.
• The population was doubling every 25 years.
• In 1790, only New York and Philadelphia had a
population over 20,000. By 1860, there were 43
cities.
• Such rapid urbanization resulted in unsanitary
conditions in many communities.
The Irish
• Potato famine (1840’s)- the Irish population
depended on the potato as their main source of
food.
• When a potato rot hit the crops about ¼ of the
population (2 million) died of starvation and disease.
• The “Black Forties” as it was called led to mass
exodus.
• Ireland’s great export was its population.
• The large influx of Catholic Irish, who continued to
hate the British, led many of them to be mistreated
by native workers.
• “NINA” No Irish Need Apply was a common sign
posted at factory gates.
• When the Irish flocked to the United States
in the 1840s, they stayed in the larger
seaboard cities because they were too
poor to move west and buy land.
• When the “famine Irish” came to America,
they mostly remained in the port cities of
the Northeast.
• Boston and New York became the largest
Irish cities.
The German
• German immigrants in the early nineteenth
century tended to preserve their own
language and culture.
• German immigrants to the United States
came to escape economic hardships and
autocratic government.
• The Germans contributed the Conestoga
wagon, the Christmas tree, bier, and
Kindergarten to American culture.
Immigrant Backlash
• Those who were frightened by the rapid influx of Irish
immigrants organized the Order of the Star-Spangled
Banner (OSSB).
• The OSSB was an oath-bound secret society in New
York. It was created in 1849 by Charles Allen to
protest the rise of Irish, Catholic, and German
immigration into the U.S.
• The sentiment of fear and opposition to open
immigration was called nativism.
• Native-born Americans feared that Catholic
immigrants to the United States would “establish” the
Catholic church at the expense of Protestantism.
• However, immigrants coming to the United States
before 1860 helped to fuel economic expansion.
Slater and Whitney
• The “Father of the Factory System” in the
United States was Samuel Slater.
• He memorized the plans for the machinery
that spins cotton thread and escaped to
the U.S.
• Eli Whitney was instrumental in the
invention of the cotton gin.
• As a result of the development of the
cotton gin, slavery revived and expanded
• Eli Whitney also introduced the method of mass
production of muskets for the U.S. Army.
• The principle of interchangeable parts was
widely adopted in 1850 and began the basis of
mass production.
• Between 1790-1800, only 306 patents were
issued, yet between 1850-1860 28,000 were
issued.
• In 1844, Samuel F. B. Morse strung a 40 mile
wire from Washington to Baltimore and tapped
out the historic message “What hath God
Wrought?”
• The telegraph improved the business world as
well as communication with the frontier.
Wage Slaves
• The early factory system distributed its benefits
mostly to the owners.
• While the owners grew rich, working people
wasted away.
• Children were also exploited. Some were
brutally whipped in special “whipping rooms.”
• The American work force in the early nineteenth
century was characterized by substantial
employment of women and children in factories.
Labor Unions
• The 1830’s and 1840’s brought many strikes
asking for a ten hour work day.
• Many workers realized that their strongest
weapon was to lay down their tools and go on
strike.
• In the case of Commonwealth v. Hunt, the
supreme court of Massachusetts ruled that
labor unions were not illegal conspiracies.
Women and the Economy
• The vast majority of working women were single.
• Upon marriage women left their paying jobs and
took up the job of wives and mothers.
• The “cult of domesticity” glorified the traditional role
of women as homemakers.
• Women’s changing roles and the Industrial
Revolution changed the life in the 19th century
home.
• Early 19th century families were getting smaller.
• One of the goals of the child-centered family of the
1800s was to raise independent individuals.
Go West!
• What did the wittle wabbit do after wunning awound a
day wong?
• The effect of early-nineteenth-century industrialization on
the trans-Allegheny West was to encourage specialized,
cash-crop agriculture.
• With the development of cash-crop agriculture in the
trans-Allegheny West, farmers quickly faced mounting
indebtedness.
• Such inventions such as the steel plow (John Deere) and
McCormick’s mechanical reaper gave way to large scale
farming.
• Before the annual harvest could move east or west,
major transportation innovation had to be made.
Transportation
• In the 1790's a major transportation project linking the
East to the trans-Allegheny West was the Lancaster
Turnpike.
• Western road building faced all of the following
problems:
–
–
–
–
It was expensive
States’ rights advocates opposed
eastern states opposed
Wartime interruptions (War of 1812)
• The “canal era” of American history began with the
construction of the Erie Canal in New York.
• Construction of the Erie Canal forced some New
England farmers to move or change occupations.