Ch 14: Forging the National Economy (1790-1860)
Immigration, better transportation, and new technology all contributed to economic growth
A) Westward Expansion
1. Life on the Frontier
-Ecological imperialism: beavers, bison, etc hunted for tradeàextinction
3. March of the Millions
-Overrapid urban growthà lower living conditionsà sewer system & piped-in water
-Am = land of opportunity-->beckoned strongly to struggling masse of Europe
B) European Immigrants
1. The Irish: The Emerald Isle Moves West
-Lived in squalor, undertook menial labor (railroad, kitchen maids), had few possessions
-Hated blacks, w. whom they shared society’s basement
C) New Technology Contributed to Economic Growth
1. The March of Mechanization
D) What Did the Market Economy Mean for Americans?
1. Factory Workers
-After states enfranchised laboring men, working conditions improved
-Van Buren established 10-hr work day
-Commonwealth v. Hunt: unions legal, provided they were “honorable & peaceful”
-Trade unions still had a long way to go, but this was a promising start.
2. Women & the Economy
-Factories offered employment to themà greater economic independence for women
-Hwvr, opportunities for women to be economically self-supporting were still scarce
-Familes became smaller, more closely knit, affectionate, child-centered
-Women had more power in family life & introduced new ways of child-rearing
3. Western Farmers
E) New & Better Forms of Transportation
F) Summary: A Revolution in Division of Labor
1. The Transport Web Binds the Union
-East: machines & textilesà South & West
1. Life on the Frontier
- By 1840, demographic center of Am pop’n had crossed the Alleghenies
- Life on frontier was grim—poorly fed, clad, sheltered + loneliness + harsh work
- Civilization-->Environmental destruction
-Ecological imperialism: beavers, bison, etc hunted for tradeàextinction
- Nevertheless, Ams revered nature & admired its beauty
3. March of the Millions
- By 1860, US was 4th most populous nation in western world
-Overrapid urban growthà lower living conditionsà sewer system & piped-in water
- Immigration tripled in 1840s & quadrupled in 1850s. WHY?
-Am = land of opportunity-->beckoned strongly to struggling masse of Europe
B) European Immigrants
1. The Irish: The Emerald Isle Moves West
- Living Conditions
-Lived in squalor, undertook menial labor (railroad, kitchen maids), had few possessions
- Social Class
-Hated blacks, w. whom they shared society’s basement
- Gradually improved their lot--> influenceà politicians cater to their anti-Brit sentiments
- Farmers (crop failures), but also liberal political refugees (collapse of dem revs in Eur)
- Unlike Irish, Germans possessed modest amt of material goods--> settled in Middle West
- Better educated than Ams--> supported public schools & stimulated art/music
- Theirs & Irish’s bad drinking habits--> temperance movement
- Nativists feared foreigners would outbreed, outvote & overwhelm the ‘native’ stock
- Irish & substantial minority of Germans were Roman Cath, regarded w. suspicion in US
- Nativists called for pol actionà American “Know-Nothing” party
- Occasional mass violence b/w rel groups
- Cath becomes powerful rel group
- Pluralistic society
- Helped fuel economic expansion, transforming agricultural US into market economy
C) New Technology Contributed to Economic Growth
1. The March of Mechanization
- 1750: Brit inventors harnessed power of steam to take place of human labor--> IndustRev
- Land was cheap in US--> scarce labor (until immigrants)à IndustRev couldn’t reach US
- Also, not a lot of $$ for investmt available, consumers scarce & Brit had textile monopoly
- Samuel Slater=Father of Factory System; taught Ams how to make textile machines
- Now cotton could be spun into thread, but cotton fiber not enough (hard to separate seed)
- Eli Whitney invented cotton gin, 50x more effective than handpicking process
- Suddenly, raising cotton became highly profitableàmore slaves to pick cotton
- New England’s factories benefit since more cottonà Industrial Revolution
- Stony soil=difficult to farm-->manufacturing more attractive
- Dense pop’n provided labor & accessible markets
- Shipping brought in capital & seaports facilitated import & export
- Rivers (Merrimack) provided water power to turn cogs of machines
- Whitney introduced concept of interchangeable parts produced by machines
- Elias Howe invented sewing machine--> foundation of ready-made clothes industry
- Free incorporation: ppl could create corporations w/o applying for charter from govt
- Samuel Morse’s telegraph put distantly separated people in instant communicatn
D) What Did the Market Economy Mean for Americans?
1. Factory Workers
- Personal relationships once held between workers-->impersonal ones b/w wage slaves
- Working conditions were horrible
-After states enfranchised laboring men, working conditions improved
-Van Buren established 10-hr work day
- In 1830s & 1840s dozens of strikes erupted, most for higher wages
-Commonwealth v. Hunt: unions legal, provided they were “honorable & peaceful”
-Trade unions still had a long way to go, but this was a promising start.
2. Women & the Economy
- Women in factories
-Factories offered employment to themà greater economic independence for women
-Hwvr, opportunities for women to be economically self-supporting were still scarce
- Cult of Domesticity
-Familes became smaller, more closely knit, affectionate, child-centered
-Women had more power in family life & introduced new ways of child-rearing
3. Western Farmers
- Grew grains & livestock to sell to South
- John Deere invented steel plow: broke stubborn soil & light enough for horses
- Cyrus McCormick’s mechanical mower-reaper did the job of 5 men
- Eventually, so much was grown that the South could not devour all of it, but it would be difficult to transport products to East or Europe due to lack of adequate transportation
E) New & Better Forms of Transportation
- Highways
- Lancaster Turnpike in PA hard-surfaced highway drivers had to pay a toll to use.
- 1811 fed gov starts construction of National Road; finished in 1852
- Robert Fulton installed steam engine in vessel Clermont-->first steamboat
- Played vital role in opening of West & South
- Erie Canal: Great Lakes to Hudson River--> lowered shipping $$ & transportatn time
- Value of land along Erie Canal skyrocketed--> new cities (Rochester, Syracuse)
- Most significant contribution to the development of Am econ (could travel during winter)
- At first opposed bc of safety flaws and took away money from the Erie Canal investors.
- 1st cable under North Atlantic Ocean joining Newfoundland to Ireland 1858
- Clipper ships were long + narrow & were fast in delivering cargo. Nevertheless, they were later eclipsed by Great Britain’s iron tramp steamers.
- The Pony Express (est 1860) collapsed after 18 months due to lack of profit.
- The swift ships & fleet ponies ushered out a dying technology of wind and muscle. In the future, machines would be in the saddle
F) Summary: A Revolution in Division of Labor
1. The Transport Web Binds the Union
- New methods of transportation allowed goods to move eastward not just N-S (MS River)
- By 1840s, Buffalo handled more western produce than New OrleansàNYC became seaboard queen of the nation
- By the eve of the Civil War, a truly continental economy had emerged. The principle of division of labor applied on a national scale as well. Each region now specialized in a particular type of economic activity.
- -South: cottonà New England & Britain
-East: machines & textilesà South & West
- Southern rebels would have to fight not only Northern armies but the tight bonds of an interdependent continental economy.
- Subsistence economy of scattered farms & tiny workshops became a national network of industry & commerce as more and more Americans linked their economic fate to the burgeoning market
- Household division of labor: Traditional women’s work was rendered superfluous & devalued. The home, once a center of economic production in which all family members cooperated, grew into a place of refuge from the world of work, a refuge that became increasingly the special and separate sphere of women.
- Cities demonstrated most economic inequality: unskilled workers vs. millionaires
- Mobility did exist in industrializing America, but not in the proportions that legend often portrays.
- America, with its dynamic society & wide-open spaces, undoubtedly provided more “opportunity” than did the contemporary countries of the Old World—which is why millions of immigrants packed their bags and headed for New World shores.
- Moreover, a rising tide lifts all boats, and the improvement in overall standards of living was real.
- This general prosperity helped defuse the potential class conflict that might otherwise have exploded—and that did explode in many European countries
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