America’s Economic
Revolution
Chapter 10
America’s Economic Revolution
● “Americans shall rule America”
- Thomas Swann, a Maryland
railroad magnate and mayor of
Baltimore in 1865 as a
candidate of the “Know
Nothing” Party.
America’s Economic Revolution
● When the United States entered
the War of 1812, it was essentially
an agrarian nation.
● By the time of the Civil War in
1861, most Americans were still
rural, but were now part of a
national, and increasingly
international market economy.
America’s Economic Revolution
● The Northeast and Northwest were developing a
complex economy dominated by large cities,
manufacturing, and profitable commercial farming.
America’s Economic Revolution
● Southern agriculture, particularly cotton farming
flourished due to the growing demand from textile mills
in New England
● The United States began to challenge the industrial
nations of Europe for supremacy.
The Changing American Population
● The American Population from 1820-1840
○ Three trends of population
■ Rapidly Increasing
■ Moving from countryside to city
■ Migrating westward
The Changing American Population
● Urban Growth
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The booming agricultural economy of
the West produced significant urban
growth.
Western towns which were centers of
growing trade that connected the
farmers if the midwest with the cities
of the Northeast, grew into cities.
After 1830, the great lake cities
emerged such as Cleveland and
Chicago
The Changing American Population
● Immigration and New Immigration
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In the late 1840’s, the average annual immigration was almost
300,000.
In 1850, almost 10 percent of the population were foreign born
Few immigrants settled in the south.
A majority of new immigrants were from Germany and Ireland
The Changing American Population
● Differences in New Immigrants
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Irish settled in eastern cities and worked as unskilled laborers.
Most Germans lived in the northwest.
Germans came to the country with money while the Irish immigrants
had nothing.
The Changing American Population
● The Rise of Nativism
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Pros of immigration
■ Cheap labor
■ Expanding Western land markets and population
■ Political influence in western states and eastern cities
Still, many Americans viewed it with fear and hostility leading to
Nativism.
The Changing American Population
● Nativist reasons against immigration
●
○ Socially unfit to live alongside older stock Americans
○ Stealing jobs
○ Corrupting politics with radical ideas
Nativism led to the rise of the “Know- Nothings,” which later became the
anti-immigration “American Party.”
Transportation, Communications and Technology
●
The Canal Age
○ After the 1790’s-1820’s “turnpike
era,” roads were not adequate for the
nation’s growing needs.
○ Neither farmers of the West nor the
merchants of the East were completely
satisfied with the roundabout river-sea
route
○ Merchants and entrepreneurs took to
canals for a more direct route
Transportation, Communications and Technology
●
The Canal Age (cont.)
○ New York’s Erie Canal gave New York access to the Great Lakes,
Chicago, and the growing Western markets.
○ One of the immediate results of canals was increased white
settlement in the Northwest
■ Made it easier for migrants to make the westward journey
and ship their goods back to Eastern markets.
Transportation, Communications and Technology
●
Early Railroads
○ When canals proved unsatisfactory for many merchants, they
turned to railroads.
○ Railroads became the primary transportation system for the
United States until the mid-twentieth century.
○ Before the 1830’s and 1840’s:
■ Lines were short
■ Tracks differed in width
■ Schedules were erratic
■ Wrecks were frequent
Transportation, Communications and Technology
●
The Triumph of the Rails
○ After 1840, railroads gradually became the main mode of
transportation
○ In 1840 there were 2,818 miles of tracks in the US; by 1850,
there were 9,021.
○ The Northeast had the most comprehensive and efficient system
Transportation, Communications and Technology
●
Railroads (cont.)
○ Railroads further weakened the
connection between the
Northwest and the South by
lessening the dependence of
the West on the Mississippi
river.
○ Railroads obtained substantial
assistance from the Federal
Government in the form of land
grants.
Transportation, Communications and Technology
●
Innovations in Communication and Journalism
○ The Telegraph:
■ Invented by Samuel Morse
■ Instant communication
■ More extensive in the North than
the South
■ Relatively low construction cost.
○ In 1846, Richard Hoe invented the
steam cylinder rotary press, making it
possible to mass produce newspapers
more easily.
Transportation, Communications and Technology
●
Innovations in Communication and Journalism (cont.)
○ The development of the telegraph and rotary press together
made for much speedier collection and distribution of
information than ever before.
○ In 1846, newspaper publishers formed the Associated Press
○ The ride of new journalism helped feed sectional discord as the
North and South became aware of their deep differences.
Commerce and Industry
●
The Expansion of Business 1820 - 1840
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American business grew in the 1820’s and 1830’s because of population
growth, transportation revolution, and new generation of ruthless
entrepreneurs
States began to pass general incorporation laws in which a charter could
be secured by paying a fee.
The rise of corporations made possible the accumulation of much
greater amounts of capital and larger manufacturing and business
enterprises.
Commerce and Industry
●
The Emergence of Factories
○ The most profound economic development at the time was the
rise of factories.
○ By the 1830’s, factory production was spreading into all
Northeast industries
○ For the first time, the value of manufactured goods was
approximately equal to that of agricultural products.
Commerce and Industry
●
Advances in Technology
○ At the time, machine
technology advanced more
rapidly in the US than any
other part of the world
○ Eli Whitney’s interchangeable
parts revolutionized industries
to make them more efficient
○ New sources of energy,
especially coal, were
replacing wood and water
power as fuel for many
factories
Commerce and Industry
●
Innovations in Corporate Organizations
○ Merchant capitalism was declining by the middle of the century
partly because British competitors were stealing much of
America’s export trade
○ The main reason for decline was the discovery by merchants
that there were greater opportunities in manufacturing than
trade
Commerce and Industry
●
Innovations in Corporate Organizations (cont.)
○ Ownership of American enterprise was moving from individuals
and families towards stockbrokers, each owning a small portion
of the total.
○ Industrial capitalists soon became the new ruling class, with farreaching economic and political influence.
Men and Women at Work
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Recruiting a native work force
○ In the 1820s and 1830s, factory labor
came primarily from the native born
population.
○ All new advancements in technology
helped to increase food production
dramatically allowing food
importation from varied regions.
○ The Lowelll factory system, most
common in Massachusetts, enlisted
young women to work in factories.
Men and Women at Work
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The Immigrant Work Force
○ After 1820, the growing immigrant population became the most
important new source of labor.
○ Immigrants served as a large and cheap source of labor.
○ As a result, working conditions became worse (12-14 hour days)
○ Irish workers replaced women as the dominate group in New
England textile mills.
Men and Women at Work
●
The Factory System and the Artisan Tradition
○ Skilled artisans suffered from the
modern factory system
○ To fight obsolescence, they formed
organizations; America’s first labor
unions
○ In 1834, delegates from six cities
created the National Trades’ Union,
though it quickly failed due to the Panic
of 1837.
○ Commonwealth v Hunt: declared unions
were lawful organizations and stirke was
a lawful weapon.
Patterns of Industrial Society
●
The Rich and the Poor
○ Due to the new industrial economy,
wealth was distributed very unequally.
○ In 1860, 5 percent of the American
population possessed more than 50
percent of the wealth.
○ In large cities, a wealth culture
emerged from merchants and
industrialists
○ Large cities also held the most
impoverished Americans, many of whom
were immigrants or free African
Americans
Patterns of Industrial Society
●
Middle Class Life
○ The fastest growing group in America
due to the growth of industrial
economy and the increasing
commercial life.
○ Economic development increased
opportunities for people to own or
work in businesses, to own shops, to
engage in trade, to enter professions,
and to administer organizations.
○ Middle-class families lived in homes
which they tended to own.
Patterns of Industrial Society
●
Middle Class Life (cont.)
○ Middle class women tended to stay home and care for children
and the household.
○ The invention of the cast iron stove replaced fireplaces as the
principal vehicle for cooking and heating
○ Middle class homes became larger and elaborately decorated
and furnished
Patterns of Industrial Society
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The Changing Family
○ The movement of families from farms
to urban areas led to a major
transformation in the nature and
function of the family.
○ In the urban household, most income
earners left home each day to work
elsewhere.
○ There was a major decline in birthrate
as women had some access to birth
control, abortions were legal in some
states, and an increased practice of
abstinence.
Patterns of Industrial Society
●
Women and the “Cult of Domesticity”
○ Women had long been denied many legal and political rights.
○ Most women had much less education than men because they were
encouraged to attend school at an elementary level, but strongly
discouraged from pursuing higher education.
○ Oberlin in Ohio became the first college in America to accept female
students, permitting four to enroll in 1837.
Patterns of Industrial Society
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Women and the “Cult of
Domesticity” (cont.)
○ In some ways women
became superior to men
as their role placed a
higher value on their
“female virtues” and on
their roles as wife and
mother.
○ At the same time,
women felt detached
from the public world.
Patterns of Industrial Society
●
Leisure Activities
○ Leisure time was scarce for all but the wealthiest Americans.
○ Most people worked long hours, other than Sundays which were
reserved for religion and rest.
○ Holidays like the Fourth of July took special importance as they were
one of the few times off from work.
○ Theaters, minstrel shows and public sporting events became popular
○ The Barnum and Bailey circus also amazed people.
The Agricultural North
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Northeastern Agriculture
○ After the 1840s decline and transformation, farmers couldn’t
compete with the rich soil of the Northwest.
○ Some farmers moved west for new farms, others moved to mill
towns and became laborers.
○ Lands from urban centers, primarily agricultural, were owned by
workers.
○ Growth of cities and rising farm prices gave incentive for commercial
agriculture.
The Agricultural North
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The Old Northwest
○ Northwest farmers sold most goods to people in the Northeast
○ New farm techniques and inventions:
■ John Deere’s steel plow
■ Automatic reaper by Cyrus McCormick and thresher
revolutionized grain production.
The Agricultural North
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The Old Northwest (cont.)
○ The Northwest democracy was based on the defense of economic
freedom and rights of property.
○ Religion was a powerful force drawing farm communities together.
○ Also joined together to share tasks difficult for a single family.
○ Rural life was not always isolated, but it was less in contact with
popular culture and public social life.