QUICKWRITE:
How did TWO of the following
contribute to the reemergence
of the two-party system in the
period 1820 to 1840?
Major political personalities
States’ rights
Economic issues
Forging the
National
Economy
1790-1860
Creating the
American
Character
Westward
movement
continued
– population
center located west of
Alleghenies
1850
Effects
of the
Wilderness
Young
population
constantly in motion
Importance of wealth &
the constant pursuit of
wealth
American
pioneers
Rough
characters
Wilderness required hard
work & left little time for
slacking
Self-centered, provincial,
& isolationist
“self-reliance”
Contrasted
with the
need to work together
log-rolling
& barn raising
American tall-tales &
exaggeration
Boasting & bluffing (poker
playing)
Gambling, drinking &
fighting
Effects
on the
Wilderness
Kentucky
cane fields
burned off & planted with
bluegrass
Mountain men began to
“trap out” the beaver in
the Rocky Mountains
The
Buffalo
Vast
herds of American
Bison covered the Great
Plains
Estimated pre-European
herd size:
30,000,000 to
70,000,000
Buffalo
hunters, trading in
furs and tongues, began to
kill off the great herds
Unregulated killing of
bison led to the reduction
of the herds to no more
than 1500 individuals in the
mid to late 1800
Bison Range
California
Highly
Otter
prized pelts of
the Pacific Sea Otter
led trappers to hunt
the animals to near
extinction
American’s
love of the
Wild
Praised
the unspoiled
wilderness & the beauty
of nature
This ideal of the idyllic
came to be expressed in
arts & literature
George Catlin
Painter
& student of
the Native Americans
Wished to preserve
the natural beauty of
the west
Proposed the creation
of National Parks
George Catlin
Corn
Buffalo Bulls Running
George Caleb Bingham
Boatmen on the Missouri
Fur Traders Descending on the Missouri
The Hudson River School
by Thomas Cole
Demographic Changes
Population
doubling
every 25 years
Population moving
farther west every 10
years
By
1860…
33
states
th
4 most populous
country in the western
world
43 cities over 20,000
American Population Centers in
1820
American Population Centers in
1860
Rapid
urbanization
led to many problems
Slums,
filth, & crime
Cities slowly began to
build water & sewer
services
Immigration
tripled in
the 1840’s &
quadrupled in the
1850’s
Many push & pull
factors brought
immigrants to America
National Origin of Immigrants:
1820 - 1860
Why now?
Irish Immigrants
1844
– The Potato Famine
Potato
blight in Ireland led
to famine & massive
emigration
1830-1860:
Largest
immigrant group
2
million
Irish
Catholics moved to
the large cities
New
York & Boston
Anti-Irish
NINA:
prejudice
“No Irish Need
Apply”
Catholic & poor
Anti-Catholic
riots in
Philadelphia & Boston
Black
& Irish relations bad
Ancient Order of
Hibernians helped to get
better conditions
Irish votes gained power
Tammany
Many
Hall
became policemen
Germans
1830-1860:
1.5 million
came to America
Middle class farmers &
political refugees
Moved to the Mid-West
Many
isolationists
Most better educated
Often abolitionists
Kindergarten, beer, &
the hot dog
Nativism
“Hatred
of foreigners”
Anti-Catholic prejudice
led to the creation of
Catholic parochial
schools
1849
- Order of the StarSpangled Banner
formed
Led
to the creation of the
American Party
“Know-Nothings”
Wanted immigration &
naturalization restrictions
“Citizen Know-Nothing”
The Industrial
Revolution
– Industrial
Revolution begins in
Britain
Slow to arrive in America
because:
Land cheap
Labor scarce
1750
Capital
investment not
plentiful
Raw materials
undiscovered
Consumers scarce
Long established British
factories more competitive
Britain had a monopoly on
textile machinery
Samuel
Slater (1791)
“Father
of the
American Factory
System”
Built first U.S.
factory - a Textile
mill in Rhode Island
Eli
Whitney (1793)
Invented
the Cotton Gin
Made cotton profitable &
slavery an institution in
the South
The Cotton Engine
– Whitney later
develops the idea of
interchangeable parts
which leads to mass
production
1798
Rise
of nationalism
increased the call to
“buy American”
Embargo, NonIntercourse, & the War of
1812 increased need for
American made goods
Treaty
of Ghent
Britain
began dumping its
products into America
Led to many US mills
closing down
US
reacts with the Tariff
of 1816 & beginnings of
protectionism
–
SpinningWeaving cloth factory
built in Waltham, Mass.
1814
st
1
Manufacturing
goes from
home to factory
Lowell Girls
Boston Associates
Sewing Machine
Elias
Howe
(1846) invents
the sewing
machine
Later perfected
by Isaac Singer
1844
- Samuel
F.B. Morse
invents the
Telegraph &
Morse Code
“What
hath God
wrought”
The Single Current
Morse Key
Why New England?
Poor,
rocky soil
Dense population
Shipping & seaports made
importing raw materials
practical
Water power from rivers
New England
Textile
Centers:
1830s
New England Dominance in Textiles
Corporations
“Limited
More
Liability”
people risk capital
– 1st General
Incorporation Law in NY
1848
Creating
a corporation
became easier
Creating a Business-Friendly Climate
Supreme Court Rulings:
* Fletcher v. Peck (1810)
* Dartmouth v. Woodward (1819)
* McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
* Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
* Charles Rivers Bridge v. Warren
Bridge (1835)
General Incorporation Law  passed in
New York, 1848.
Laissez faire  BUT, govt. did much to
assist capitalism!
Distribution of Wealth
v
v
v
v
During the American Revolution,
45% of all wealth in the top 10% of
the population.
1845 Boston  top 4% owned over
65% of the wealth.
1860 Philadelphia  top 1% owned
over 50% of the wealth.
The gap between rich and poor was
widening!
Labor Changes
Industrialization
led to
an increase in factories
in “Spindle Cities”
Factories filled with
“Wage Slaves” who lived
in slum conditions
Independent
Craftsmen
& home workers moved
to the factory
Men, women,& children
worked 6 days a week,
12-13 hours a day for
pennies
Labor
Unions forbidden
by law
Strikes
uncommon
before 1830’s
1830’s
& 1840’s saw
increase in labor Unions
& Trade organization for
higher wages & the 10hour day
1840
- President Van
Buren establishes the
10-hour day for
federal employees
Commonwealth v.
Hunt (1842)
declares
legal
labor unions
Changing Occupation Distributions:
1820 - 1860
Women in the Workforce
Lowell
factory system
in Mass. considered to
be a showcase
Factory
girls lived &
worked under
supervision
The Lowell/Waltham System:
First Dual-Purpose Textile Plant
Francis Cabot Lowell’s town - 1814
Lowell in 1850
Lowell Mill
Lowell Girls
What was their typical “profile?”
Lowell Boarding Houses
Lowell
Mills
Time
Table
Irish Immigrant Girls at Lowell
Role
of Women
“the
submerged sex”
Considered perpetual
minors & under the
control of father or
husband
Few jobs available for
women
factory,
nurse, & teacher
Catherine
Beecher
encouraged women to
become teachers & the
occupation became
“feminized”
Women also found work
as domestics &
nursemaids
“The
Cult of
Domesticity”
Glorified
traditional roles
of women
Gave women immense
moral power over the
family & society
Families
Families
became smaller
Marriage
for love not
arrangement
Fertility rates dropped
Rise
of “domestic
feminism”
Became more “child
centered”
Agriculture Revolution
1830s
John
Deere developed the
steel plow
Cyrus McCormick invented
the mechanical mowerreaper
John Deere & the Steel Plow
(1837)
Cyrus McCormick
& the Mechanical Reaper: 1831
1840-1860:
Small-scale
& subsistence farming
began to give way to
extensive, specialized,
cash-crop farming
Business farmers
replaced Yeomen
Farmers
Trans-Allegheny
western states begin to
out-produce the eastern
states
Increased demand for
land & machinery led to
more debt for farmers
Transportation &
Communication
Revolution
Motivations:
Desire
of East to tap West
Very poor conditions
existed
Significance:
National
market economy
Regional specialization
Turnpikes
1790’s
– Completion of
Lancaster Turnpike
sparked boom in
turnpike construction
First Turnpike- 1790 Lancaster, PA
By 1832, nearly 2400 mi. of road connected
most major cities.
– Cumberland
Road (National Road)
begun
1811
Eventually
stretches
from Cumberland, MD to
Vandalia, Il – connecting
Baltimore to St. Louis
Cumberland (National Road),
1811
Conestoga Wagon
Conestoga Covered Wagons
Conestoga Trail, 1820s
Rivers
Robert
st
1
Fulton (1807)
Steamboat The
Clermont runs up the
Hudson
Steamboats
revolutionized
river travel in the West,
replacing the keel boats
Raw materials went east;
goods and people went west
Canals
1817-1825:
Governor
Erie Canal
Dewitt Clinton of
New York
Clinton’s “big ditch” was a
major success
Linked Great Lakes to
Hudson River
The Erie Canal
Buffalo to NYC:
$100 to $5
20 days to 6 days
Erie Canal System
Erie Canal, 1820s
Begun in 1817; completed in 1825
New
York City became
the largest port in
America
Other states followed
suit & built miles of
canals in the north
Principal Canals in 1840
Railroads
1828:
Baltimore & Ohio
railroad is begun in
Baltimore
“Tom Thumb” (1830)
Locomotive
on the B&O
Railroad raced a horse
drawn car & lost
Early
railroads were
dangerous & unreliable,
but improved with time
The Pullman Sleeping
“Palace” Car was
invented in 1859
By
1860, the US had
30,000 miles of
railroad track
3/4
in the North
Inland Freight Rates
Regional
Specialization
East
made machines &
textiles
South raised cotton for
export
West grew grain & livestock
Shipping
Foreign
trade = 7%
Import
manufactured goods
Export agricultural goods
Clipper
Ships
Donald
McKay’s naval yard
in Boston builds the first
Faster than competitors
Racing ‘round the Horn
American
shipping had
a brief period of glory &
set trans-oceanic speed
records
Britain will regain
dominance with the
tramp steamer ship
Communication
Cyrus
Lays
Field (1858)
the first transatlantic
cable
It breaks
The
Pony Express (1860)
established - ran mail from St.
Louis to Sacramento
Lasted a legendary 18 months
st
1
transcontinental cable
is laid in 1861
Transcontinental railroad
will follow after the Civil
War
– permanent
transatlantic cable
established linking
Europe with North
America
1866