America’s Changing
Economy
Chapter 10
Themes of American History
Keep these themes in mind as you study
this and the next few chapters
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Sectionalism – differences between North,
South and West!
North becomes more committed to free-labor,
while slavery becomes entrenched in the
South
Antebellum (Latin for “before the war”)
changes and reform
Changes in the American
Population
Shifts
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Increase
1790 = 4 million
1820 = 10 million
1830 = 13 million
1840= 17 million
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Reason for increase
Children had a higher chance of survival
Immigration rapid increase in 1830s
Reduced transportation costs
Shifts Cont’d
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Where?
cities in Northeast (largest)
New Englanders moved to the west (more opportunity)
1790 one person in thirty lived in a city
1820 one in twenty
1840 one in twelve
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Why?
Superior Harbor
Erie Canal (commerce/trade opportunities)
Liberal state laws that made the city attractive to
foreign and domestic commerce
Immigration and Urban Growth
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Northeastern Cities
New York 1840: 312,000 / 1860: 805,000 (+ Brooklyn = 1.2
million)
Philadelphia 1840: 220,000 / 1860: 565,000
Boston 1840: 93,000 / 1860: 565,000
By 1860 26% of all Northern citizens were living in towns or cities
By 1860 10% of all Southern citizens were living in towns or cities
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Western Cities
big agr. economy of west region produced big urban growth there
as well
cities that were small villages or trading posts became major cities
St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Louisville = on Mississippi River
Buffalo, Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Chicago = on Great Lakes
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Immigration Statistics (Numbers)
1830 foreign born population 500,000 / 3 million
Between 1840–1850 1.5 million+ Europeans moved to America
1850 foreign born population 2.2 million / 23 million
Between 1850-1860 2.5 million+ Europeans moved to America
Immigration and Urban Growth Cont’d
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Demographics
From
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Ireland
approximately 45% of immigrants
1860 1.5 million Irish immigrants in US
Germany
approximately 20%
1860 1 million German immigrants in US
To
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Half the residents in New York City were foreign born
Why Leave?
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Germany
widespread poverty
collapse of revolution
Ireland
English oppression
potato famine 1845-1849 (1,000,000 dead)
Nativism
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Positive Outlook toward immigration
large supply of cheap labor
keep wages low
expand western population
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Negative Outlook toward immigration
“Nativism” = defense of native-born people and a
hostility to the foreign-born and a desire to slow
immigration
racism, immigrants inferior
insufficient standards of civilization
stealing jobs
fear of Roman Catholic Church
Nativism Cont’d
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Anti-Immigrant Organizations
Native American Association (HA!) political party
Supreme Order of the Star-Spangled Banner
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“Know Nothings”
created political organization in 1852
won control of state gov. in Massachusetts
contributed to the collapse of political
systems/alignments
Technology
Transportation (Canals and Railroads)
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Canals
Large rivers (Mississippi and Ohio) = Large influence in early
1800s
Inconvenient time and length of travel
1820s Steamboats grew in number and improved design
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carried corn of NW farmers
cotton of Southwestern planters
need for more direct path than out of New Orleans and around Fla.
A canal provided a direct path and could carry more
New York = Erie Canal in 1825
Replaced New Orleans
not all Canals successful, many costly
not all areas able to get a canal
Transportation (Canals and Railroads)
Cont’d
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Railroads
Private enterprises in cities unable to get Canals
Competition between Railroad and Canal companies
More advantages to railroads
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more product
faster
easier to lay track
can go anywhere
1836 1,000 + miles of track in 11 states
1840 2,818 miles
1850 9,021 miles
Northeast had twice as much trackage per square
mile than in the Northwest, and four times as much
trackage per square mile than in the South
Communication
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Telegraph (1844, Samuel F.B. Morse)
helped scheduling and routing of trains
instant communication between cities
reinforced schism between North and South
linked North to Northwest
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Steam cylinder rotary press (1846, Richard Hoe)
made it possible to print newspapers cheaply and rapidly
1846 Associated Press
most papers from North
Other inventions
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Charles Goodyear, NE hardware merchant = vulcanized
rubber
Elias Howe and Isaac Singer = sewing machine (Civil
War clothing)
Eli Whitney and Simeon North = gun
factories/interchangeable parts
Coal becoming chief industrial fuel, replacing wood
Commerce and Industry
Corporations
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combined the resources of a large number
of shareholders
more combined money = power
more profit
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Ownership of American enterprises shifted
away from individuals stockholders each
owning a relatively small portion of the total
Industrial capitalists soon became the new
ruling class of aristocrats, and they were
from the Northeast*
Credit
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many businesses relied on credit
created a dangerous instability
only gov.’t could issue currency, but banks issued “bank
notes”
unofficial currency that circulated similarly to government
currency but was of much less stable value
banks issued these notes to meet the growing demand for
capital expanding business ventures
lead to bank failures and insecurity of deposits
Factories
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Larger machines driven by water power
Allowed them to bring all textile operations together
under a single roof (factory)
Factory system spread rapidly in the 1820s
rapid economical expansion lead to increase in machine
technology due to high reward
Statistics
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1840 the total value of manufactured goods
produced in the US = $483 million
1850 = $1 billion
1860 = $2 billion
little export, not able to meet demands of
American consumers
Labor Force
“Natives”
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1820s: 90% of Americans still lived and worked on
farms
new farming methods were less labor intensive than
the old ones
large crops in the West, small crops in East lead
many to move
original working conditions were much nicer than
later working conditions
competitive labor market
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Female life in the factory
working from sunrise to sunset*
loneliness
“paternalistic” factories (Lowell)
“Natives” Cont’d
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Female Unions
1834 Lowell female workers started the Factory girls
Association staged a strike in protest to a 25% wage
cut
1836 another strike to protest an increase in rent at
the boarding houses
both strikes failed
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Other work?
women barred from working as sailors or on docks
mill workers gradually began moving into other
occupations such as teaching, domestic service, or
marriage
Immigrants
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Why Immigrants over females?
large amounts
inexpensive labor force
would take any work possible despite wage or conditions
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Type of work
mills/factories
unsanitary conditions
building canals, turnpikes, railroads
often “piece rates” = pay based on how much worker produced
average income for skilled male laborers averaged $4 - $10 a
week
average income for unskilled laborers averaged $1 - $6 a week
averaged workday extended twelve and often fourteen hours
seasonal and uncertain
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Life of the Immigrant worker
usually did not earn enough to support families even in minimal
comfort
Artisans and Early Unions
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Mass-production factories displaced skilled artisans
Trade unions
first started as societies of mutual aide across all N.E. cities
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Setbacks
struggled against the handicap of hostile laws and hostile courts
Panic of 1837 weakened movement
Fighting For Control
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Some states pass laws limiting work-day to 10 hours,
but …
Some states pass laws limiting child labor but…
Commonwealth v. Hunt, Massachusetts declares unions
lawful organizations and the strike a lawful weapon in
1842
Virtually all early craft unions excluded women
Comparing: England vs. US 1840s and 1850s
In England, powerful, united and often violent political force
In US. nothing of the sort
Patterns of Society
Rich and Poor
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Stats
Revolution era: 45% of wealth controlled by 10%
of population
Boston 1845: 65% of wealth controlled by 4% of
population
Philadelphia 1860: 50% of wealth controlled by
1% of population
America 1860: 50% of wealth controlled by 5% of
population
Rich and Poor Cont’d
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Rich
mansions
carriages (Central Park)
household goods
clothes
clubs
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Poor
homeless
without resources
often dependent on charity or crime
widows
orphans
alcoholics
Rich and Poor Cont’d
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Racism and economics
Irish
Free-Blacks
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could not vote
could not attend public schools
freedom did NOT mean equality
Social Mobility
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less class conflict given division between rich
and poor
material life better in city/factories than on
farms
mobility as a “safety valve”
Middle-class Life
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fastest growing group was the middle class
prosperity possible without owning land
inventions
Diets
The Changing Family
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families leaving farms, jobs valued more than
land
shift of income-earning work from the home to
the mill, shop or factory
decline of birth rate: 1860 each woman
averaged 5
Women and the “Cult of Domesticity”
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denied many legal and political rights
nearly impossible for women to obtain divorces
wife beating and marriage rape only illegal in few
states
very little access to business or politics
much less education than men
new industrial society = men producer/women
domestic servant
“guardians of domestic virtues”
“separate sphere
The Agricultural North
Shifts
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Wheat Production
Center of Production 1840: New York, Penn, Ohio, Virginia
Center of Production 1860: Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin,
Ohio, Michigan
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Cattle raising
Center of Production 1840s: New York, Penn, N.E.
Center of Production 1850s: Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa
and Texas
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the trend is that rural population in N.East continues
to decline
The Old Northwest (Midwest)
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Three industrial centers
Lake Erie (Cleveland)
Ohio River Valley (Cincinnati)
Lake Michigan (Chicago)
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Functions
served agriculture (machinery)
relied on agriculture
primarily an agricultural region
Boosts
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rising farm prices around the world (Napoleonic Wars)
increased profit
increased incentive
single crop focus
industrialization
steadily rising farm prices
The Old Northwest (Midwest) Cont’d
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Economic Friendship between N.East and
N.West
Northwest sold most of its products to the NE
Norhteast found an important market with people in
NW
South isolated
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Technology increase
farming methods