Chapter 11
Technology, Culture, and
Everyday Life, 1840-1860
Focus Question
What technological improvements
increased industrial productivity between
1840 and 1860?
Section One: Technology and Economic
Growth
1. John Deere-invents the steel tipped plow in 1837.
2. Cyrus McCormick-invents the McCormick reaper,
helps the North win the Civil War.
3. “American System of Manufacturing”- adopted by
European countries after Eli Whitney’s interchangeable
parts model.
Section One: Technology and Economic
Growth
4. Samuel Morse transmits first telegraph message in 1844
5. Railroad boom- fairly dangerous at first, by 1860 most goods
being transported via railroad. America’s first “big business”.
6. With the introduction of steam power, the average
Americans income increases 25%. Cities
Section Two: Quality of Life
1. Coal burning stoves- increase the heating of a home as
well as diverse diets.
2. Urban waterworks projects bring running water to
major cities, like NY.
3. Cities are still filthy, hogs still used for sanitation.
Section Two: Quality of Life
4. Epidemics spread- yellow fever wipes out 1/5 of New
Orleans in 1833, average life expectancy in New York and
Philadelphia was 24 years.
5. William Morton successfully uses anesthesia for surgery in
1842.
6. Phrenology-the study of the size of the human brain. The
size and shape of peoples skulls showed a persons capacity.
Section Three-Domestic Pastimes
1. Newspapers- the penny press becomes popular, that
is large papers for mass circulation to turn a profit.
2. Minstrel shows- the use of blackface. Reinforces
prejudice and black stereotypes.
3. P.T. Barnum-creates Americas first circus, “the
greatest show on earth”.
Section Four: The Quest for Nationality
in Literature and Art
1. James Fenimore Cooper – Created the American fiction character,
frontiersman Natty Bumppo in The Pioneers(1823)
2. Ralph Waldo Emerson – Leader of the transcendentalist movement
(the American offshoot of romanticism). His most famous work was “The
American Scholar” (1837) where he called for a unique American style.
Section Four: The Quest for Nationality
in Literature and Art
3. Henry David Thoreau – Represented younger Emersonians, being much of a
“doer”, going to jail rather than paying a poll tax. A famous work of his was
“Civil Disobedience” (1849) in which he defended a citizen’s right to disobey
unjust laws. He also spent two years away from society at Walden Pond where
he wrote his most famous book Walden in which he said that material wants could
be satisfied with a few weeks of work a year, and thereby leave more time for
reexamining life’s purpose.
Section Four: The Quest for Nationality
in Literature and Art
4. Margaret Fuller – Wrote Woman in the Nineteenth Century
(1845), breaking with
the prevailing notion of separate spheres for men and women.
5. Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter (1850)
6. Edgar Allen Poe – “The Cask of Amontillado” (1846)
7. Herman Melville – Moby Dick (1851)
Section Four: The Quest for Nationality
in Literature and Art
8. These last three writers probed the depths of the human mind rather than the
intricacies of social relationships, evolving into an underlying pessimism about
human character.
•Paperback books were sold in bulk for the first time for entertainment in the
1840’s for as little as seven cents.
• The Hudson River School (1820’s-1870’s) was best represents by Thomas Cole,
Asher Durand, and Frederick Church, who painted scenes of the region around the
Hudson River.