A P U S H I S T O R Y
U N I T 4 : 1 8 2 4 - 1 8 6 0

 The belief that God had given us the right to expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
 Used as a rationale for removing Natives and expansion throughout the 19 th century.

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Tobacco farmers exhaust the land
Fur trading/trapping:
Rocky Mountains
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Extinction of Bison and
Sea Otters
George Catlin
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First attempt at preservation
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National Parks
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Yellowstone: 1872

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Europe running out of room
Refugees from caste system, freedom of religion, land availability (in west)
Letters to families in Europe describing
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Low taxes, no compulsory military service, food in abundance
United States receives a wider array of immigrants than any other country

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Mid 1840’s: Potato famine
Boston and NY
Crammed into slums
Hated by “natives”
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Competed for jobs
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Roman Catholic

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Crop failures
Political refugees seeking democracy
Mostly settled in Wisconsin
Cultural influences:
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Conestoga wagons
Kentucky rifle
Christmas Trees
Bier (beer)
Supported public schools
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Art and music
Enemies of slavery

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1840’s-1850’s
High prejudice against immigrants
Know-Nothing Party 1849
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Restrictions on immigration
Deportation of immigrant homeless (paupers)
Secret societies in major cities
“I know nothing”.
Mass violence on Catholic
Cathedrals and homes of immigrants

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1750’s: Great Britain
Developed textile machines
Mass production of manufactured goods
Why was America so slow to catch on?
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Land in the U.S. was available and cheap: More farmers
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Labor was scarce for factory work
Extra money for capital investment was scarce
Lack of infrastructure
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Raw materials unused, undiscovered (Coal in W.V.)
Competition with cheap goods from G.B.

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Samuel Slater: “Father of the Factory System”
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Skilled British mechanic
Memorized plans for his machines in G.B.
Immigrated to United States
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From memory, built the first cotton spinning machine in
1791
Where were they going to get the cotton to use in this first American textile factory?

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Eli Whitney invents the
Cotton Gin: 1793
50x more efficient than hand picking seeds from cotton
Cotton agriculture booms in the South
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Causes increase in demand for slave labor
North and South prospered
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Factories in New England
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Rocky soil (no ag.), dense population (labor), natural harbors for shipping exports and receiving imports of raw materials.
Rapid rivers for water power

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John Deere: Illinois: 1837:
Steel Plow
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Enabled farmers in the west to break ground easily
Cyrus McCormick: 1830’s:
Mechanical Reaper
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Increases large wheat plantations. Could do the work of 6 men using one machine. Harvests increased, dropped prices.
Cash-crop agriculture boom.

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Early 1800’s
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Embargo, non-intercourse act, and war of 1812 influenced rise of American industrial growth
Nationalism: “Buy American”,
“Wear American”
Eli Whitney: Interchangeable Parts
(1798)
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Mass production of rifles for US Army
Benefited North, brought down prices of goods
Influenced eventual assembly line work
Samuel Colt: Revolver fire arm
Elias Howe and Isaac Singer:
Sewing Machine
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Revolutionized the textile industry in the North
Charles Goodyear: Rubber Goods
(Akron, Oh.)

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Samuel F. B. Morse
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Telegraph: 1844
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40 Mile test: From Baltimore to
Washington D.C.
Wired out: “What hath God Wrought?”
Connected the nation from one end to the other
Most lines in the North
Cyrus Field
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Stretch a cable from Newfoundland to
Ireland linking North America to
Europe
Limited Liability
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Influenced capital investment into companies
Investors could not lose more money or be held liable if the company went
Bankrupt or was sued.

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Long hours (12-14); low wages (pennies/day); small meals and short breaks
Unsanitary/dangerous working conditions, poorly ventilated
Poor heat in the winter, poor lighting (dangerous)
Child labor (most ages 7-
12) “Whipping rooms”
Labor Unions outlawed until 1842
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1830’s-1840’s: Labor Strikes

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“Factory Girls” : “Lowell
Girls”
Lowell, Ma. : Textile factories
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6 days a week, 12-13 hour days
Most girls were single: ages
9-14 or until married
Other female jobs: nursing, domestic work, teachers
“Cult of Domesticity”: cultural creed of women of the time as the homemaker, moral examples for families.

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Women now working out of the home
More independence in various aspects
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Making decisions for the home
Choosing who they would marry out of love rather than arranged by parents
Families become smaller, closer knit
“Domestic Feminism”: women attain more influence on making decisions for the home.

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Turnpike: 1790’s
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Lancaster Turnpike: 62 miles from Philly to Lancaster
1811: National Road (Cumberland
Road)
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Md. to Ill. : 591 miles in 1839
Steamboat
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Robert Fulton: steam engine
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River navigation upstream possible
Canals
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Erie Canal: New York: Gov.
DeWitt Clinton: 1817-1825:
363 Miles: Connects Great Lakes to Hudson River (Atlantic)
New Cities: Rochester, Syracuse,
Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago

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Most significant: The Train
Faster, more reliable, cheaper than canals
First RR in America: 1828
By 1860: 30,000 miles of track
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¾ of the tracks were in the
North
Clipper Ships:1840’s-1850’s
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Long, narrow, faster. Huge profits in shipping exports/imports
Pony Express: 1860: Mail system
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2,000 mile journey could be done in 10 days on horseback

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Transportation Revolution
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Continental economy had emerged
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Raw materials from south and west transported to east and northern industries to be manufactured into finished products
South: cotton, West: grain/livestock, East/North: factories
Market Revolution: Antebellum Era
(pre-Civil War)
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From Subsistence agriculture and small workshops to plantation cashcrop agriculture and factories
Monopolies developed
Gap between the rich and the poor becomes wider
Social mobility did exist but rags-toriches stories were far and few