UNIT 2
BUSINESS, LABOR & REFORM
ESSENTIAL QUESTION
• How did GEOGRAPHY, TECHNOLOGY &
ENTREPRENEURISM influence the development of
American economic principles?
• What does this mean??
• Define entrepreneurism
• How do geography and technology influence what work is
available?
GUIDING QUESTIONS:
• Why do people come to America?
• As we expand West, why is technology important?
• What role does the government play in the work
environment?
LEARNING TARGET 1: THE ECONOMIES
OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES
• All of these issues exist because of the type of
economy we have. So we want to trace the
development of our economy, starting with colonial
times.
• (Assignment 1) Types of economies:
•
•
•
•
Traditional
Command
Market
What type is Mercantilism?
(Assignment 2) What are the regional differences
in the colonial economies?
LEARNING TARGET 2: ECONOMIC
POLICIES IN A NEW NATION
• Why would colonists tire of the mercantile system?
• Once independence is declared....what next?
• Remember the debate between the Federalists
and Anti-Federalists?
• How does this affect our economic system?
• FEDERALISTS: are FOR
• a STRONG national government, supported by a strong
Constitution
• ANTIFEDERALISTS: are FOR
• a weaker national government, with more power given to
the STATES
• How will this debate affect what type of economy we
have?
SO WHO WINS THE DEBATE?
QUESTION: WHAT TYPE OF ECONOMY
WILL THE NEW NATION HAVE?
• Answer questions from each of the following 3
sources to understand the issues facing the new
nation:
• Alexander Hamilton
• http://www.ushistory.org/us/18b.asp
• Thomas Jefferson
• http://www.ushistory.org/us/18c.asp
• How they disagree:
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=notJuFGXQ9w
HAMILTON'S LEGACY
• "Necessary and proper" clause
• "Implied powers"
• together, these 2 ideas would have a HUGE impact on the
gov'ts role in America
• A National Bank (20 years) that would expand the
money supply and extend credit (validating the new
nation)
• Regional differences:
• Northerners supported (NYC, Phil, Boston/merchants/industry)
• Southerners opposed (feared expansion of fed. gov't,
power/wealth centered in the North)
• Political Parties
• Coinage
SO WHO WON THE DEBATE?
• Think back to learning target 1--what type of
economy do we end up with?
• Beginning in the 1790's, we have another
Revolution....what is it?
LEARNING TARGET 3:
HOW DOES THE INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION CHANGE AMERICA?
• The canal age
• This replaced the turnpike era- 1790-1820s
• Steamboats were replacing slow barges
• Steamboats increased the amount of nw corn and wheat
and southern cotton to New Orleans
• But the farmers and merchants wanted a faster route
• Erie Canal connects Lake Erie to the Hudson River - very
important for ny (350 miles long, 40 ft. Wide, 4 ft. Deep)
pulled by horses
• Canals were concentrated in the Ohio valley
• Railroads
• 3000 miles in 1840; 27,000 by 1860
• Government financing was key- mostly in
land grants
• Year-round access to goods; shipping
times decrease (Chicago to New York was
3 wks now 2 days)
• Telegraph
• Follows the railroad and
significantly improves that
industry (schedules, delays,
dangers)
• 1861- ny to San Fran; 1866 ny to
London
• The factory
• Interchangeable parts
• We can now "finish products
here"
• Emergence of coal moves
factories away from water
sources
OTHER IMPORTANT INNOVATIONS:
• Goodyear vulcanized rubber in 1839
• Howe, then Singer with sewing machine in
1846
• Deere steel plow in 1847
• McCormick's reaper replaces the sickle,
cradle and hand labor in 1834
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPACT:
• Some social mobility
• More geographic mobility
• Fastest growing class was the middle classland was no longer the only indicator of
wealth
• Women benefited from the new cast iron
stoves - no more open hearths
• Middle-class diets change
LT4: HOW DOES THE INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION CAUSE SECTIONAL
CONFLICTS IN THE 19TH CENTURY?
• NORTH:
• Industrial
• Urban
• More transportation routes, markets
• SOUTH:
• Agricultural
• Rural
• Less access (to goods, routes, markets)
• WEST:
• Manifest Destiny----freedom and land
• Expanding territories
statehood: slave vs. free
• Sectionalism - after the United States
proved itself by writing the Constitution and
then weathering the War of 1812, America
began to expand. And in doing so
sectionalism began to show.
• Sectionalism is when one shows (1) loyalty
to your state or region, and (2) views
problems from that sectional, rather than
national, point of view.
1. INDUSTRIAL NORTHEAST
•
The factory began to take hold. Remember
Hamilton's vision of an America of business,
merchants, trade, banking, and lending.
Entrepreneurs fuel money interests that are
supported and protected by a strong national
government.
A. War of 1812 decreased trade with foreign
countries, but that fostered domestic industrial
growth
B. Water power was available, then factories used
Appalachian coal
C. Farmhands move to the cities (mill girls and
immigrants)
D. Money was available to invest
E. South and West were markets for the goods
produced in the NE
2. PLANTATION SOUTH
•
Money is invested in land and slaves; cash
crops rule - tobacco, rice, sugar, and most
importantly cotton
Why cotton?
A. Cheap, fertile land of the southwest
(expansion)
B. The cotton gin
C. Northeast and European markets
Remember, most southerners are small
farmers, not huge plantation owners
3. SMALL-FARM WEST
•
Immigrants and adventurers grow
wheat, rye, corn, and produce
meat
A. Fertile lands are plentiful
(expansion)
B. Government promoted this by
offering cheap land
C. Northeast and European markets
increase due to transportation and
immigration
LT 4: SECTIONAL DISPUTES
•1. Protective tariffs
(tax on imports to protect American production)
- Northeast strongly for it
- South is against it (ex: cotton)
- West sides with North (mostly)
•2. Second Bank of the
United States
- North strongly for it
- South and West are
against it
•3. Internal improvements
- West supports this
- North supports the West
- South is against it
•4. Liberal land policy
- West strongly favors this
- North opposes this
- South was divided
• 5. Territorial expansion to the
southwest
- South favors annexing Texas and
land from Mexico
- North opposes expansion
- West supports the South
•6. Expansion of slavery
- South favors this
- North opposes
POPULATION CENTERS
• http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist110/America
nCities.png
LT 5: DOES THE RAILROAD PROMOTE
AMERICAN UNITY AND ECONOMIC
GROWTH?
• In other words, were the railroads a good thing for
America?
• Primary Source activity:
• Doc 1: Thoreau--a Transcendentalist, on Walden Pond,
contemplating life and nature and values
• Doc 2: Mackay--a British journalist/lawyer writing about the
linking of East and West through the railroads
• Doc 3: Kennedy--census taker explaining the growth and
progress of railroads through 1860
• Doc 4: Map--depicting growth of railroads
HOW THE RAILROADS CHANGE
AMERICA:
• Connected interests of the East and the West ("iron
bonds")
• a market for every citizen: cheap goods
• transportation accessible to all
• land to cultivate (CHEAP land, for that matter)
• land grants to railroad companies (200 mill acres)
• the "great civilizer"?? The impact on Native
Americans
WHO BUILT THEM?
• Union Pacific: Irish immigrants
•
•
•
•
•
dangerous, sometimes monotonous job
little in the way of entertainment (Hell on Wheels)
no personal hygiene, tight quarters, poor conditions
Native American troubles
got paid more than the Chinese
• Many veterans went to work the rails; sometimes, the system
was like an army in terms of precision and production
• Central Pacific: Chinese immigrants
•
•
•
•
recruited to take the place of protesting Irish workers
worked hard, at a lower wage
punctual, well behaved
better diet (fewer diseases)
LT 6: THE MEN WHO BUILT AMERICA
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR7oHh-fXUw
• What these Titans, these "Captains of Industry" and
"Robber Barons" had in common
• "Vision without execution is hallucination."
• But just as important to remember: upon whose
labor was America built??
GREAT REVIEW FOR UNIT 2
• http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist110/unit3/poli
tical.html
• READ THIS!