The Market Revolution
John Sacher
University of Central Florida
jsacher@mail.ucf.edu
Democratic v. Whig Ideas
1.
2.
Do not welcome economic and social
change (or at least don’t believe
government should aid this change.)
Welcome & encourage economic and
social change.
Characteristics of Market
Revolution
1. Creation of a national market.
2. Increase in concentrations of economic
activities.
3. Increase in mobility of capital, goods, and
labor.
4. Innovations in government and legal
systems, and political & social conflict
between market oriented & market
resistant groups.
Roads
The National Road
Our Traveler, Cincinnati to NY
Flatboat
Erie Canal

TRT
The 8th Wonder of
the World
Northern Canals

Railroads
Travel Time
Cincinnati to New York
1817
1843
1852
52 Days
18 Days
7 Days
Total travel time decreases 86%. Cost
decrease—95%-land, 75% downriver,
90% upriver.
The Telegraph
Samuel F.B. Morse
“What Hath God Wrought.”
Americans “were more ready to seek six columns of the details of a
brutal murder, or the testimony of a divorce case, or the trial of a divine for
improprieties of conduct , than the same amount of words poured forth by the
genius of the noblest author of our times.”
James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald
Land—Subsistence Plus Agriculture
Fall Line

A Mill
Urban Growth


In 1820, 12 cities over 10,000
2 cities over 100,000
7.2% population in “urban” areas
In 1860, 101 cities over 10,000
8 cities over 100,000
19.8% population in “urban” areas
Urban Areas, 1820-1860
Lowell Mills