CHAPTER 9
The Transformation of American Society, 1815-1840
1. What caused the upsurge of westward
migration after the War of 1812
2. How did the rise of the market economy
affect where Americans lived and how they
made their living?
3. What caused the rise of industrialization?
4. What caused urban poverty in this period?
5. How did the rise of the market economy and
industrialization influence relationships
within families and communities?
Westward Expansion
The Sweep West
States added by 1821:
• Vermont (1791)
• Kentucky (1792)
• Tennessee (1796)
• Ohio (1803)
• Louisiana (1812)
• Indiana (1816)
• Mississippi (1817)
• Illinois (1818)
• Alabama (1819)
• Maine (1820)
• Missouri (1821)
ME
VT
NH
NY CT
PA
IL IN
MO
OH
KY
TN
VA
NC
SC
MS AL GA
LA
RI
NJ
DE
MD
Westward Expansion
Western Society and Customs
Life was pretty crude and difficult out west, but they made the
most of it…
MEN:
WOMEN:
BOTH:
Wrestling, feats of strength and agility,
gander pulling
Quilting/sewing parties, chicken pluckings
Corn huskings,
hoedowns and frolics
Westward Expansion
The Far West
There was a little interest in the Far West at this time
John Jacob Astor founded Astoria in 1811 as a fur trading post
Mountain Men like Jedediah Smith explored the wild west
Westward Expansion
The Federal Government and the West
The federal government stimulated interest and migration to the west…
• Land Ordinance of 1785
• Northwest Ordinance of 1787
• Louisiana Purchase (1803)
• Military land bounties (1812)
• Support for the National Road (1816)
• Removal of Indians (ongoing)
Westward Expansion
The Removal of the Indians
In 1830, President Jackson (we’ll learn about him later) secured passage of the Indian Removal
Act
It went to the Supreme Court twice
in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia and
Worcester v. Georgia
The Supreme Court said that the
Cherokee had rights to the land
Jackson said, “John Marshall has
made his decision; now let him
enforce it.”
The Indians were forced off their
land, many along the Trail of Tears
Westward Expansion
Working the Land: The Agricultural Boom
After the War of 1812, there was a huge increase in demand for food and cotton,
which caused the prices to increase, which caused interest in moving west
Old Northwest = wheat and corn
Old Southwest = cotton
The Growth of the Market Economy
Federal Land Policy
The government policies on land sales…
Year:
Min. Acreage:
Price per acre:
Total Price:
Time to pay it off:
Price per year:
1796
640 acres
$2 per acre
$1280
1 year
$1280
1800
320 acres
$2 per acre
$640
4 years
$160
1832
40 acres
$1.25 per acre
$50
4 years
$12.50
However… the land was mostly sold at
public auctions and the rich bought
huge tracts of land and then sold it to
the poor farmers at a jacked up price.
Once again, the rich get richer and the
poor stay poor.
The Growth of the Market Economy
The Speculator and the Squatter
The squatters somewhat regulated the progress of the land speculators
Most squatters used up the good soil and then moved on
The Growth of the Market Economy
The Panic of 1819
Economic depressions used to be called panics
was the land speculator, but the frontier farmers also suffered
This caused many to hate and distrust
banks… especially the Bank of the
United States
It also caused farmers to look for
inexpensive ways to transport their
goods
Traversing the Land: The
Transportation Revolution
Steamboats, Canals, and Railroads
1807 - Robert Livingston and Robert Fulton invented the first successful steamboat and soon had
a monopoly in New York and New Jersey. This cut travel time (especially up river) BIG TIME!!!
In 1824, the Supreme Court
(J. Marshall) ruled against
the monopoly in the case of
Gibbons v. Ogden which
stated that the federal govt.
has the power to regulate
interstate commerce
After that, the steamboat
boom took off and
competition created some
extremely luxurious
steamboats
Traversing the Land: The
Transportation Revolution
Steamboats, Canals, and Railroads
So now we had steamboats, but there were only so many rivers… so we built canals
The canal boom was in the 1820s and 1830s. The biggest of these canals (Erie Canal)
was finished in 1825 and connected the Midwest (Ohio) to the eastern coast. This canal
made New York the biggest city in the U.S.
Transportation costs went from $.30 per
ton per mile to $.03 per ton per mile!
Canals cost a lot to build, so many state
governments used state money to get them
built
The boom was short lived as the railroad boom soon followed
Traversing the Land: The
Transportation Revolution
Steamboats, Canals, and Railroads
Railroads “replaced” canals as they were cheaper to build, faster, and could
reach more places
The boom started in
America in the 1840s,
but started slowly as
they were financed by
private corporations
rather than the govt.
and therefore were
often times under repair
Traversing the Land: The
Transportation Revolution
The Growth of the Cities
The transportation revolution from 1820-1860
caused the most rapid urbanization in U.S. history
First it was cities along rivers (Pittsburgh,
Cincinnati, Louisville, Saint Louis, New Orleans)
Then it was the cities along lakes and canals
(Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee)
Industrial Beginnings
Causes of Industrialization
• Embargo of 1807 (from trade to manufacturing)
• Protective tariffs (buy American – it’s cheaper)
• Abundant water power for mills (from many mountain streams)
• Improvements in transportation (reduced shipping costs)
• New technology (saved time = saved money)
Industrial Beginnings
Textile Towns in New England
Waltham and Lowell mills in MA differed from the earlier Slater
mills in RI. Slater’s had unfinished fabrics and hired families.
W&L mills, however…
• Created a finished product
• 80% of labor force = unmarried women (cheaper)
• Had to live “on campus”
• Mandatory church
attendance
• 10 P.M. curfew
• “moral” police
The mills were
extremely humid with
the windows nailed shut,
very loud, and
exceptionally dusty.
The work was tedious,
hard and pay was
average.
Industrial Beginnings
Artisans and Workers in Mid-Atlantic Cities
Low-paid and unskilled
(or semi-skilled) workers began
replacing the skilled artisans
The skilled artisans then formed
trade unions to help protect their
craft
Equality and Inequality
Urban Inequality: The Rich and the Poor
The gap between the rich and poor grew even more during 1815-1840
“Rags to riches” was mostly a myth
Usually money was inherited, married into, and reinvested
The poor were classified as paupers or deserving poor
or as the undeserving poor (drunkards and loafers)
The Five Points area of NYC was perhaps the
worst area in the U.S. and included many Irish
immigrants who were hated for many reasons such
as being poor, drunks, and Catholic
Equality and Inequality
Free Blacks in the North
Blacks were free, but heavily discriminated against…
• No suffrage
• Segregated schools (or no schools)
• Separate facilities
• Only got the cruddy jobs
Richard Allen started the first AME church in 1816
in Philadelphia. Black churches ran schools, held
antislavery activities, and ran self-help programs
Equality and Inequality
The “Middling” Classes
Most Americans weren’t rich or poor… they were in the middle. The middling
class back then was unpredictable and the people tended to move a lot.
The Revolution in Social Relationships
The Attack on the Professions
Economic changes sometimes led to the questioning of authority, especially
with professions such as lawyers, doctors, and ministers
The Revolution in Social Relationships
The Challenge to Family Authority
As the middle class questioned professionals… so did children question their parents
Sons and daughters both moved away from the family earlier and more often
Young folks started marrying for love, marrying out of birth order, and some
remaining single!
The Revolution in Social Relationships
Wives and Husbands
Doctrine of Separate Spheres
MEN
WOMEN
• Moral Influences
• Making money
• Raising children
• Governing stuff
• Making the house
a “home”
• Politics
Vaginal Douching
Birth Control
Families wanted to have
fewer children, so they
practiced various forms of
birth control such as
Coitus Interruptus
The Revolution in Social Relationships
Horizontal Allegiances and the Rise of Voluntary Associations
Vertical allegiances were replaced by horizontal allegiances
Many folks joined voluntary associations…
• Temperance Societies
• Moral Reform groups
• Debate clubs
• Workers Unions
• Racial groups