Chapter 12
Industry and the North
Mr. Logan Greene
AP United States History
West Blocton High School
Chapter Objectives
• How was work divided among gender lines
in preindustrial society?
• What led to the transportation revolution?
• What changes in preindustrial life and work
were caused by the market revolution?
• Evaluate the opinion offered that mass
production has been an important
democratizing force in America.
• What changes occurred in the family life of
Americans due to the market revolution?
PreIndustrial America
• Prior to the industrial/market revolution, farm
families had unspoken agreements over communal
production of certain goods
• Money was rarely used and instead bartering
dominated in agricultural communities
• In urban areas, skilled workers trained future
replacements through apprenticeships and barter
still dominated
• Women were mainly trained in domestic duties as
their primary goal in life was destined to be
marriage even though women could find niche
work as seamstress or other feminine occupations
Patriarchy
• In both rural and urban settings America
was highly patriarchal with men at the top
• Men decided on marriages for their
daughters and careers for their sons
• Society as a whole mirrored this as men held
all legal powers and women were not
allowed to vote
• Once married a women literally became the
property of her husband
Social Order
• In preindustrial America the social order was
extremely set
• Moving from one level to the other was
extremely difficult
• However, the changing world of the market
revolution would allow changes to social
order as it was no longer determined by
birth but by economic power
Transportation Revolution
• In the early 1800’s America underwent a true
revolution in transportation
• Prior to this the only transportation in the
country was walking or the horse
• By 1840 the country had an extensive
network of roads, canals, and railroads
• This enabled people to look beyond their
specific communities
Roads
• Roads in preindustrial America were
primarily rutted up dirt paths that were
difficult to deal with when the weather was
not cooperative
• Due to internal improvements such as the
National Road travel times were slashed for
people using the newly maintained
roadways
Canals
• Roads were not viable for commercial shipping
• Canals could answer this issue with the new
invention of the practical steamboat by Robert
Fulton
• The most important canal built was the Erie Canal
between New York City and the Great Lakes, it
took 9 years to build but immensely improved the
economy of the era
• Numerous other states built canals as well creating
an impressive waterway system of commerce
Railroads
• Roads and Canals were important but not
anywhere close to the effect of railroads
• The first railroad opened in America in 1830
with 13 miles of track
• By 1860 America had 31,000 miles of track!
• Despite dangers at first a “railroad mania”
ensued as railroads completely changed
Americans travel habits and made it possible
to travel and ship goods across the country
efficiently
Effects of the Revolution
• The national economy exploded thanks to
the new ability to reach foreign markets
• As well, connecting the entire nation began
to produce a singular American identity
The Market Revolution
• Improvements in transportation, the
introduction of commercialization, and
industrialization combined to create the
Market Revolution
• The Market Revolution was dependent on
the increased amount of monetary capital in
the country
• The impressive capital came primarily from
banks and southern cotton production
Origins: The Putting Out System
• The Putting Out System was the first
experiment in a wider system of production
• Merchant capitalists still maintained the
home production but instead of bartering
with other families these items were given
to the merchant capitalists to be sent out and
sold
• Merchant capitalists soon controlled
numerous laborers and began large
businesses
Commercial Markets
• As the new transportation systems hit full
swing new markets were opened up
• The old barter system could not work with
this new extended commercial market
• Therefore, the country began changing,
gradually, to a monetary economy
Midwestern Agriculture
• As the territories of the Northwest became
states the government greatly pushed for
them to increase their economic impact
• The government pushed for land settlement
by offering very cheap land to settlers
• As this occurred different regions specialized
in different crops
• These crops were then sent East
Technology and Industrialization
• The last component of the market revolution was
industrialization
• The industrial revolution began in England in the
late 1700’s and was focused upon coal and the
steam engine
• When it made its way to America, the geography
and population were a perfect fit
• Textile mills and factories expanded employing
hundreds of young women in the New England
area and beginning mass production
The Mills
• The center of the new industrialized society
were the northern mills
• These mills (which all copied the Lowell
Massachusetts example) focused upon
efficiency and brutal workforce from young
women and children
• The entire town of Lowell was founded for
mills employing entire families in the
business
The American System
• America pioneered a new system of
manufacturing thanks to Eli Whitney
• Whitney introduced specific and precise
machining combined with interchangeable
parts
• This meant unlike items produced by
artisans that could not be repaired, you
could not replace single parts on an item
• Combined with the factories, this pushed
American industry to new heights
Artisans to Workers
• The overlying change during industrialization was
Americans going from Artisans to Workers
• Although the breakdown of family working may
have harmed some relationships it had a liberating
effect on women and children
• Despite this the hourly workers now became
“wage slaves” working long hours for little pay
• Women became the primary victims for these
“wage slave” positions as they worked long hours
at the most common factory: textile mills
Artisans to Workers
• Factory workers no longer had flexibility in
their work days and leisure now became a
completely separate endeavor
• At the same time workers were now
completely dependent on cash as they had
nothing to barter
• Although workers had “freedom” they were
fairly tied to their jobs and were overall
very unsuccessful when they tried to fight
for rights
The New Social Order
• Social classes had always existed in America
• Before industrialization there was a
predictable social structure of educated
artisans and landed gentry at the top
• Industrialization destroyed this as the new
social class was based entirely on money
and one could rise up the social ladder
The Middle Class
• The new middle class consisted of small business
owners and the managers of the newly formed
factories
• Middle class women stayed completely at home
and raised the children (fewer in number than
before) and had a new focus upon themselves
• Middle class children sometimes worked but were
also focused upon education
The Arts
• Women invested in the new literary form
known as the sentimental novel that focused
upon proper behavior for women and
maintaining social norms
• Transcendentalism was the new literary
form that focused on emotion and nature
and was put forward by writers such as
Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo
Emerson and such works as Walden
Chapter Objectives
• How was work divided among gender lines
in preindustrial society?
• What led to the transportation revolution?
• What changes in preindustrial life and work
were caused by the market revolution?
• Evaluate the opinion offered that mass
production has been an important
democratizing force in America.
• What changes occurred in the family life of
Americans due to the market revolution?