Chapter 10 – Growth and Expansion (1790 – 1825)
Section 1: Economic Growth
What was the “Industrial Revolution” and what effects did it have on the
American economy
Section 2: Westward Bound
How did land and water transportation affect westward expansion?
Section 3: Unity and Sectionalism
How were some of the nation-building issues resolved in the early 1800s?
MAIN IDEA: New technology changed the way things were made.
Before the 1800s, most articles were manufactured in “cottage industries.”
In the mid 1700’s, British inventors began creating machinery to perform some of the
tasks that had been done by hand.
Because these machines ran on waterpower, factories were built along rivers. The
factories were called “mills.” Textiles (cloth making) were the first mills.
Working in a mill was easier work and better pay compared to farming. People left their
homes and farms and went to work in the mills. Mill owners built housing to
accommodate employees. Many females found work in the mills.
As more and more people left farms and moved to the mills for work, this naturally gave
rise to cities. More mills and factories were built. This became known as the Industrial
Revolution.
It permanently changed the face of Europe and then America from rural, agricultural
societies, to manufacturing, urban societies.
The Industrial Revolution took root in America around 1800, first in New England
because…..
1) Farming was difficult in the rocky, New England soil,
so people willingly gave up working as farmers for the
opportunity to do something else.
2) New England had rivers and streams to
provide the waterpower needed to run the
mills.
3) New England was close to other resources, including
iron and coal.
4) The area had many ports for shipping goods
in and out.
The Lowell Mill Girls
You work long hours – from sunrise
to sunset. The work is boring, and
you usually perform one task over
and over again. You make about $3
per week, and half of your pay is
used to rent a room and buy food.
You live in a company-owned
boardinghouse. You are required to
be in bed by ten o’clock and to
attend church on Sunday. You can
read, write letters and attend
lectures, but you are not allowed to
drink alcohol or play cards.
The invention of new machines and technology led to the Industrial Revolution.
Eli Whitney invented the
cotton gin in 1793. It quickly
and efficiently removed the
seeds from cotton.
Whitney also started using interchangeable
parts (identical machine parts). This allowed
for large scale production of goods and
reduced the price of goods.
In 1790 Congress passed a patent law to protect the rights of inventors.
Samuel Slater’s
Spinning Frame
Samuel Slater is credited with bringing the Industrial Revolution from England to
America. He memorized the design of machines that made cotton thread then came
to America and built them here. The cotton thread was then sent to women working
from their homes to weave it into cloth.
Francis Cabot Lowell perfected Slater’s process in his textile plant in Massachusetts.
Lowell started the “factory system” where all steps of the process (thread making, cloth
weaving, etc.) were brought together in one place to increase efficiency
Industrial growth requires an economic system that allows for expansion and
competition.
What would happen if we only had one tennis shoe manufacturer in the whole world?
MONOPOLY = Single control of an economic commodity or market (What’s the object
of the game by the same name?)
FREE ENTERPRISE = People are free to buy, sell and produce whatever they want.
Forces of supply and demand and natural competition of prices and goods control the
economy.
CAPITALISM = an economic system where people put their money, or “capital” into a
business, hoping that the business will make a profit and increase their “capital.”
Although many New Englanders went to work in factories in the first part of the 1800s,
agriculture still held on as the main economic activity. The North remained populated
with small, local farms and the south continued building the plantation system.
As the textile industries in the North grew, the demand for cotton became much higher.
The Southern farms switched more from rice to cotton in order to supply the mills. The
invention of the cotton gin encouraged farmers to grow more cotton also because now
it was easier to clean and it could be sent to market to sell faster. From 1790 to 1820,
cotton production in the South went from 3000 bales a year to 300,000 bales a year.
Agriculture also began to expand out toward the West. Some farmers were looking for
more land to plant cotton. Farms farther north along the Ohio River concentrated on
raising pork and cash crops like corn and wheat.
The growth of factories and trade led to the growth of cities.
Most cities grew up along rivers and waterways. These provided power for the
factories and transportation for trading goods.
PROS OF EARLY CITY LIFE: Cities offered a variety of jobs to choose from with steady
wages. As cities grew, libraries, museums and shops were built, offering people places to
enjoy during their leisure time. For many, the jobs and attractions of city life outweighed
the dangers they faced.
CONS OF EARLY CITY LIFE: Early
cities were not the organized,
well-controlled places they are
today, however. Buildings were
mostly wood and brick and fire
was always a threat to wooden
buildings built cheaply and
closely together. Few towns had
organized services like fire
departments. Streets were not
paved. Farm animals like
chickens often roamed the
streets. There was no sewage
system so filthy water mixed
with human and animal waste
ran in the streets. Diseases like
cholera and yellow fever killed
thousands at a time.
SUMMARY QUESTION:
What effects did the Industrial Revolution have on the U.S. economy?
It fundamentally changed the United States from an
agricultural, rural society to a manufacturing, urban
society based on capitalism (putting money in to make
profit) and a free-market economy (rules by competition
and supply and demand).
WRITING RESPONSE:
It is 1830, and you have just moved to New York City. Write a
letter to your friends back on the farm describing what your new
life is like. Your answer needs to reflect that you understood
what life in a new industrial city was like.
Section 2: Westward Bound
Essential Question: How did land and water transportation affect westward expansion?
MAIN IDEA: Transportation routes such as roads improved as settlers moved west, and
steamboats greatly improved the transport of goods along rivers.
ROADS:
The nation needed good inland roads for travel and for the shipment of goods. Private
companies built many turnpikes, or toll roads.
The fees travelers paid to use those roads helped finance their construction.
The first national (government) built road began in 1811 in Maryland. Building stopped
during the War of 1812, but eventually the road reached Illinois. Congress viewed the
National Road as a military necessity, but it did not take on any more road-building
projects at that time.
RIVER TRAVEL:
River travel had definite advantages over travel by wagon and horse:
1) Far more
comfortable
2) Boats could carry
more cargo than a
wagon.
Disadvantages of River Travel
1) Most major rivers in the region flowed in
a north-south direction. Most people were
going in an east-west direction at that time.
2) Boats and barges couldn’t easily travel
upstream against the current.
Robert Fulton developed a steamboat with a powerful engine.
In 1807, Fulton’s Clermont made the 150 mile round trip from NYC to Albany is 32
hours. Using sails like before, the trip took 4 days.
Steamboats ushered in a new age in river travel.
1) Greatly improved
the transport of
goods and
passengers along
major rivers.
2) Shipping
goods became
easier and
faster.
3) Contributed to
the growth of
river cities like
Cincinnati and St.
Louis.
The problem of north-to-south rivers still existed, however. Steamboats could not tie
eastern and western parts of the country together because they had to stay on the
rivers.
De Witt Clinton, a government official in New York, and a group of other business and
government leaders developed a plan to link NYC with the Great Lakes. They would dig a
canal – an artificial waterway across New York state. The canal would like Albany on the
Hudson River with Buffalo on Lake Erie.
The canal would come to be called the Eerie Canal and it opened in 1825.
It used a series of locks – separate compartments in which water levels were raised or
lowered – to compensate for the change in water level between the river and the lake.
The Eerie Canal was a great success. But in the early years, steamboats were not allowed
on the canal because their powerful engines would damage the earth banks of the canal.
Teams of horses or mules would pull boats or barges down the canal. A two-horse team
could pull a 100 ton barge about 24 miles in one day. This was fast compared to wagon
travel. Later the canal banks were reinforced to accommodate steam tugboats that
would push the barges.
The success of the Eerie Canal led to an explosion in canal building. By 1850, the United
States had more than 3,600 miles of canals.
Canals lowered the cost of shipping goods and brought prosperity to the towns along
their routes.
Canals also linked regions of the growing country.
Americans continued to move westward, settling near rivers so they could ship their
goods to markets. The canals, which crisscrossed the land allowed people to live
farther away from the rivers.
Americans moved in waves: First wave 1791-1803 led to Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee
and Ohio
Second wave: 1816-1821 which created Indiana, Illinois, Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri
People often preferred to settle with others from their home communities or home
countries. For example, Michigan’s pioneers came mostly from the New England area.
Wisconsin was later settled mostly by people from the Scandinavian countries of Norway
and Sweden.
Section 3: Unity and Sectionalism
How were nation-building issues resolved in the early 1800’s?
The Era of Good Feeling
A time after the War of 1812 when there were no major political divisions.
Federalists practically gone. People happy and proud to be American.
James Monroe – elected as 5th president in 1817
Era of Good Feeling symbolized by Monroe. Practically ran unopposed. He was an
“unassuming” man of dignity and respect. He traveled the nation, meeting the people.
He paid for his expenses out of his own pocket. Well-liked, known as happy and kind.
Regional differences brought an end to the Era of Good Feeling. Most people felt
attached to their area (Northerners, Southerners, etc) and felt loyal to their region.
This sectionalism – loyalty to one’s region – became dangerous to the stability of the
country as a whole.
Regions differed on key issues:
Slavery:
Supported by white
Southerners.
White Northerners
didn’t want any more
states to be allowed in
as slave states.
Regions also disagreed on tariffs,
a national bank and internal
improvements (like building roads and canals to develop the nation’s
transportation system).
Three important figures emerged at this time.
John C. Calhoun
Strong supporter of state
sovereignty (states have the right
to govern themselves). Opposed
national programs and tariffs.
Felt tariffs caused the prices to
be too high for goods. Favored
the south.
Daniel Webster
Favored tariffs. Felt it protected American
industry from foreign competition. Favored
policies that would strengthen the nation and
favored the north. Great speaker
Henry Clay
Represented the interests of the
Western states. Member of Congress.
Became known as a leader who tried to
resolve sectional disputes.
The Missouri Compromise
Issue: When new states join the “union” (the United States), can they be slave states
or not?
When Missouri was ready to become a state, the South wanted it to be a slave state,
the North wanted it to be a free state. States tried to maintain a balance at that time.
At the same time, Maine was petitioning to become a state of its own. It had formerly
been a part of Massachusetts.
Henry Clay worked out the Missouri Compromise, in which Missouri would be allowed in as
a slave state and Maine in as a free state, thus preserving the balance. Another part of the
Missouri Compromise also banned slavery in the rest of the Louisiana Territory north of the
36-30 N parallel.
The Supreme Court also became involved in the sectional disputes.
McCullough v. Maryland: Established supremacy of the powers of the federal
government over the powers of the state government
Gibbons v. Ogden: States could not make laws that would interfere with
congressional power over interstate commerce.
Foreign Affairs
Relations With Britain
1817 Rush Bagot Treaty:
Limit naval vessels on the
Great Lakes – remove
weapons along the
Canadian/US border
Convention of 1818 – set the
official boundary between US
and Canada. Also created a
secure and demilitarized
border.
Relations With Spain
America took West Florida, arguing it
was part of the Louisiana Purchase.
Spain didn’t object and gave it up.
Andrew Jackson’s troops invaded East
Florida to stop Seminoles from raiding
along the US border. Jackson seized Spanish
forts. Again, Spain didn’t do anything.
Showed American military strength. Spain
didn’t want war over the issue.
Adams-Onis Treaty of 1819
•US gained rest
of Florida
•Spain
abandoned all
claims to
Florida
•In return, U.S.
gave up its
claim to
Spanish Texas
•U.S. gained a
territory in the
Pacific
Northwest.
Other Troubles for Spain
Simon Bolivar and Jose de San Martin successful led revolutions against Spain and won
freedom for the present day countries of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Bolivia, Ecuador,
Chile and Peru. Mexico also had a revolution and achieved independence from Spain in
1821. By 1824, Spain had lost most of its control of Central and South America.
The Monroe Doctrine
France, Austria, Russia and Prussia tried to join forces to help Spain regain the
territories it had lost in the Americas.
President Monroe
didn’t want all
those European
countries coming
back and trying to
take over
territories in the
U.S.
The President issued a statement called the Monroe Doctrine stating that the U.S. would
not mess with any existing European colonies, but that the Americas (north, central and
south) were now officially “off limits” to any new colonization efforts by any European
powers.