The Market Revolution, 1790-1860
APUSH – Mr. Hesen
Demographic Changes
– Population
• By 1860 – 33 states were in the Union
• Population doubled every 25 years
– Natural birthrates
– Immigration
– Urbanization
Irish Immigration (Old Immigration)
– Irish potato famine – 1840s – millions
die
– Largest group of immigrants (1830s1860s)
• Two million immigrants – more here than
Ireland
• Targets for discrimination
– Poor
– Catholic
– Treated lower than African Americans
German Immigration (Old Immigration)
– 1.5 million – 1830-1860
– Largest group by the 20th Century
• Uprooted farmers – moved to Midwest
• Abolitionists – strong Protestants
• Influential voters – better educated
– Kindergarten – support for public schools
– Beer – hurt temperance movement
English Immigration (Old)
– Accounted for 20% of U.S. population (1820-1860)
– Many left b/c of tough economic issues
– Many settled in Lowell, MA – textiles
– Mining work was also popular
– A lot less discrimination
• Many American still identified with GB
Nativism
– Hatred of foreign-born persons
– Main target: IRISH CATHOLICS
– 1840s – “Know Nothing Party”
The Industrial Revolution
– Economic Inventors stimulated growth
• Samuel Slater – “Father of Factory System”
• “Spinning Jenny” – Pawtucket Mill, RI
Eli Whitney
Sewing Machine
Telegraph
Textile Industry
– U.S. imports down after Embargo Act
– 1814 – Francis Lowell – first textile plant in MA
• Lowell factories made the entire textile NOT just parts
• Revolutionizes factory work – not at home
Lowell Girls
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Farmer’s daughters hired to work in factories
Strength and independence
Strict moral supervision and mandatory church attendance
1836 – first strike in U.S. history
Eventually water and steam replaced female labor – so did
the German and Irish
How did MA become so industrialized?
– Rocky soil discouraged farming –
manufacturing more attractive
– Large amount of labor available
– Shipping seaports – easy imports and
exports
– Rapid river currents provided water
power
Why didn’t the South industrialize?
– Capital resources tied up in slavery
– Local customers were poor
– Most people couldn’t afford finished products
Transportation Revolution
– Prime motive – East tapping the resources in the
West
– Significance:
• National market economy
• Regional specialization
• Westward expansion
Turnpikes
– 1790 – first turnpike – Lancaster Turnpike in PA
• Connected Philly to Lancaster
– Tolls collected
– Significance: Turnpike building boom
– 1811 – Cumberland Road (National Road)
• Cumberland, MD to Vandalia, IL
• Became vital highway to the West (600 miles)
• Cheaper to carry freight
• Westward expansion!
Conestoga Wagons
Pony Express
Steam Engine
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Robert Fulton
NYC to Albany via Hudson River (500 miles)
Made trip in 32 hours
Significance: Rivers became navigable
Erie Canal (1825)
– Upstate New York
– 363-mile canal linked Great Lakes with Hudson River
– Impact:
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Cheap transportation
Shipping time reduced
Land values skyrocketed
Made NYC a major city
Great Lakes region explodes
Competition from the West against New England
Railroads
– Most significant impact of transportation
revolution
– Fast, reliable, cheaper than canals
• First line: Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) – 1828
• 1860 – 30,000 miles of track laid
• Opposition: canal builders, turnpike, builders
Northern Workers
– Transformed working conditions and relations
– Skilled workers were ousted and unskilled labor took
over
– Poor working conditions
– Forbidden to form labor unions
Women and Children
– Worked six days per week
– Extremely low wages
– Lowell Girls were supervised on and off job site
– 1820 – ½ of labor was under the age of 10
• Devastating effects from abuse
Gains for Workers
– During Age of Jackson – workingmen had right to
vote
– Workingman’s parties – fought for higher wages
and rights
– Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) – MA Supreme
Court
• Labor unions legal as long as they are not violent
Western Farmers
– Trans-Allegheny
Region – Ohio,
Indiana, and Illinois
– Breadbasket of the
U.S.
– Most produce sent
down Mississippi
River to Gulf
Inventions
– John Deere and Cyrus McCormick
– Changed West from subsistence to large-scale
farming
• More debt
• Surpluses
– New markets
Regional Specialization
– East
• Industrial
• 1861 – owned 81% of U.S. industrial capacity
• Most populous region
– West
• Became nation’s breadbasket – grain and livestock
– South
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Cotton exports to New England and Britain
Slavery persisted
Resist to changes
No industry
Impact of Industrialization
– Division of labor – specialized work
– Growth of cities – 1860 – 25%
– Increase in social stratification – rich v. poor
– Immigration increases
– Foreign commerce