EV Chapter 9 TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICAN SOCIETY 1815 – 1850
CHAPTER FOCUS QUESTIONS:
1. What caused the upsurge of westward migration after the War of 1812?
2. What changes were linked to the rise of the market economy?
3. How do you account for the vast public investment in canals during this era, and how
did the rise of canals affect where Americans lived and how they made their living?
4. What caused the rise of industrialization?
5. How did the rise of the market economy and industrialization influence relationships
within families and communities?
1. What caused the upsurge of westward migration after the War of 1812?
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federal government had gained control of western lands from individual states as evidenced in the
Land Ordinance of 1785 and Northwest Ordinance of 1787 which set up guidelines for organizing the
west into towns and eventually states
Louisiana Purchase 1803 and Transcontinental Treaty 1819 brought the entire area east of the
Mississippi under US control
War of 1812 military bounties gave 6 million acres of western land to US soldiers who’d fought in War
of 1812
Jefferson and the Republicans’ Land Laws in early 1800s kept dropping the minimum size of land
parcels and the price – Federal land policy
Congress authorized funds for National Road 1816 which reached Illinois by 1838
limited land in the settled East – families wanted more land, which was made available to whites after
the Indian Removals of the 1830s
crop prices skyrocketed after War of 1812 until the Panic of 1819 because markets were captured from
warring England and France, whose war had exhausted their own farmers’ lands; AND as
industrialization and labor-saving machinery proliferated in USA after 1815, many workers moved to
urban centers (cities) and off farms, creating a strong urban market for food products
West had great river systems which now made it possible for farmers to move away from subsistence
farming and into cash crop farming, since they could now use rivers to ship their products to New
Orleans since the US now controlled the Mississippi River (from the Mississippi R. products could be
shipped east or to Europe, the West Indies, etc.)
farmers were over-working their land to make money from these cash crops, so they constantly
needed to move west to get more and fresher land
2. What changes were linked to the rise of the market economy?
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the market economy helped spur immigration to the west (cash crops v. subsistence farming)
market economy encouraged the transportation revolution – farmers and factory owners needed to
get their products to consumers
Northeastern industrialization spurred transportation revolution to get raw materials and finished
products to markets/consumers
Panic of 1819 led many farmers, already in debt, not being able to get out of debt and made many
distrust banks but also led to steep drop in land prices
greatly diminished land speculation
3. How do you account for the vast public investment in canals during this era, and how did
the rise of canals affect where Americans lived and how they made their living?
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difficulties w/national roads – hard to build, expensive to maintain
advantages of canals – expensive to build but required almost no maintenance, and once built easy to
run
canals could connect rivers with the Great Lakes and eastern seaboard cities and thus, overseas
markets
canals reduced shipping costs in 15 years from 20 cents a mile to 2 cents a mile – a reduction of 90%
canals attracted businesses, investors, infrastructure and settlement – like railroads, they basically
created towns and cities – people moved to where goods were being shipped and delivered and
businesses grew up in these areas to service the inhabitants of these growing towns/cities
at first the steamboats made river cities major hubs; later canals shifted urban growth to lakeside cities
Americans did not build factories near river hubs or lakeside cities, but set up commercial centers
where items were bought and sold, and warehouses to store goods
4. What caused the rise of industrialization?
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crises leading up to War of 1812 (the Embargo Act, Non-Intercourse Act, etc.) made American
businessmen realize that they couldn’t rely on Europe as a source for goods
Americans believed that they needed to manufacture goods themselves – Era of Good Feelings
encouraged the creation of tariffs (taxes on imports which ended up protecting/encouraging American
manufacturers)
many rivers with strong water flow east of Appalachians were a strong natural resource to power new
American factories
transportation revolution (national roads, steamboats, canals) made it possible to goods made in the
east to be shipped west and for natural resources (cotton) to be shipped from the south to factories in
the east
lack of new farmland to support growing population and innovations in farm methods and equipment
also spurred movement of people from farming to industry
5. How did the rise of the market economy and industrialization influence relationships
within families and communities?
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the market economy, making money by selling things instead of making or growing what your family
needed to live on, meant that more and more daily needs were being purchased, and thus needed to
be made somewhere outside the home. this in turn meant that more people were working OFF the
farm in making things rather than growing food to live on.
as young people in particular left their family farms to work in cities and factories, earning their own
livings, the hierarchical ties between parents and children were weakened. Grown children felt that
since they were earning their own living they should then be able to choose their own life partner,
place of work, and residence. so hierarchical, if not emotional, family ties / relationships were
weakened.
industrialization weakened the hierarchical ties between master craftsmen/employers and workers. in
huge factories workers often never saw their actual boss, only the foremen. these workers began to
form HORIZONTAL ALLEGIENCES/TIES rather than hierarchical ones – people began to associate with
like-minded peers rather than align themselves with their social or economic superiors.
as families moved off farms and into cities, even the hierarchical ties between husbands and wives
were weakened, as women began to voluntarily associate with other women and take advice from
each other rather than just their husbands.
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the market economy and industrialization weakened traditional hierarchical ties but created new,
voluntary horizontal allegiance groups