AP US History
Chapter 8:
Northern Transformations, 1790-1815
Postcolonial American Society
 By 1789, most people in the United States were farmers
 Most farmers raised a variety of crops and animals, rather
than a single cash crop
 Provided for the family first, then sold whatever was left
over
 Most farmers worked on the barter system
 Traded with neighbors rather than using cash
 Often did other work to supplement farming
 Blacksmithing, coopers, etc.
 As farming became more efficient, foreign demand for
American farm products increased
Postcolonial American Society
 Most people lived in rural areas at the turn of the 19th century
 The five largest cities were all Atlantic seaport cities
 The only places with populations over 10,000
 Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Charleston
 Standards of living varied, with the poor living very simple lives
 Homes lacked paint, windows, and had little furniture
 People used the same bowls and utensils for each meal, but
began to become less common even for the poor
 Shared beds and other living arrangements
 Very uneven distribution of wealth in the nation
 Cities had large populations of poor
Opening of the Backcountry
 When the Treaty of Paris was signed, most land of the
United States was possessed by Native Americans
 As people moved west, the tribes were pushed further and
further west, often resulting in violence
 Some whites assimilated into Native American culture
 Daniel Boone: opened the Cumberland Gap, dressed in Native
traditions
 Davy Crockett: apparently wrestled bears and alligators
 Often referred to as “white savages”
 By 1815, hundreds of thousands had moved to the frontier
of the old Northwest
The Eroding of Patriarchy
 After the Revolution, the society of authority had become
one of individualism and democracy
 Marriages were more for love, not arranged by parents
 More out of wedlock pregnancies
 Children received less inheritance because of the dwindling
availability of land and resources, lessening the role of
parental say in matters
 Alcohol was a problem in the nation
 Whiskey was the national drink
 People drank to get drunk
 Caused many problems, financially, domestic, alcoholism, etc
 Eventually, rise of temperance societies called for a ban
on alcohol
The Transportation Revolution
 Travel throughout the nation at the turn of the 19th Century was
very cumbersome
 Few roads were in existence and most rivers were only navigable
to a certain point
 National Road: completed in 1818
 Linked the Potomac River to the Ohio River at Wheeling, Virginia
(now West Virginia)
 Had a very limited effect on travel and prices of goods
 The steamboat revolutionized the way people and goods got
around
 Robert Fulton launched the Clermont, the first steamboat, on a
trip from New York to Albany in 1807
 Over the next few years, more steamboats were on more rivers
 Flat bottom boats could navigate even low rivers
The Transportation Revolution
 While the steamboat was great for travel and shipping, you had to
have water
 States began to construct artificial rivers (canals) to solve this
problem
 In 1817, construction began on the Erie Canal
 Built to connect Lake Erie with the Hudson River, thus linking New York
and the ocean with the Great Lakes
 364 miles from Buffalo to Albany, NY
 Used a system of locks to traverse the hilly landscape
 Completed in 1825, helped found some of the largest cities of New York
and decreased the price of shipping goods to market by 90%
 Other canals were also built after the success of the Erie Canal
 Eventually, the invention of the locomotive started a boom in
railroads, makign the canal system obsolete
Effects of Transportation
 Henry Clay envisioned a market based economy that would unify
the nation
 Known as the American system
 Farmers in the Northwest were greatly affected by the
Transportation Revolution
 Focused more on a single cash crop and raised more livestock
 Relied more on purchasing goods from stores and manufactured
goods, rather than self manufacturing
 Began to shift to new farming practices and implements, such as
the iron plow
 Without the need for as many laborers, families became smaller
 Distinct “male” and “female” work developed
 More focus on cleanliness and household visual appeal
 Less reliance on neighbors
Industrial Revolution: The Beginning
 The steam engine and other industrial developments led to the rise of
industry in American towns and cities
 Led to the availability of manufactured goods at low prices to all,
especially factory made clothing
 Rhode Island System
 Developed by Samuel Slater in Rhode Island
 Textile mill employed town’s residents
 Villages were built around company land that rented it out to the residents
to farm
 Waltham (Lowell) System
 Francis Cabot Lowell opened textile mills in Waltham and Lowell, MA in the
1820s
 Employed mostly young, single women
 Built boarding houses for the workers and required them to send wages ome
to their families
 Many of the “Lowell Girls” went on to become social reformers