SPONGE
Chapter 14, Section 2
3.Where did factory
workers usually live by
the 1850’s? (p.413)
4.Define “discrimination.”
(p.417)
Life in the North
Chapter 14, Section 2
Setting the Scene
Alzina Parsons never forgot her
thirteenth birthday. She began the day
working in the local spinning mill.
Suddenly she cried out. Her hand had
been caught in the spinning machine –
badly mangling her hand. The factory
doctor cut off one of the injured fingers
and sent the girl back to work.
Setting the Scene
Twenty years earlier, such an
accident probably would not have
happened. Factory work was hard, but
mill owners treated workers like human
beings. By the 1840’s, however, there
was an oversupply of workers. Many
factory owners now treated workers like
machines.
A Change in Values
• Factories of the 1840’s and 1850’s were
very different from the mills of the early
1800’s.
• Factories used steam-powered machines,
so they could be built anywhere. They were
also larger.
• Laborers worked longer hours for lower
wages.
• Usually, workers lived in dark, dingy houses
in the shadow of the factory.
A Change in Values
• Before the growth of factories, skilled
workers called artisans made high
quality goods.
• Factory owners were usually more
interested in producing large amounts
instead of high quality.
• Factory workers had no hope of
owning their own business or working
creatively.
A Change in Values
• Now the entire family
awoke with the factory
bell at 4 a.m. They left for
home at 9:30 p.m.
• There were no laws
keeping factories safe or
comfortable, and injured
workers usually lost their
jobs.
Workers Join Together
• In the 1830’s, workers began to form
trade unions, which called for
improvements in working conditions.
• They sometimes went on strike for
higher pay and fewer hours.
• In a strike, workers refused to work as a
protest against poor working conditions.
• However, at this time strikes were made
illegal in most parts of the U.S.
Progress for Artisans
• Slowly, workers made
progress. In certain
places, strikes were
made legal and the
workday was limited to
10 hours.
• Unskilled factory
workers, however,
were easily replaced.
Employers did not
listen to their
demands.
A New Wave of Immigrants
• By the late 1840’s, many factory
workers in the North were
immigrants.
• In that decade, about 4 million
immigrants arrived in the U.S.
• At this time a disease destroyed the
potato crop in Ireland, which was the
main food of poor Irish people.
• This potato disease caused a famine,
or severe food shortage, in Ireland.
From Ireland and Germany
• Thousands in Ireland died from
starvation and disease.
Between 1845 and 1860, over
1.5 million Irish fled to the U.S.
• Germans were also flooding into
the U.S. at the time. Harsh
weather in Germany resulted in
severe food shortages. In 1848,
revolutions around Germany
failed. Over 1 million Germans
fled to the U.S. to escape
persecution and revenge.
InWhere
what year
were
there more
than on
twice
many
Irish
are the
immigrants
shown
thisas
chart
from?
immigrants as there were German ones?
Year
1820
Irish Immigrants
German Immigrants
1830
1840
1850
1860
0
25
50
75
100
125
150
Number of Immigrants (in the thousands)
175
Enriching the Nation
• Immigrants supplied much of the
labor that helped the economy
grow.
• Though most of the Irish were
farmers in the old country, few
had money to buy farms. Most
became laborers in New England.
• Germans generally came with
more money, and bought their
own land or businesses
throughout the Midwest.
• German Jews also came to
America for the first time.
A Reaction Against Immigrants
• Not everyone welcomed
the immigrants. One group
called the nativists
wanted to preserve the
country for native-born,
white citizens.
• Using the term “Americans
must rule America,” they
called for laws to limit
immigration and
immigrants’ rights.
A Reaction Against Immigrants
• Nativists claimed that
newcomers stole their jobs
because they worked for lower
pay.
• When native workers went on
strike they would be replaced
by immigrants.
• Many distrusted immigrants
because of their odd customs
and the Irish were criticized
because they were Catholic.
I Know Nothing
• By the 1850’s hostility toward immigrants
was so strong that nativists formed a
political party called the “Know-Nothing
Party.”
• The group was anti-Catholic and antiimmigrant.
• When asked about the secret meetings
and rituals of the party, a member would
state, “I know nothing.”
• The party grew powerful in the 1850’s, but
died out during the Civil War.
African Americans in the North
• By the early 1800’s all northern states had
outlawed slavery. As a result, thousands of
free African Americans lived and worked in
the North.
• Free blacks faced discrimination, a policy
or attitude that denies equal rights to certain
groups.
• They were denied the ballot-box, jury box,
halls of the legislature, the army, public
lands, school and the church.
From the memoir of a free African
American living in the North
“We went every day… with our books
wrapped in paper to prevent the police or
white persons from seeing them.”
Why would
thisauthor
personofcontinue
to most
go each
day?
Where
was the
this quote
likely
going?
•To eliminate discrimination
•To achieve success in a job
•To organize a trade union
Some Success
• Despite obstacles, some
African Americans earned
great success in
business.
• Others became the first to
create new farm
inventions, graduate with
law degrees or become
editors of newspapers.
John Russwurm,
editor of the first
African American
newspaper.
Cotton Kingdom in the South
Chapter 14, Section 3
Cotton Gin, Cotton Boom
• Cotton became such a
profitable crop in the
1830’s that the South (and
the slave system) came to
depend on it.
• Northern factories needed
cotton more than ever, but
at first the South could not
grow enough to meet their
demands.
• Cleaning the seeds from
cotton was just too slow.
Cotton Gin,
Cotton Boom
• When a young teacher
named Eli Whitney learned of
this problem, he decided to
make a machine that would
clean cotton.
• In ten days, Whitney had
made his cotton engine (gin).
It used wire teeth to sweep
the seeds out of cotton fiber.
• One slave using a cotton gin
could do the job of 50 people.
Southern planters were finally
able to boost their profits by
growing cotton.
The Cotton Kingdom
• The cotton gin led to a
boom in cotton production.
• However, cotton plants
quickly wore out the soil.
• To find more cotton land
planters continued to move
west, and they took
slavery with them.
• You would think that
planters would need fewer
slaves thanks to the cotton
gin…
The Cotton Kingdom
• However, planters needed
more slaves to plant and
pick more cotton and run
more cotton gins.
• With the profit, planters
could buy more land and
more slaves and make
even larger profits.
• This cycle made slavery a
vital part of southern life
by the 1840’s.
An Agricultural Economy
• Cotton wasn’t the only part
of the southern economy,
but there was still very few
factories in the South.
• An agricultural economy
developed in the South
because the land and
climate were ideal for
cotton, rice and livestock.
• Tobacco and sugar were
also important cash crops
grown in the south.
Kentucky became famous
for breeding horses.
Limited Industry
• The South did have some
factories, but they mostly
only made farm tools like
plows and gins.
• Rich southern planters
preferred to spend their
money on land and slaves
instead of building factories.
• There was also less of a
demand for manufactured
goods in the South because
slaves could not buy these
goods.
Economically Dependent
• With few factories, the South
came to depend more and
more on the North and Europe.
• Southern planters often
borrowed money from northern
banks to buy farm tools and
northern goods.
• Though proud of their cotton
industry, many southerners
were bitter over their reliance
on the North.