Industrialization of
America and the Market
Revolution
Antebellum Economics
1790s-1860
Causes
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Westward Expansion
New Forms of Transportation
Slave Labor / Inexpensive Labor
Ingenuity / Profit
Free Market Capitalism and Government
Investment
Natural Resources / Geography
Isolationism / Protective Tariffs
Ties to Great Britain
Westward Expansion
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Rich farmlands of Midwest
Clay’s American System
Disdain for Native Americans
Conestoga Wagons
Eventually Railroads
Transportation
Infrastructure Development
 Paved Roads and Turnpikes
 Canals
 Railroads
Erie Canal System
Transportation: Erie Canal,
1820s
Begun in 1817; completed in 1825
Principal Canals in 1840
Inland Freight Rates
The “Iron Horse” Wins! (1830)
1830  13 miles of track built by Baltimore & Ohio RR
By 1850  9000 mi. of RR track [1860  31,000 mi.]
The
Railroad
Revolution,
1850s
 Immigrant labor
built in North
 Slave labor
built in South
Ingenuity Innovation
Inventions
 Mechanized Farming Tools
 Steam Engine
 Locomotive / Trains
 Steamboat
 Telegraph
 Interchangeable Parts
 Sewing Machines
Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin, 1791
Eli Whitney’s Gun Factory
Interchangeable Parts Rifle
Oliver
Evans
First automated flour
mill
First prototype of the locomotive
Cyrus McCormick
& the Mechanical Reaper: 1831
Samuel F. B. Morse
1840 – Telegraph
Free Market Capitalism
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Laissez Faire policies (Gov’t hands off)
Competition / Profits = Innovation
Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand
Government Investment
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Erie Canal
National Road,
State Turnpikes
Railroads
Numerous infrastructure projects.
Slave Labor
Southern States
 International Slave Trade Ban
 Continued Growth of Slavery
 Cotton Gin
 “King Cotton”
Inexpensive Labor
Northeastern Cities
 Women
 Children
 Irish and German immigrants
 Farmers moving to cities
Natural Resources
Geography
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Large deposits of coal, iron, copper,
and silver
Bodies of water
Good harbors
Lumber
Distance from Europe
Isolationism
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Embargo Act
Protective Tariffs
Napoleonic Wars
Rise of Nationalism
Ties to Great Britain
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Ideas Originate in Great Britain
Spreads to New England
Mill towns of New England
Results
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Urbanization
Gap between North and South
Westward Expansion
Immigration Increases
Women in the work place /Social
Movements
Growth of Industries
Social Mobility –Expansion of Middle Class
Early signs of Organized Labor (unions)