US Markets early 19th Century
• Rural American workers produced and
traded their goods with neighbors to
supply almost all of their needs
• At local markets, families sold the
goods they produced
• With the cash they earned, they
purchased goods they could not produce
themselves (coffee, sugar, horseshoes)
US Markets expand mid century
• In the Northeast, the US became more
industrialized with the factory system
• The factory system changed the lives of
both workers and consumers
• Workers spent their earnings on goods
produced by other workers
US Markets expand mid century
• Farmers began to shift from selfsufficiency (raising a variety of food
for their families) to specialization,
raising one or two crops that they could
sell at home or abroad.
• These developments brought about a
market revolution
Market Revolution
• People buy and sell goods rather than
making the goods for themselves
• This revolution led to a striking change
in the US economy and in the daily lives
of Americans.
• Goods and services multiplied while
incomes rose
• The economy was growing rapidly
Entrepreneurial spirit
• Capitalism – the economic system in
which private businesses and individuals
control the means of production
• Means of production – factories,
machines and land – which are used to
make a profit
• Entrepreneurs – Businessmen who
invested their own money (capital) in
new businesses knowing that they risked
losing their investment if a venture
failed, but they also stood to earn huge
profits if they succeeded
Charles Goodyear 1800-1860
• Purchased the rights of an
inventor who mixed rubber with
sulfur
• Goodyear heated the mixture
which toughened into permanent
elastic
• 1844 he received a patent for his
process called vulcanization
• Others stole and used his
process
• He was deeply in debt when he
died
• His risk paid off for Americans,
but left him penniless
Resourcefulness &
Experimentation
 Americans were willing to try
anything.
 They were first copiers, then
innovators.
1800  41 patents were approved.
1860  4,357 “
“
“
American Entrepreneurs
• Warren Buffet
Greatest Wealth – $66
Billion at age 82
First Job – Newspaper
delivery boy
• Bill Gates
Greatest Wealth – $46
Billion at age 57
First Job – Congressional
page
• Michael Dell
Greatest Wealth – $14.6
Billion at age 47
First Job – Dishwasher for
a Chinese restaurant
American Entrepreneurs
• Steve Jobs (RIP)
Greatest Wealth – $11 Billion at
age 53
First Job – Gopher at Hewlett
Packard
• Oprah Winfrey
Greatest Wealth – $2.7 Billion at
age 58
First Job – Part time radio news
broadcaster
• Mark Cuban
Greatest Wealth – $2.3 Billion at
age 54 Started a computer
consulting firm -- without having
ever owned a computer or taken a
computer class
First Job – Bartender
Impact on Household Economy
• America boosted its industrial output
especially in the north
• American agriculture flourished feeding
workers in the industrial cities
• To meet new demands, farmers also
began to use mechanized farm
equipment produced in the factories
Impact on Household Economy
• Manufactured goods became less
expensive as technological advances
lowered prices
• Falling prices meant that workers on
farms and in cities became consumers
of new products not only for work but
also for comfort
Hand crafted vs. Factory made
A handcrafted clock
cost $50.00
A factory made
clock cost 50 cents
Inventions and Improvements
• Inventor entrepreneurs began to develop
goods to make life more comfortable
• Production of clothing was aided by the
invention of the sewing machine
• Patented by Elias Howe in 1846, the sewing
machine was first used in shoe factories
• Isaac Singer’s treadle sewing machine led to
factory production of clothing
• Clothing prices dropped by more than 75%
• Working people could now afford to buy
clothes
Elias Howe & Isaac Singer
1840s
Sewing Machine
Instant Communication
• Joseph Henry developed the first
telegraph
• Samuel F.B. Morse improved the devise
• Morse was Yale educated where he
constructed batteries in chemistry
class
• Realizing he could not support himself
as an artist, he continued his scientific
work
Instant Communication
• With an associate he built an
electromagnetic telegraph with 10 miles
of wire wrapped around his workroom
• In 1843, Congress granted Morse
$30,000. to build a test line between
Baltimore and Washington D.C.
• Morse won international fame
Samuel F. B. Morse
1840 – Telegraph
Cyrus Field
& the Transatlantic Cable, 1858
The telegraph cable linked the US to England
Steamboats
• Better and faster transportation became
essential to the expansion of agriculture and
industry
• In 1807, Robert Fulton ushered in the
steamboat era when his boat, the Clermont,
made a 150 mile trip up the Hudson River
from New York City to Albany in 32 hours –
very fast for the era.
• By 1830, 200 steamboats traveled the nations
rivers
• Freight rates and voyage times were slashed
Robert Fulton
& the Steamboat
1807: The Clermont
Americans makes canals
• The Erie Canal was the nations first
major canal
• Before the canal was built it cost 19
cents a ton per mile to ship over land
• By 1830, the cost had fallen to less than
2 cents a ton per mile
• Dozens of other canal projects started
opening up the heartland of America to
world markets by binding the Northeast
to the Midwest
Erie Canal, 1820s
Begun in 1817; completed in 1825
Erie Canal System
Principal Canals in 1840
Emergence of Railroads
• Although shipping by rail cost more than
shipping by canal, railroads offered the
advantage of speed
• Railroads could operate during the
winter unlike the canals
• By the 1840’s steam engines pulled
freight at ten miles an hour
• Unfortunately, train travel was not
comfortable
The “Iron Horse” (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 the No. RRs.
 Slave labor
built the So. RRs.
By 1859, railroads
Carried 2 billion tons
of freight each year
Clipper Ships 1845-1859
The Flying Cloud sailed from New York City
around Cape Horn to San Francisco in 89 days.
The fastest way to get to California during the Gold Rush
A Growing America
• By the 1840’s improved transportation
and communications made America’s
regions interdependent
• Steamboats plied the Mississippi linking
North and South
• The Erie Canal, railroads and telegraph
wires linked the East and the West
• Arteries like the “National Road”,
funded by Congress opened up western
travel
First Turnpike- 1790 Lancaster, PA
By 1832, nearly 2400 mi. of road connected
most major cities.
Cumberland (National Road),
1811
Conestoga Covered Wagons
Common form of
transportation for
moving west
Conestoga Trail, 1820s
Regional Specialization
EAST  Industrial - manufactured
textiles and machinery (hired
workers)
WEST  The Nation’s “Breadbasket”
produced grain and livestock shipped
to feed factory workers in eastern
cities and Europe
SOUTH  Cotton traded to England
and New England (worked by slaves)
John Deere & the Steel Plow
(1837)
Allowed farmers to replace
oxen with horses for plowing
land more efficiently
Cyrus McCormick
& the Mechanical Reaper: 1831
Permitted one man to do the
work of 5 hired men. An
ambitious farmer could shift
from subsistence farming to
growing cash crops.
Regional Specialization - East
• New York City became the central link
between American agriculture and
European markets
• Rise of manufacturing led to the
production of better goods at lower
prices
• These goods became affordable for
ordinary Americans
Regional Specialization –
Midwest Farming
• Many people moved to farm the fertile
soil of the Midwest
• It took hard work to clear the land and
make it fit to cultivate
• New inventions like the steel plow and
McCormick Reaper made life easier
• Transportation brought manufactured
goods and carried crops to markets in
the East
Regional Specialization –
Southern Agriculture
• The South remained agricultural
• Many Southerners looked at the
industrialization of the Northeast with
disfavor
• The South usually lacked the capital ($)
to build factories because they had
invested so much in land and slaves
Communication Challenge
• On the next slide you will see 9 images
of devises that have changed the way
we communicate or get information
• With your group members, try to name
the devise
• With your group members, put the
letter of the devise next to the date
you think it matches
• Good Luck
B 1982 Cell phone
C
A
Apple 1976
Sold for $666.66
Transistor radio
1957
E
D
F
Telegraph 1844
G
Walkie Talkie
1940’s
Radio 1920
H
Bell phone 1876
CB 1970
I
Bell phone 1907