The Market Revolution
Chapter 9-1
Markets Expand
 Early 19th century: rural Americans = self-sufficient
 mid 19th century: US more industrialized
 specialization: mid 19th century farmers began
raising 1 or 2 cash crops to sell – move away from
self-sufficiency
 market revolution: people bought and sold goods
rather than making goods for their own use
 Capitalism: private businesses and individuals
control the means of production (ex: factories,
machines, and land) and use them to make
profits
 Entrepreneurs: owners/investors in businesses –
risky if it’s a new business
 “America is a country in which fortunes
have yet to be made…All cannot be
made wealthy, but all have a chance
of securing a prize. This stimulates to
the race, and hence the eagerness of
the competition.” – Alexander Mackay
(Scottish journalist who lived in Canada)
Inventions
 1839: Charles Goodyear developed vulcanized
rubber (didn’t freeze in cold weather or melt in
hot weather)
 1846: Elias Howe patented the sewing machine
 1851: I.M. Singer added the foot-treadle to the
sewing machine (less time to make textiles) = led
to factory production of clothing

decreased clothing prices by 75%
Telegraph
1837: Samuel F.B. Morse
created the telegraph
(carried coded
messages across a
copper wire)
 Connected cities, spread
info, kept railroads on
schedule
 By 1854: 23,000 miles of
telegraph wire across US
Morse Code
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XHwygN9
CKM (drummer)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J8YcQETy
Tw (alphabet)
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1WdoKKG
M5o (twitter)
Do Now
 What communication devices have you
read about in science fiction stories or seen
in futuristic movies?
 What are these devices and how are they
superior to the communication devices and
technology we currently have?
 If such a device were to exist, how would it
revolutionize our lives?
Canals
 1807: Robert Fulton invented the steamboat

boats could now travel upstream

by 1830: 200 steamboats on western rivers = lowered
shipping prices and travel times
 1816: 100 miles of canals  1831: 3,300+ miles
of canals
 Erie Canal: US’s first major canal
Railroads
Disadvantage: More expensive
than shipping by canal
Advantages: speed (4x faster
than steamboats), used in
winter, bring goods inland
 1850: 10,000 miles of track
 “If one could stop when one wanted, and if
one were not locked up in a box with 50 or 60
tobacco-chewers; and the engine and fire
did not burn holes in one’s clothes…and the
smell of the smoke, of the oil, and of the
chimney did not poison one…and [one]
were not in danger of being blown sky-high
or knocked off the rails – it would be the
perfection of traveling.” – Samuel Breck
(Philadelphia merchant)
Regional Specialties
South exported cotton
to England and New
England
West sent grain and
livestock to eastern
cities and Europe
East manufactured
textiles and machinery
Southern Agriculture
 Relied on cotton, tobacco, and rice
 Southerners disliked idea of industrialization -
thought the northern factories were dirty
 Communication and transportation lines
were less advanced in south than in north
Northeast Shipping &
Manufacturing
 Northeast = center of American commerce
(canals and railroads)
 NYC = central link between American
agriculture and European markets once Erie
Canal opened
 14% of workers had manufacturing jobs –
produced more and better goods at lower
prices than had been done before
Midwest Farming
 1837: John Deere invented first steel plow =
allowed farmers to develop farmland more
efficiently and cheaply
 Cyrus McCormick: invented mechanical reaper
(horse-drawn grain reaper) = allowed 1 farmer
to do the work of 5 farmers