Forging the National Economy
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Americans were moving west, was a very hard trip
though (disease, dangers, loneliness)
On the frontier people usually were characterized as
individualistic, superstitious, and not as informed as
their eastern counterparts
Many moved west because of overuse of land
Tobacco had depleted the soil in many areas
Settlers moving west trapped beavers, sea otters, and
bison for fur to ship back East
This further led to a spirit of nationalism and
appreciation for the West and wilderness
The push for national parks started, and Yellowstone
was created in 1872
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By mid-1800s, the population was doubling every 25 years
By 1860, 13 states had become 33 states and we had the 4th
largest population in the world
Cities exploded
Urban growth was seen in New York and Philadelphia, and 43
other cities that had 20,000 people or more
With urban growth issues develop in sanitation, sewage,
water, and slums
Immigration contributes largely to this as well
Irish and Germans come in droves because of:
Over population in Europe
Want of land and freedom
Lack of aristocracy
Famines and wars
Travel time dropped because of steam ships
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Irish and German notes from Thursday
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Nativists-older Americans who were prejudiced against
newcomers in jobs, politics, and religion
Catholicism became a major faith because of immigration in
1840s and 1850s, also creation of Catholic schools
Nativists fear that Catholicism challenges Protestantism
(Popish idols)
Create “Order of Star-Spangled Banner”, the Know Nothings
They meet secretly (as in “I know nothing…”)
Fought for restrictions on immigration, naturalization, and
wanted deportation of alien paupers
Wrote fiction books about corruption of churches
Instigated mass violence (Philadephia in 1844, they burn
churches, schools, and there were killings)
Immigration of course made America pluralistic and diverse
Immigrants become less disliked over time (economic
expansion, assimilation, and more jobs available)
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Industrial Revolution spread to the US
It exploded here because:
Land was cheap
Money (capital) for investment
Lots of raw materials
Growing number of consumers (which Britain
lacked)
The US had to create a factory system, whereas
Britain had a head start
British also tried to keep most of their industry in
secret so no other nations could copy
US still remained very rural and farmed. But
industry led to a slow growth of cities as well.
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Samuel Slater-Father of Factory System
Learned of textile machinery while working in Britain
and escaped to US
Built first cotton thread spinner in US in 1791 in
Pawtucket, RI
Eli Whitney built cotton gin
Made cotton production 50 times more efficient
Created an actual profitable cotton industry
Saved the South with “King Cotton”
South grew and flourished, cotton expanded
westward
The North relied upon factories and textiles,
especially in New England because of bad soil, access
to the sea, rivers, and easy access to labor
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The Embargo Act had encouraged home manufacturing
After the War of 1812, the British poured in cheap goods
forcing many American factories to close
Congress passes the Tariff of 1816 to protect US economy
Eli Whitney introduced machine made inter-changeable
parts in 1850
This was the basis of the factory and assembly line which
would create business in the North
The South still flourished with cotton
Elias Howe and Issac Singer makes sewing machine in 1846
(clothing industry explodes)
1800-1810, only 360 patents. 1860-1870 there were 20,000.
New business model of a ‘limited liability corporation’
comes in and stimulates economy.
Samuel Morse creates the telegraph and Morse Code
connects the business world (“What hath God wrought?”
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Factory System=Impersonal Relations
Benefits (and profits) goes to factory owner
Hours were long, wages low, conditions unsafe and unhealthy
At the time, no unions existed to address these conditions
Child labor was widespread, 50% of those working in industry were kids
Adult working conditions began to improve in 1820s and 1830s (because of the
increase in voting rights)
10 hour day, higher wages, slightly more tolerable conditions (still had the
Acme-Tear-Your-Arm-Off-Machines)
Public education came into play and there was also a ban on debt prisons (yes
where they put you in jail because you can’t pay your debts…but you then can’t
go to work to pay off your debts since you’re in jail….etc)
President Van Buren establishes the 10 hour work day for federal workers
Many factory workers do attempt to strike, but these are short lived
Mainly because the government doesn’t support the strikers’ side, and also
owners just simply found replacement workers (immigrants anyone?)
Labor unions do start to form in the 1830s, but the Panic of 1837 derails them
SC of Mass. rules in Commonwealth v. Hunt that unions can be formed for
peaceful and honorable protest
Unions went largely ineffective during this time because of the use of “scabs”
(replacement workers)
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Women worked in factories under very poor conditions
Lowell, MA opened a model textile mill that employed
young single women
Opportunities were rare for women and they mainly worked
in nursing, domestic service, and teaching
They usually work before marriage, then after marriage
became housewives and mothers
Arranged marriages die down and the belief that a marriage
because of love tied a family closer
Families start to grow smaller (now just an avg of 6) meaning
the fertility rate dropped (domestic feminism)
Child centered families began to emerge, with less children
and discipline
Instead of a home also being a place of labor, it was now a
place of rest and refuge from the work at the mill
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The areas of Ohio-Indiana-Illinois (called the trans-Allegheny
region) became the nation’s breadbasket
They plant corn and raised hogs
[Cincinnati was called the porkopolis of the west]
Inventions spurred agriculture forward
John Deere, invents steel plow that cut through hard soil and
can be pulled by horses
Cyrus McCormick, invented the mechanical reaper that could
harvest grain
Large scale production resulted and the growth of new cash
crops
The North actually produces more food than the South (they
grow cotton which you can’t eat)
Products flow from the North to South via rivers and the sea
East to West requires the construction of new roads and
canals
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The US needs improvements in transportation to carry
raw materials
Lancaster Turnpike, a “hard road” from Philadelphia to
Lancaster, PA that moved economic expansion westward
in PA.
Federal government constructed the Cumberland Road
(the National Road) which went from Maryland to Illinois
using state and federal money
Robert Fulton invented the steamboat, the Clermont in
1807.
Steamboats were common across the US by 1830
This causes an increase of US trade because now they
could go against the current
Increases the strength of the Southern and Western
economies as well.
NY Governor DeWitt Clinton’s “Big Ditch” was
the Erie Canal between Lake Erie and Hudson
River
 At time it took 4 weeks to get from NY to
Detroit
 Proposed in 1807, started in 1817, opened in
1825
 This shortened the expense and time to travel
and send goods to cities westward
 Cities also grew up along the canal and the price
of food and goods were reduced
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The 1st railroad in the US was laid out in 1828
By 1860 30,000 miles of track had been put
down (3/4 of those are in the North)
 Rail was first opposed because people thought
they would compete and take business away
from the new canals being built
 Rail was also opposed because they caused fires
to housing as they passed by sometimes
 Another pitfall was that early trains were poorly
constructed, they had bad brakes, and the gauge
of the tracks were often different from region to
region
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Comparatively:
South: Cotton accounts for 50% of all exports
North: Wheat becomes a large export, along with textiles
Americans import more than they export, which causes large amounts
of debt to foreign banks and businesses
1858, Cyrus Field lays a telegraph line between the US and Europe
A better one is laid in 1866 providing for instant communication across
the Atlantic
America and Britain traded off dominance of the seas
In the 1840s and 50s, we build clipper ships which are fast, sleek, and
strong
The British then come out with iron steamers that were slower but
could handle more tonnage
The Pony Express also was created, going 2,000 miles in 10 days
This only lasted 18 months though, 1860-1861.
This was because of a transcontinental telegraph line being laid and
also the start of the Civil War.
Steamboat: allows reverse transport of South to
West
 Canals: Lead to more trade with East from West
(no canals in South)
 NY became the main port of the nation
replacing New Orleans
 Principle of divided labor in different regions
 South: cotton to New England
 West: Grain and livestock to East and Europe
 East: Machines, textiles for South and West
 The Home was now also transformed from a
place of work to a place of relaxation and refuge
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Business began to grow up
The era of the self-supporting farm was now
shifting to the modern specialty economy
The gap between rich and poor began to
widen as well
Cities saw the most extremes:
Unskilled workers drifting from town to town
Social mobility existed, but rare to have ‘rags
to riches’
Standard of living did rise as wages rose