Chapter 14: Forging the National
Economy (1790-1860)
Heading West
 Hard, filled w/disease and loneliness, DEATH
 Frontier people – superstitious & ignorant
 Molded the Environment
 Kentucky Bluegrass thrived – ideal pasture land
 Settlers trapped beaver, sea otters, Bison sent it back East
 Nationalism led to appreciation for American Wilderness
 Artist George Catlin – national parks (Yellowstone 1872)
 By 1860 there are 33 states, American Population was 4th
in the World
 43 cities by 1860 had populations greater than 20,000
 W/Growth came:
 Poor sanitation – later sewage systems & piped-in water
came about
 1850’s – millions of Irish and German migrated to the
U.S.
 WHY: Land, Free Religion, No Aristocracy, 3 Meat
meals a day, plus transoceanic steamships cut down time
travel
 Irish Potato Famine – Mid 1840’s killed over 2 million
 Known as the “Black Forties” – came to Boston & New
York *
 They were :
 Illiterate, discriminated a/g
 Lowest paying jobs
 Hated by Protestants
 Americans HATED the Irish (NINA) No Irish Need
Apply
 Ancient Order of Hibernians – estab. To help Irish
 Liked: Politics, became Police Officers
German 48’s
 Millions of Germans came to U.S. B/W
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1830’s – 1860’s
BECAUSE; crop failures & revolution/war of 1848
More Money than the Irish bought land West (Wisconsin)
Contributed to U.S. Culture: Christmas Tree & Isolationism
Urged Public Education (Kindergarten) HATED SLAVERY
Americans resented the Germans b/c:
 Kept to themselves
 Clung to their old ways
 Kept speaking German & Kept Religion
 Brought BEER? Seriously?
Why People Hated Immigrants
 Nativists – Older Americans who were prejudiced (HATED) immigrants
because they threatened their JOBS, Politics, Religion
 Catholicism becomes a major new faith again only after how many years
……….. 1840’s -50’s
 Started building Catholic Schools this challenged Protestantism so a group of
Racist Bully’s formed a group “Order of the Star Spangled Banner” AKA the
“Know-Nothings”
 Fought for:
 Restrictions on Immigration, naturalization, & deportation
 Wrote books about Corruption in Churches
 Mass Violence: PA 1844 (burnt churches, schools, people
killed)
 Eventually time passes and they will be accepted
Industrial Revolution
 Samuel Slater – Factory System built the 1st cotton thread spinner
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1791 (Rhode Island)
Eli Whitney – Built Cotton Gin: The South thrived & expanded the
cotton westward helped the North w/textiles
Eli Whitney also introduced machine-made inter-changeable parts
(MUSKETS) 1850
The assembly line took off in the North-boosted Economy
Elias Howe & Issac Singer 1846 – Sewing Machine
During the 1860’s – 28,000 patents were achieved
Samuel Morse– Invented the telegraph connected the business world
Eli Whitney
Issac Singer
Wage Slaves
 Factory System – let to impersonal relations
 Benefit went to factory owner: long hours, low wages, unsafe
conditions & unhealthy WHY (No UNIONS)
 1820’s & 1830’s Conditions Improved thanks to the mass vote
 10 hr wk day, higher wages, tolerable conditions, public education, ban
of imprisonment for debt
 1840’s van Buren estab. 10 hr wk day for Federal employees
 Many workers went on Strike but it was pointless – they just hired
SCABS
 Commonwealth v. Hunt = MA Supreme Court ruled (1842) legalized
unions for peaceful and honorable protest
Women & the Economy
 Lowell MA = Model textile mill had young single women
 Horrible Working Conditions
 Many worked In Nursing, Domestic Services, & Teaching
(encouraged by Catherine Beecher)
 Wk before marriage after became housewives
 Arranged marriages went away & for love marriages tied
families closer
 Families grew small (6 people) & Fertility rate dropped sharply
(Domestic Feminism)
 Home changed from a place of labor to a refuge
Farmers Reach Revolution
 Ohio-Indiana-Illinois Became Nations Bread Basket =
planted corn & raised hogs
 Inventions Were Born:
 John Deere = invented the still plow
 Cyrus McCormick = mechanical mower-reaper to
harvest grain
 These led to lrg-scale production & growth of cash crops
 North Begin to grow more food than the South hmm. . .
 Products flowed from North to South via sea and river
Steel Plow
McCormick
Reaper
Highways & Steamboats
 Lancaster Turnpike – Hard Road from PA to Lancaster PA
brought economic expansion westward
 Cumberland Road (AKA National Road) = MD to IL w/ state
and Federal Money
 Robert Fulton Invented 1st Steamboat the Clermont 1807
(Common by 1830’s)
 Caused an Increase in Trade
 Gov. Dewitt Clinton’s Big Ditch = The Erie Canal
(between Lake Erie & the Hudson River)
 Shortened expense and time travel
 Cities grew along the canal and food was reduced