Chapter 14
Notes
Mrs. Marshall
Demographics in America by the
1840s and 1850s
½
of all people were under the
age of 30
 By 1850 population was still
doubling almost every 25 years
 1860 there were 33 states
 U.S. was the 4th most populous
nation in the western world
 By 1860 43 cities had
populations over 20,000
“squatter sovereignty” or
“squatters rights”
People settled on land they did not
own.’
“ecological imperialism”
The aggressive exploitation of the
West’s bounty
George Catlin- painter/student of
Native American life. Advocated
the preservation of nature as a
national policy-proposed the
creation of a national park.
Why immigrants came to the US
 To
escape overcrowded
conditions in Europe
 Industrialists encouraged
immigration because they
needed unskilled workers
 Western states encouraged it to
increase their population
Irish potato famine
1840’s more than ½ million
migrated to the US.
They settled in large east coast
cities (too poor to move west/buy
land), most were Roman Catholics.
They faced a great deal of
discrimination
German immigrants came for
political, economic and social
reasons. They tended to move to
farms or frontier towns, became
more numerous than Irish after
1854.
Nativism-favoring the interest of
native-born people over foreignborn.
Much prejudice against
immigrants in the US.
Order of the Star Spangled Banner
an organization founded in 1849 by people
who were frightened by the rapid influx of
Irish immirgrants. It was an anti-Catholic
political organization. Developed into the
“Know-Nothing’ party.
Party platform:
 Exclusion of Catholics and foreigners from
public office
 Increase naturalization from 5 to 21 years
Achieved national prominence because the 2
major parties were braking apart over slavery
issue.
Industrial Revolution
Began in Great Britain
A change in social and economic
organization that resulted from
the replacement of hand tools with
machines and from the
development of large-scale
industrial production. American
industrial revolution began with textile
mills
 Samuel
Slater- father of the
factory system in the U.S.
 Eli
Whitney-invented the cotton
gin and the principle of
interchangeable parts
Reasons it took so long for Industrial
Revolution to spread to the US
 People
were able to afford the
cheap land/favored outdoor
work v indoor
 Labor was scarce (until
immigrants came)
 Money for capital investment
was scarce
 Raw materials were undeveloped
 Consumers were scarce
Why New England states were
favored as an industrial center:
 Poor
soil
 Dense population
 Shipping brought in capital
 Seaports made it easier to import
raw materials and export
finished products
 Abundant water power to run
machinery
 Cyrus
McCormick-mechanical
reaper-1834-enabled farmers to
use horse drawn machine to cut
wheat
 John
Deere-steel plow-1837enabled farmers to double his
productivity in the labor of
plowing the field
 Samuel
F.B. Morse-1844telegraph- improved
communication.
Characteristics of American work
force in early 19th century
Wages were low-most of profits went
to owners
 Hours were long
 Forbidden by law to form labor unions
 Worked in unsanitary buildings that
were poorly ventilated, lighted,
heated
 Child labor-1820 ½ of laborers were
children


Strikebreakers (scabs/rats) brought
in by employers to replace striking
workers.
Commonwealth v Hunt
1842-the supreme court of
Massachusetts ruled that labor unions
were legal.


Cult of domesticity-glorified the
traditional role of women as
homemakers.
Lancaster Turnpike-first major
transportation project linking the
East to the trans-Allegheny west.
Turnpikes/toll roads aided
commerce and westward
expansion
Obstacles of western road building:
 Expensive
 Opposition
from states rights
advocates
 Opposition from eastern states
 War interruptions
 National
Road/Cumberland Road
Went from Cumberland,
Maryland to Illinois-provided
important infrastructure for
economic development
 Steamboats- Robert FultonClermont-mainly on western and
southern rivers
 Erie
Canal-marked the beginning
of the “canal era”. Funded by the
state of New York.
Linked Buffalo to Albany.
Drastically reduced
transportation cost.
 Railroads-
most of early railroads
were in the north and could be
built almost anywhere
 Pony
Express- the short-lived
method of carrying mail to the
west.
 Market
Revolution- a term used
to describe the dramatic change
in the economy that took place in
the first half of the 19th century.
A major economic consequence
of the transportation and
marketing revolution was a
steady improvement in average
wages and standard of living.