American Society and Economy
First Half 19th Century
Themes
• Transformations: Agriculture, Transportation,
Industry and Urbanization
• American Society: Religion and Reform Era
Population Patterns
•
•
•
U.S. Population:
1790: 4 million: most east of Appalachians
1840: 17 million; 1/3 west of Appalachians
People are slowly but surely migrating west
Population grew in parts of “Old Northwest”
to establish farms
- Included states of: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota
Farm Economy
• Most initially practiced subsistence agriculture
• Men: Heavy work, like clearing land and
plowing
• Women: Many different chores (often
endless)
• Women began to sell eggs, butter, cheese, and
other goods to supplement income
Commercial Farming and Old Northwest
• The Old Northwest became the center for
American agriculture
• Western farms had more room to grow unlike
the east
• Western farms also benefited from newer
technologies:
- McCormick Reaper (1840s)
- John Deere Steel Plow (1837)
Impact of Commercial Farming
• Debt increased among farmers
- Financial Panic of 1819 and 1837 which hurt
many as credit tightened
• Farmers were impacted by outside market
forces (politics)
Old Southwest Territory
• Commercial farming and technology also
impacted “Old Southwest”
- Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Tennessee and Arkansas
• Settlement increased tremendously in mid
1820s and 1830s when cotton became the
leading U.S. export
• The South became the world’s largest supplier
of cotton
Old Southwest
• It was the invention of the cotton gin in 1793
by Eli Whitney
• Led to the cotton boom in the south
• Easy separation of seeds from cotton
• Demand for high slave labor
Transportations Changes
(Canals)
• People pre 1820s moved place to place by
horseback or boats down the river
• Steamboats transformed transportation of
goods and people via rivers
• Canals made transporting western goods
more practical
• Increase in canal construction
New York’s Erie Canal
(1825)
•
•
•
•
Linked Hudson River to Lake Erie
360 miles long
8 years to build
Cost - $7 million
Transportation Changes
(Railroads)
• Large boom in railroad construction in 1850s
Railroads (1850)
Rise of Industry
• Lowell, Massachusetts was important center
for textile manufacturing (wool)
• Production in cloth increased from 4 million to
323 million yards between 1817 to 1843
• This began a movement to purchase readymade clothing rather than making it
themselves
Rise of Industry
• 80% of factory workers in Lowell and Waltham
textile mills were female
• Long hours and hot, humid conditions were
common
• Many women could not ask for breaks out of
fear of being fired
• Owners – maximize profit
Rise of Industry
• In 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse demonstrated the
potential of his telegraph by transmitting a
series of dots and dashes that instantly
conveyed an electronic message
• By 1861, more than 5,000 miles of wire
stretched across the continent to the Pacific
Ocean, often alongside railroad tracks
Urbanization
• With the rise of industry a large amount of the
population began to migrate towards industrial
boom towns
• Urbanization led to large towns that were not
necessarily sea ports
• By 1860 eight cities had populations over 100,000
• New York City’s population reached 800,000 by
1860
• Large inequality between rich and poor living in
cities
Gap between Rich and Poor
• Boston
- In 1833 the richest 4% owned 59% of
city’s wealth
• New York
- in 1828 the richest 4% owned half the
city’s wealth
Immigrants and Persecution
• Immigrants, looking for work, often faced
persecution
• Many of them being Irish Catholics who were
persecuted daily by the pro-protestant majority
• Native-born workers were resentful and believed
large immigrant populations led to lower wages
• Signs in front of factories read:
- “NO IRISH NEED APPLY”
Immigration in America
• Many immigrants being Irish and Germans
influenced the growth of the industrial North
• The majority of European immigrants arrived
in the U.S. in the 1850s
Second Great Awakening
• Began in New England in 1790s, but spread
across the country in 1820 & 1830s
• Camp meeting became common:
- Large audiences listened to many different
preachers
- Speakers called on worshipers to ask for
forgiveness and prepare for the Second
Coming
• The average attendance for services were in the
thousands
Second Great Awakening
• Charles Finney:
- Former lawyer and gifted speaker who
received a sign from God
- Advocated that anyone could achieve
salvation
- Unlike Jonathon Edwards, human nature
wasn’t necessarily dominated by sin
- Led Americans to reform and improve
their society as a whole
Religious and Utopian Communities
( 1800 – 1845)
• Religion: Shakers
• Numbered about 6,000 and established
several communities
• Goal: become self-sufficient
• Well-known for their furniture and handicrafts
• The movement peaked between 1820-1860
Era of Reform
• There were many other groups attempting to
improve society:
- Temperance
- Public Education
- Opposition of Slavery
- Women’s Rights
Alcohol and Temperance
• By the late 1820s, alcohol abuse was a major
problem in the U.S.
• A male drank 1 ½ pint of liquor each day
• Religious leaders saw it as immoral
• Factory owners were concerned about
productivity and quality due to drunkenness
Alcohol and Temperance
• The American Society for the Promotion of
Temperance began in 1826:
- founded by Lyman Beecher, a minister
who
had been influenced by 2nd Great Awakening
- Encouraged abstinence pledges
- Lobbied states for prohibition of alcohol
• Compared to the 1820s, rates of alcohol consumption
dropped in half by 1840s
• In 1836, leaders renamed the group the American
Temperance Union
Public Education
• For many years public education was
considered a family’s responsibility and not
required
• Horace Mann became a leading reformer in
Massachusetts and the United States
• Mann: 1st Secretary of the Massachusetts
Board of Education in 1837
Public Education
(Mann’s Reforms in Massachusetts)
• School attendance became mandatory
• Curriculum was standardized and emphasized
practical education (not classics)
• Many states adopted reforms and schools not
only educated children, but helped
immigrants as well
Opposition to Slavery
• Quakers, after the American Revolution,
advocated abolition of slavery
• American Colonization Society 1817
- Gradual emancipation of slaves with
compensation for slave owners
- Former slaves would be transported to
Africa (Liberia)
- Slavery was wrong, yet blacks were still
inferior to whites. Both races cannot live side
by side
American Colonization Society
(1817)
• Joseph Jenkins Roberts, former slave, became
first President of Liberia
• About 12,000-15,000 migrated to Liberia
• Capital city: Monrovia was named after James
Monroe
American Colonization Society
(1817)
• Paul Cuffe provided ships and money to
former slaves hoping to travel to Liberia
• Not many slaves earned their freedom; it was
too expensive to compensate slaver owners
• Many former slaves had no desire to live in
Africa because many of them were born in the
U.S.
Opposition to Slavery
• Black abolitionists were active as well:
- David Walker and Fredrick Douglass
• Whites such as William Lloyd Garrison joined the
abolition movement
• In 1831, Garrison wrote The Liberator, which called for
the immediate abolition of slaves and the brutality of
the South
• Women: Angelina Grimke was born to a slaveholding
family
• She and her sister spoke to anti-slavery audiences
encouraging them to join the movement
Opposition to Slavery
(Nat Turner’s Rebellion)
• Nat Turner Rebellion 1831
• Location: Southampton, VA
• A slave named Nat Turner led a rebellion of slaves
and killed over 60 white men, women, and
children
• Turner and 16 slaves are captured and executed
• Whites went all around the countryside killing
any blacks they encountered and beheaded them
Women’s Rights
• Margaret Fuller received an education in the
classics
• Wrote women should be allowed to develop
their own intellectual abilities
• Other women’s rights advocates included
Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Women’s Rights
• Seneca Falls Convention (1848)
- led by Stanton in New York
- Women lacked rights to own property
and vote
- Declaration of Sentiments: “All men and
women are created equal”
Review
• Ideas to consider:
- Which transformations had the most
impact on the nations development
- Which reform movement was most
successful?