Chapter 14: Forging
the National
Economy
By: Arianna Adams, Aryka Hall,
Caitlynne Canuto
Big Ideas
1. A wave of immigration came over starting in the 1840s, headed up by hungry
Irish and Germans seeking a better life. Both of these groups were looked upon
with suspicion, but they were hard workers and did well for themselves.
2. The factory system was in its infancy, led by Eli Whitney’s “interchangeable
parts” Cyrus McCormick’s mechanical reaping machine paved the way for
modern agriculture.
3. Changes were foreshadowed including women beginning
to work
outside the home.
4. The nation became “smaller” and tied together more closely thanks
to
a. railroads being built
b. canals such as the Erie
c. steamships
d. the Pony Express
The Westward Movement
p.287-288
1. What were settlers of the frontier like?
“Settlers on the frontier were poorly fed, ill-clad, housed in
shanties, they were perpetual victims of disease, depression, and
premature death. Above all, unbearable loneliness haunted them,
especially the women, who were often cut off from human
contact, even their neighbors, for days or even weeks, while
confined to the cramped orbit of a dark” (p. 288)
❖ “Self Reliance “ was a lecture essay written by Ralph Waldo
Emerson.
➢ This essay had 3 major divisions:
■ The importance of self reliance
■ Self reliance and the individual
■ Self reliance and society
➢ “We but half express ourselves, and are ashamed of that
divine idea which eavh of us represents.” (Emerson).
The March of Mechanization
Page 300
8. What barriers stood in the way of the industrial Revolution in the United States?
●
●
●
●
Money for capital investment
was not plentiful in
pioneering America.
Consumers were scarce.
British factories posed
another problem.
Not until past the middle of
the nineteenth century did
the value of the factories
exceed that of the farms.
●
The industrial
revolution was
accompanied by a
transformation in
agricultural
production and in the
methods of
transportation and
communications.
●
Virgin soil in America
was cheap.
●
Labor was generally
scarce.
Whitney Ends The Fiber Famine
Page 302
9. Samuel Slater and Eli Whitney caused the North and South to develop in opposite directions. Explain
●
Samuel Slater has
been acclaimed the
“Father of the
Factory System” in
America.
●
Eli Whitney built a
machine called the
cotton gin that was
fifty times more
effective than the
handpicking
process.
●
The south was tied
hand and foot to the
throne of King
Cotton.
●
●
●
South and North both
prospered.
New England was
singularly favored as
an industrial center for
several reasons
The rapid rivers such
as Merrimack in
Massachusetts
provided abundant
water power to turn
the cogs of the
machines.
Workers and “Wage Slaves”
Page 304-306
● Wage Slaves- people who worked all day in a factory for long hours
and poor wages
● Strikebreakers (Scabs)- people imported by factory owners to work
instead of the employees that were on strike
● Commonwealth v. Hunt- Massachusetts supreme court ruled that labor
unions were not illegal conspiracies, as long as their methods were
“honorable and peaceful”
Megacorp
Abandon all rights ye
who enter here
Living Wages
8 Hour Work Day
Organize
What demands did labor have
in the 1830’s and 40’s?
● Factory workers had to work long hours in poor conditions for low
wages and skimpy meals.
● They were forbidden by law to form labor unions.
○ Criminal conspiracy
● Child laborers made up half the workforce in the nation at the time.
● Workers demanded a ten-hour work day, higher pay, tolerable working
conditions, public education for their children, and the end of
imprisonment for debt.
● Labor strongly went against the importation of “wage-depressing and
union-busting immigrant workers.”
● Commonwealth v. Hunt was a promising first step in the long journey
for the labor union.
Highways and Steamboats
Page 309-311
● Lancaster Turnpike- broad, hard-surfaced highway in Pennsylvania
that stretched sixty-two miles from Philadelphia west to Lancaster
● National (Cumberland) Road- 591 mile long highway that connected
Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois.
● Robert Fulton- rigged a boat with a steam engine and voila…
steamboats!
Why were turnpikes and
steamboats important?
● In 1789, primitive traveling methods were still being used and were still
quite dangerous.
○ Turnpikes and highways showed promise for travel improvements.
● Westward expansion was helped along by building highways from the
eastern states to new territories.
○ The eastern states complained about connecting to the west.
● Water travel was ultimately doubled by the invention of the steamboat.
○ Boats could travel with and against the current.
○ They made the west and the south easier to access by boat.
The Iron Horse
p. 313-314
16.
Name some of the advantages and disadvantages of early
railroads.
❖ The most significant contribution to such an economy was proven to be the railroad. It was
fast, reliable, cheaper than canals to construct and not frozen over in the winter.
❖ Advantages:
➢ Fast and reliable
➢ cheap
➢ able to go almost anywhere
➢ not frozen over
❖ Disadvantages:
➢ temporarily restricted from carrying freight by NY legislature to
protect Erie Canal investment
➢ Considered a dangerous public menace for flying sparks and
could set fire to nearby houses and haystacks
➢ brakes were feeble
Works Cited
Butler, Tom. "Self-Help Classics." Butler Bowdon. Self-Help Classics, n.d. Web. 22 Nov. 2014.
“Emerson’s Essays By Ralph Waldo Emerson Summary and Analysis of Self-Reliance About
Self-Reliance.” About Self-Reliance. N.p., n.d. Web 22 Nov. 2014
Cohen, Lizabeth, and Thomas A. Bailey. “Forging the National Economy.” The American
Pageant by David M. Kennedy. 12th ed. Vol. 1. N.p.: Houghton Mifflin, n.d. 287-319. Print.