Chap. 14 1790 – 1860 Forging the National Economy OBJECTIVES Assess the changing American population in the years up to the Civil War. Evaluate the developments.

Chap. 14 1790 – 1860Forging the National Economy

• OBJECTIVES

• Assess the changing American population in the years up to the Civil War.

• Evaluate the developments in industrialization, business, transportation, agriculture, communication, and sectionalism during those years.

Forging the National Economy• In the era of Jacksonian democracy, the

American population grew rapidly and changed in character. More people lived in the raw West and in the expanding cities, and immigrant groups like the Irish Catholics and Germans added their labor power to America’s economy, sometimes arousing hostility from native-born Americans in the process.

• In the early 19th century, the American economy developed the beginnings of industrialization. Inventions and business innovations spurred economic growth. The greatest advances occurred in farming and transportation, as canals and railroads bound the Union together into a continental economy with strong regional specialization.

The US in 1850

I. The Westward Movement• Americans were moving westward.

• Life was very grim for most pioneers, suffering from disease, depression, early death, and loneliness.

• Often ill informed, superstitious, provincial, and very individualistic.

• Admired:

– “Self-Reliance” (Emerson)

– Natty Bumppo (J.F.Cooper)

– Captain Ahab (Melville)

• But depended on neighbors and

government for internal improvements.

II. Shaping the Western Landscape• Kentucky “bluegrass” lured many there.

• Fur trappers in the Rockies.

– Rendezvous, beaver, buffalo hides, sea-otter

• Great appreciation for nature and its beauty, often inspiring literature, painting, and eventually conservation

– George Catlin* proposed national park system

• Began in 1872 with Yellowstone

George Catlin + his art…• 500 paintings of native Americans • 5 trips west; 1830-1836• Visited 50 tribes

• Catlin at 53 painted by Fisk in London

• What’s Catlin saying?

III. The March of the Millions• By 1860, 33 states, 4th most populated

country in western world

• From 2 cities over 20,000 to 43 by 1860

• Intensified problems in cities: slums, lighting, police, water, sewage

• Immigration increases in the 1840s and 1850s

– “Old Immigration”

– Europe overcrowded

– America = “freedom and opportunity”

– Voyage quicker now w/ steamships (11 wks. to 11 days)

IV. The Emerald Isle Moves West• 1840s Ireland – potato famine

• Move to US in “black 40s”

– Most to the cities along coast

– Scorned by most Americans

– NINA signs

– Lowest jobs

– Irish resented blacks due to job competition

– Order of Hibernians – aid poor

• Led to Molly Maguires in 1860s and 1870s

– Attracted to politics

• Political machines and “bosses”

– Hated British = “twisting the British lion’s tail”

V. The German 49ers• 1830-1860 – many Germans also

– Crop failures, wars, autocratic government– Charles Schurz – foe of slavery and corruption

• Better off financially than Irish• Into Mid West, esp. Wisconsin• Politically active, but less potent than Irish because more

scattered• Conestoga wagon, Kentucky rifle,

Christmas tree, Kindergartens,

love of music and art, anti-slavery• Often lived in own communities where

they didn’t rest on Sabbath and drank beer

VI. Flare-Ups of Anti-foreignism• All this immigration inflamed nativists, esp. because many

immigrants were Catholic

• Therefore many Catholics began own school system

– 1840–5th largest rel. group; 1850 (and still)–largest!*

• Nativists formed Order of the Star-Spangled Banner = “Know-Nothing” Party (due to secrecy)

– Want to restrict immigration and naturalization and increase deportations; anti-Catholic*

– Often printed horrid, but best-selling, literature

• Some violence, esp. in Boston and Philadelphia

• Yet why not more?

– There was much to go around for all

Re: Know Nothing Party was anti-CatholicKing of England kissing Pope’s foot

•

Current American Religious Stats• Christian 77%

– Protestant 52%– Catholic 24%– Mormon 2%

• Non-religious 13%• Jewish 1.3 %• Islamic .5%• Buddhist .5%

• Catholic 25%• Baptist 16%• Methodist 7%• Lutheran 5%• Presbyterian 3%• Pentecostal 2%• Episcopalian 2%• Jewish 1.3%• Mormon 1.3%

VII. Makers of America: The Irish• Outward Bound

St. Patrick’s Day Parade

VIII. The March of Mechanization• British created textile machines in 1750s, leading to

Industrial Revolution• Led to agricultural, transportation, and communication

revolutions• Why not to US for about 20 years?

– Land was cheap, so why work in dark factories– Therefore no laborers until immigrants came– Money for investment scarce– Unknown raw materials– Few consumers– British factories kept machines secret

IX. Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine• Samuel Slater = “Father of the American

Industrial Revolution”– Memorized machinery, escaped to US, built

1st American machinery for spinning cotton thread in 1791

– Now need more cotton, but separating seed from cotton was expensive

• Eli Whitney = invented the cotton engine* in 1793 which made cotton growing much more profitable

• Leads to “King Cotton” in the South and made slavery much more profitable

• Factories began in New England (bad soil, dense population for labor and consumers, shipping, seaports, rivers to provide power), moved to Middle states, but very few in South