The Early Industrial and Transportation Revolution

The Early Industrial and Transportation

Revolution

Resourcefulness & Experimentation

Americans were willing to try

anything for economic advantage.

They were first copiers, then innovators.1800 41 patents were approved.1860 4,357 “ “ “

Results of IndustrializationProductivity IncreasesHousehold Income IncreasesPrices DecreaseOverall Standards of living improve

• Removed cotton seed from cotton fiber.

• Mass production of cotton• Cotton becomes major export and national commodity for US

• By 1860’s cotton accounted for more than ½ of the US economy

The invention which changed

the South, cotton and slavery.

Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine Cotton gin invented in 1793

50 times more effective than hand picking Raising cotton more profitable

South needs slavery more than ever for “King Cotton”

New England factories flourish with Southern cotton

Southern farmers become wealthy

Interchangeable Parts

• Whitney is also noted for the concept of mass production and interchangeable parts by creating dyes for pistols and rifles.

• Very important early pioneer in America’s industrial revolution.

1807, Fulton's Clermont, was the first commercially successful and reliable

steamboat. Steam boat would revolutionize water travel.

The steamboat was often the only mechanical means of river travel and freight

transportation from 1808 through 1930.

Henry Miller Shreve and the Improved Steamboat

Shreve designed a steamboat, the Heliopolis, that had a jaw-like device on its bow to pick up and remove snags to a sawmill on the boat's deck.

Double-Boiler Design of Engine

John Deere & the Steel Plow

Cyrus McCormick& the Mechanical Reaper

Elias Howe & Isaac Singer1840s

Sewing Machine

Perfected by SingerGave boost to northern industry

Became foundation for ready-made clothing industry

Led many women into factories

Samuel F. B. Morse

1840 – Telegraph“WHAT GOD HATH WROUGHT”

Cyrus Field & the Transatlantic Cable, 1858

Westward Movement Americans marched quickly toward west

very hard w/ disease & loneliness Frontier people were individualistic,

superstitious & ill-informed Westward movement molded environment

tobacco exhausted land “Kentucky blue grass” thrived

5.3

mill

ion

Population Growth from 1620 to 1860

City growth

Westward expansion Growth of cities and states by

1850

The March of the Millions High birthrate accounted for population

growth Population doubling every 25 years

Near 1850s, millions of Irish, German came

Beginning in 1830, immigration in the US soared

Irish Immigration Irish Potato Famine 1845-1849 Main ports of entry – New York,

Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston Irish were too poor to move inland and

farm so they stayed in the cities Boston did not particularly like the Irish –

catholic, illiterate, poor “No Irish need apply!”

Ancient Order of Hibernians Benevolent society to help Irish Spawned “Molly Maguires” (miners union)

Gradually improved and became active politically

NY’s Tammany Hall, Irish political machine

German Immigration Most Germans came due to crop failures

Germans better off than Irish, came west, many to Wisconsin

A few were political refugees from collapse of democratic revolutions in 1848

German contributions include Kentucky rifle, Christmas tree, kindergarten, and abolitionists

Some Americans were suspicious because they tried to preserve language, culture and lived in separate communities, and drank beer

Sources of Immigration,

1820-40

Sources of Immigration,

1840-60

Settlements of Immigrants• Irish in Northeastern cities:

New York and Boston• Germans would settle in

Midwest

Early Nativism American “nativists” feared 1840s &

1850s invasion of immigrants Took jobs, grew Roman Catholicism Catholics built their own schools, were #1

denomination by 1850 1849: Nativists form Order of the Star-

Spangled Banner, developed into “Know-Nothing” party

Wanted immigration restrictions Nativists occasionally violent, burned Boston

convent (1834) Philadelphia Irish fought back, 13 killed in

several days of fighting (1844)

A shift from goods made by hand to factory and mass production

Technological innovations brought production from farmhouse to factories Invented in Britain in 1750; smuggled to U.S. Beginning of US Factory System

US slow to embrace factory system Scarce labor Little capital Superiority of British factories

Promote nationalism was internal improvements to unite the US. • Transportation system of roads,

canals, steamships and rivers.• 1800 to 1850 roads, canals and

rivers first forms of transportation• 1860, the railroad is added

Provide economic growth • Americans buying American goods • American self-sufficiency.• Protective tariff (allows US factories to grow)• 2nd Bank of the United States

3 Sections working together to build the country

Henry Clay, Congressmen

from KentuckyJohn C. Calhoun, US Senator from South

Carolina

EconomyLeader

__________Role of

Government

NORTHEAST• Business and Manufacturin

g• Daniel Webster

____________• Wanted Tariffs

• Backed internal

improvements• Wanted end to

cheap public land

• Increasingly nationalistic• Against Slavery and believed the U.S. Govt.

must abolish it.

SOUTH• Cotton growing

• John C. Calhoun

_____________• Opposed tariffs and

government spending on American

System• Increasingly

supportive of states’ rights

• Pro-slavery and opposed any steps of

the U.S. Govt. to try and abolish it.

EconomyLeader

__________Role of

Government

WEST• Frontier agriculture

• Henry Clay_____________• Supported

internal improvements

• Wanted cheap land

• Loyal to the U.S. Govt.• Against slavery but

some supported letting the

people decide the slavery

issue

EconomyLeader

__________Role of

Government

Principal Canals in 1840

Highways Bad roads made transportation highly

unreliable

The National Road begun in 1811 and completed by 1832 Connected Maryland to Illinois. Built by US government

Cumberland (National Road), 1811

Conestoga Covered Wagons

Conestoga Trail, 1820s

• Help unite the country as

well as improve the

economy and the infant industry.

• Because of the British blockade during the

War of 1812, it was essential

for internal transportation improvement

s.

The Railroad Revolution,1850s1850 to 1860, RR proved most

significant development toward national economy

Americans demanded transcontinental railroad to California.Completed by 1869.

Pioneer Railroad Promoters 1800 to 1850: Roads, canals, navigable

rivers with steamboats were the main modes of transportation.

1850 to 1860, RR proved most significant development toward national economy

Competition between Railroads and Canals Obstacles

opposition from canal backers danger of fire poor brakes difference in track gauge meant changing

trains

Map rr

Effects of the Transportation Revolution 1860-61, Pony Express connected East-West Telegraph instantly sent messages across

US Attraction of many large capital

investments and encouraged risk taking in the US economy

People moved faster and country expanded Unifying spirit among fellow country men A need for a transcontinental railroad that

connected east to west

• Telegraph revolutionized

communication• Would replace the

Pony Express by 1861

Trails

• Built first textile mill in 1793 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

• Born in England on June 9, 1768 and worked in British factories. • Slater came to US to make his

fortune in the textile industry. • Slatersville Mill was the largest and most modern industrial cotton

mill of its day

Samuel Slater was the "Father of the

American Factory System."

Early Textile Loom

The Lowell Mills Americans beat the British at their own

game, made better factories Francis C Lowell (a British “traitor”)

came over here to build British factories met up with Boston mechanic, Paul Moody Together they improved the mill and

invented a power loom that revolutionized textile manufacturing

The Lowell System Lowell,

Massachusetts, 1832

Young New England farm girls Supervised on and off the job Worked 6 days a week, 13 hours a

day Escorted to church on Sunday

Women & the Economy

1850: 10% of white women working for pay outside home Vast majority of working women were single Left paying jobs upon marriage

“Cult of domesticity” Cultural idea that glorifies homemaker

Empowers married women Increased power & independence of women in

home led to decline in family size

Workers & Wage SlavesWith industrial revolution, large

impersonal factories surrounded by slums full of “wage slaves” developed

Long hours, low wages, unsanitary conditions, lack of heat, etc.Labor unions illegal

1820: 1/2 of industrial workers were children under 10

Workers & Wage Slaves 1820s & 1830s: right to vote for laborers

Loyalty to Democratic party led to improved conditions

Fought for 10-hour day, higher wages, better conditions

1830s & 1840s: Dozens of strikes for higher wages or 10-hour day 1837 depression hurt union membership

Commonwealth v. Hunt Supreme Court ruled unions not illegal

conspiracies as long as they were peaceful

• 1830s, Industrialization grew throughout

the North…• Southern cotton

shipped to Northern textile mills was a good

working relationship.