America’s Economic Revolution
Brinkley text Chapter 10
America’s Economic Revolution
Between the War of 1812 and the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, the United States underwent a radical transition
It was largely agrarian in 1812 By 1861, manufacturing had become the major
part of the economy – at least in the North The US was part of a national (and
increasingly international) economy
America’s Economic Revolution
Still, regional differences remained The North was developing large cities,
manufacturing operations, commercial enterprises, dependent on free (wage) labor
In the South and Southwest, The plantation system was becoming increasingly entrenched
It was dependent on slave labor
America’s Economic Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was transforming and uniting the nation
But it was also dividing it, largely along regional lines
The Changing American Population
Total US population increased dramatically between 1820 and 1840
The population also became more concentrated in the urban industrial centers in the North and Northwest
1790: 4 million1820: 10 million1830: 13 million1840: 17 million
The Changing American Population
Immigration increased significantly Immigration was particularly strong among
Germans, Irish Catholics Irish immigration continued and increased
greatly during the potato famine, 1845-1852
The Irish Diaspora
Between 1845 and 1852, one million Irish people died of starvation
Another million emigrated, mostly to the US
Ireland lost about 25% of its population
This, while Ireland was an exporter of food
Immigration and Urban Growth, 1840-1860
Internal migration also generated growth in industrial centers, primarily in the Northeast
New York City, Philadelphia, Boston more or less doubled in population during a 20-year period
Immigration and Urban Growth, 1840-1860
In 1840, 14% of US free state population living in cities
By 1860, it was 24% By 1860, the US population was greater
than that of Great Britain Mississippi River and Great Lakes shipping
also spurred growth
The booming agricultural economy of the West contributed to significant urban growth
Communities that had once been small villages or trading posts became major cities
They became centers of the growing carrying trade that connected the farmers of the Midwest with New Orleans, and through it, the cities of the Northeast
The booming agricultural economy of the West contributed to significant urban growth
The growing urban population was due in part to the flow of native Northeastern farmers who had been forced off the land by farmers in the West
It was also due to immigrants from Europe, many of whom settled in the West
The White Population grew rapidly between 1820 and 1840
One reason was improvements in public health
The number and ferocity of epidemics decline, as did the mortality rate as a whole
The birth rate remained highOn average, women had about 6 children
each
The Black Population grew more slowly than the White Population
Blacks had a comparatively high death rate
This was mostly due to the enforced poverty in which nearly all blacks lived
The Immigration Boom
Reduced transportation costs and increasing opportunities in American helped stimulate the immigration boom
Deteriorating conditions in Europe were also a factor
Industrial Revolution, urbanization, wars, revolutions, famines, etc.
The Changing American Population
Irish immigrants tended to arrive penniless, settle in cities, and engage in unskilled labor
Most of the Irish stayed in the Eastern cities where they landed, and became part of the unskilled labor force
The largest group of Irish immigrants were young single women, who worked in factories or domestic service
Irish and German immigrants
German immigrants usually arrived with at least a little money
They generally moved to the Northwest, where they became farmers or went into business
The Rise of Nativism
Some native-born Americans (especially business interests) saw foreign immigration as beneficial
Provided a large supply of cheap labor which would hold down wages
The Rise of Nativism
Land speculators hoped immigrants would migrate west
Urban political organizations also courted new immigrants as potential voters
The Rise of Nativism
Many politicians argued that immigrants were racially inferior, or that they corrupted politics by selling their votes
Others complained that they were stealing jobs from the native work force
Protestants worried that the growing Irish population would increase the power of the Catholic Church
The Rise of Nativism
Older Americans feared that immigrants would become a radical force in politics
“Nativism” arose out of these fears and prejudices
The Rise of Nativism
Generally, Nativism favors the interests of certain established inhabitants of an area or nation as compared to claims of newcomers or immigrants
Typically, it manifests itself in opposition to immigration, and suspicion and fear of recent immigrants
Native American Party
The Native American Association became the Native American Party in 1845
The Native American Party merged with other nativist groups in 1850 to form the Supreme Order of the Star-Spangled Banner
Native American Party
The demands of the Supreme Order of the Star-Spangled Banner included:– Banning Catholics or aliens from holding
public office– Enacting more restrictive naturalization laws– And establishing literacy tests for voting
They adopted a strict code of secrecy
The Know-Nothings in Politics
Their password was "I Know Nothing" They became known as the Know-Nothings After the 1852 elections, the Know-Nothings
created a political organization that they called the American Party
The Growth of Canals
The costs of hauling goods overland by way of turnpikes was still too high for anything except for the most compact and valuable merchandise
The Erie Canal provided a water route from the Hudson River to the Great Lakes
330 miles, much faster and cheaper than moving goods by road
Albany to Buffalo
Erie Canal
The Impact of the Erie Canal
By providing a route to the Great Lakes, the Erie Canal gave New York access to Chicago and the growing markets of the West
It also contributed to the decline of agriculture in New England
Now that it was so much cheaper for western farmers to ship their crops East, people farming marginal land in the Northeast found themselves unable to compete
Some cities along the Atlantic seaboard were alarmed by the Erie Canal
Rival cities were alarmed at the prospect of New York acquiring access to and control over the vast western market through the Erie Canal
They had limited success in catching up, but they tried
Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, and Charleston tried to build water routes to the Ohio Valley, but never completed them
Some cities along the Atlantic seaboard were alarmed by the Erie Canal
Some cities saw opportunity in railroads The era of the railroad began even before the
canal age reached its zenith
The Emergence of Railroads
Railroads emerged from a combination of technological and entrepreneurial innovations:
The invention (development) of tracks The development of steam-powered
locomotives The development of trains as public carriers of
passengers and freight
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The B&O (Baltimore and Ohio) Railroad was the first company to begin actual operations
It opened a 13-mile track in 1830
The Emergence of Railroads further weakened the connection between the North and the South
Traffic was diverted from the main water routes of the Erie Canal and the Mississippi
The Mississippi became less important as a shipping corridor
The Northeast developed four times as much railroad trackage as the South
The lack of tracks in the South further isolated it from the Northeast
Importance of Government Funding in Railroads
Railroad construction required massive amounts of capital
Some money came from private sources, but most came from government funding
The federal government gave public land grants
State and local governments invested in the railroads
Economic Effects of the Railroad
Towns, ranches, and farms grew up rapidly along the routes of the railroad
Areas once cut off from markets during winter/bad weather found that the railroad could transport goods to and from them at any time of year
Railroads also cut the time of shipment and travel
Homework Assignment
Primary Source Reading: The American Past Volume I #7, “Away from Home: The Working Girls of Lowell.” Primary source documents examined include rulebook for a Lowell Boarding House, 1845; Orestes Brownson’s warnings about the loss of virtue of the Lowell women; the daily schedule for a Lowell Mill; a copy of the young women’s newspaper, The Lowell Offering; letters written home by the Lowell girls, and early photographs of several of the young women. Students’ task is to analyze the lives of the working girls and contrast their situation to the contemporary “cult of domesticity” in the world outside Lowell life.
Morse Code
Developed by Samuel F. B. Morse “Invented” by Alfred Vail Alternating long and short bursts of electrical
current represent individual letters Morse also developed the single-wire telegraph
system
Telegraph
Used Morse Code to transmit messages Telegraph wires often ran along railroad tracks
with telegraph offices located in railroad stations
Telegraph
The telegraph allowed railroad operators to communicate directly with stations to alert them to schedule changes, warn them about delays and breakdowns, and convey other information about the movement of trains
It also helped prevent accidents by alerting stations to problems that in the past engineers had to discover for themselves
Western Union Telegraph Company
A company that organized almost all the independent telegraph lines in the country It laid the first transatlantic cable in 1866
After over 100 years, Western Union no longer handles telegrams today
Changes in Journalism
Telegraphs were used to get news from around the country and the world very quickly
It became possible for papers to share their reporting
In 1846, newspaper publishers nationwide founded the Associated Press, in order to promote cooperative newsgathering by telegraph
Changes in Journalism
The invention of the steam cylinder rotary press made it possible to print newspapers rapidly and cheaply
This spurred the dramatic growth of mass-circulation newspapers
The Rise of Corporations
Corporations had the advantage of combining the resources of a large number of shareholders
They developed rapidly in the 1830s, when states began passing general incorporations laws
These allowed a group to secure a charter by paying a fee
The Rise of Corporations
These laws also permitted limited liability, in which individual stockholders risked losing only the value of a their own investment if a corporation should fail
They were not liable for the corporation's larger losses
The Importance of Machine Tools
Machine tools are tools used to make machinery parts
The government supported much the research and development of machine tools, often in connection with supplying the military
The creation of better machine tools allowed the principle of interchangeability of parts to enter many industries
New Sources of Energy
Coal began replacing wood and water power Coal power made it possible for factories/mills
to be located away from running streams Industry was thus able to expand even more
widely
The Rise of the Industrial Ruling Class
There were greater opportunities for profit in manufacturing than in trade
The emerging industrial capitalists soon became the new ruling class of the Northeast
Lowell System
Young women, usually farmers' daughters in their late teens or early twenties, were enlisted to work in factories
Many of these women worked for several years in the factories, saved their wages, and then returned home to marry and raise children
Lowell System
Others married men they met in the factories or in town
Most eventually stopped working in the mills and took up domestic roles instead
Labor Conditions of Early Factories
Lowell workers lived in clean boardinghouses and dormitories, which the factory owners maintained
They were well fed and carefully supervised Wages were relatively generous by the
standards of the time
Changes in Labor Conditions
The competitive factory system made it difficult for manufacturers to maintain high living standards and attractive working conditions
Wages declined, hours of work lengthened, and the conditions of the boardinghouses deteriorated
Factory Girls Association
In 1834, mill workers in Lowell organized a union
They staged a strike to protest a 25% wage cut Two years later, they had another strike, this
one against a rent increase in the boardinghouses
Both strikes failed, and a recession in 1837 destroyed the organization
Female Labor Reform Association
Organized by Sarah Bagley They agitated for a ten-hour workday and for
improvements in conditions in the mills The association turned to state governments
and asked for legislative investigation of conditions in the mills
Female Labor Reform Association
At this point, however, many mill girls were gradually moving into other occupations, and textile manufacturers were turning to a less demanding labor supply:
Immigrants
Immigrant Labor
Because of their growing numbers and their unfamiliarity with the country, immigrants had even less leverage than women
Thus, they usually encountered worse working conditions
Poorly paid construction gangs, made up of Irish immigrants, performed heavy, unskilled work on turnpikes, canals, and railroads
Immigrant Labor
Employers began paying piece rates rather than a daily wage, and used other devices to speed production and exploit the labor force more efficiently
The factories were becoming large, noisy, unsanitary, and dangerous places to work
The average workday extended to 14 hours, and wages declined
Deskilling
Some artisans made successful transitions into small-scale industry
Others found themselves unable to compete with the new factory-made goods
Skilled workers began to form societies for mutual aid
Deskilling
During the 1820s and 1830s, these craft societies began to combine on a citywide basis
They set up central organizations known as trade unions
1834, delegates from six cities founded the National Trades' Union
Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842)
The Massachusetts Supreme Court declared that unions were lawful organizations and that a strike was a lawful tactic
Other state courts gradually accepted the principle of this decision
But employers continued to resist the influence of organized labor
Females' Protective Unions
Almost all early craft unions excluded women Women began establishing their own unions by
the 1850s These protective unions had little power in
dealing with employers But they did serve an important role as mutual
aid societies for women workers
The Growth of Effective Labor Resistance
The immigrant laborers were willing to work for lower wages than native workers
Because they were so numerous, it was easy to replace striking or disgruntled native workers with immigrants, eager for any kind of work
The Growth of Effective Labor Resistance
Ethnic divisions led workers to channel their resentments into internal bickering rather than into their shared grievances against employers
The sheer strength of the industrial capitalists, who had not only economic but political and social power, was another obstacle
Unequal Distribution of Wealth
The commercial and industrial growth of the US greatly elevated the average income of Americans
But slaves, Indians, landless farmers, and many unskilled workers hardly shared in the increased wealth at all
Among the rest of the population, disparities of wealth were increasingly marked
Merchants and industrialists were accumulating enormous fortunes
The Urban Culture of Wealth
Wealthy people gathered together in opulent neighborhoods
They founded clubs and developed elaborate social rituals
They looked for ways to display their wealth They did so in the great mansions they built,
the showy carriages in which they rode, and the elegant social establishments they frequented
The Urban Poor
A significant population of genuinely destitute people emerged in the urban centers
These people were not merely poor, but almost entirely without resources
They were homeless and dependent on charity or crime for survival
Many people died of starvation or exposure
Free Blacks
Many free blacks in urban areas were descendants of blacks who had lived in the North for generations
Others were former slaves who had escaped or been freed
Most blacks had, at best, access to menial jobs They couldn't vote, couldn't attend public
school, and couldn't use any public services available to whites
Social Mobility in the US
A few workers managed to move from poverty to riches by work, ingenuity, and luck
It didn't occur often, but it was enough to support the dreams of those who watched them
Most people managed to move at least one notch up the ladder – such as becoming a skilled worker rather than an unskilled laborer
Geographical Mobility in the US
Some workers saved money, bought land, and moved west
However, few could afford to make such a move
It was very common for laborers to move from one industrial town to another
Geographical Mobility in the US
These migratory workers were often the victims of layoffs who were looking for better opportunities elsewhere
Their search rarely led to a large improvement in their circumstances
The rootlessness made effective organization and protest more difficult
The Expanding Middle Class
Middle-class life in the years prior to the Civil War established itself as the most influential cultural form in urban US
Middle-class families lived in solid and substantial homes
The Expanding Middle Class
Their houses were larger in size and extravagance than cramped rowhouses of the working-class, but they were far less lavish than the wealthy
Middle-class people tended to own their homes, while workers and artisans typically rented
New Household Inventions
The Cast-Iron Stove Replaced fireplaces as the principal vehicle for
cooking in the 1840s They gave cooks more control over the
preparation of food and allowed them to cook several things at once
The Diets of the Middle Class
The expansion and diversification of US agriculture and the ability of farmers to ship goods to urban markets by rail from distant regions greatly increased the variety of available food
Fruits and vegetables were difficult to ship, but most families had access to a variety of meats, grains, and dairy products
The Diets of the Middle Class
Most people didn't have iceboxes, so . . . NOTE: an icebox was an insulated box with a
block of ice in it, used to keep food cold – the predecessor of the refrigerator
Most people didn’t have iceboxes, so preserving food meant curing meat with salt and preserving fruits in sugar
Diets were generally much heavier and starchier than they are today
“I wish somebody would invent something to keep the sun out of my eyes.”
Declining Patriarchy
In the past, powerful fathers had controlled their children's futures by controlling the distribution of land to them
This system couldn't survive the move to a city or a town
Declining Patriarchy
Sons and daughters in urban households were much more likely to leave the family in search of work than they had been in the rural world
Because of this, the power of fathers declined
Emergence of the Public and Private Spheres
Income earners left home each day to work somewhere else
Because of this, a sharp distinction began to emerge between the public world of the workplace and the private world of the family
The world of the family was now dominated not by production but by housekeeping, child rearing, and other primarily domestic concerns
Roles of Women in the Household
The wife was expected to remain in the home and to engage in largely domestic activities
The image of women changed from one of contributors to the family economy to one of guardians of the "domestic virtues"
Middle class women learned to place a higher value on keeping a clean, comfortable, and well-appointed home, on entertaining, and on dressing elegantly and stylishly
Women's Separate Sphere
Middle-class women began to develop their own distinctive culture
"Ladies' Literature” began to emerge: romantic novels focused on the private sphere that middle-class women now inhabited
Women's magazines focused on fashion, shopping, and homemaking
The Cult of Domesticity
Women had greater material comfort than they had enjoyed in the past
A greater value was placed on "female virtues" Women were left increasingly detached from
the public world, with few outlets for their interests and energies
Except for teaching and nursing, work by women outside the household became a lower-class preserve
Importance of Holidays
For most people, Sunday was the only respite from work
And it was to be reserved for religion Holidays took on a special importance because
of their scarcity This is one reason for the elaborate 4th of July
celebrations
The Culture of Public Leisure
Theatres became popular Some catered to particular social groups Most attracted audiences that crossed class
lines
The Culture of Public Leisure
Much of the popular theatre of the time consisted of melodrama based on popular novels or American myths
Much of it also reflected the great love of Shakespeare that extended through all levels of society