Forging the National Economy 1790-1860 The progress of invention is really a threat [to monarchy]. Whenever I see a railroad I look for a republic. Ralph

Forging the National Economy

1790-1860

The progress of invention is really a threat [to monarchy]. Whenever I see a

railroad I look for a republic.Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1866

The Westward Movement

• “Europe stretches to the Alleghenies; America lies beyond.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1844

• 1850: ½ of Americans were under 30

Copyright © by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 3

Map 14.1: Westward Movement of Center of Population, 1790-1990

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Frontier Life

• Life was grim for most families• Poorly fed and dressed• Lived in shanties and lean-tos• Disease, depression, death• Separated from other families• Jacksonian politics and “rugged

individualism”• Emerson’s “Self-Reliance”

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Map 14.2: Cumberland (National) Road and Main Connections

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Shaping the Western Landscape

• Exhausted land in the tobacco regions• Fur-trapping• “ecological imperialism”• Still revered nature• George Catlin advocated for the creation

of national land preservation

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March of the Millions

• 1850: population was doubling every 25 years

• 33 states by 1860• Urban growth exploded (New York, New

Orleans, Chicago)– Slums, limited law enforcement, sewage, rats– Boston pioneered a sewer system in 1823– NYC had city water by 1842


Figure 14.1: Population Increase, Including Slaves and Indians, 1790-1860

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The Irish

• Potato Famine• Poor moved to Boston and NYC• Discriminated against and forced into low-

paying, menial jobs• “No Irish Need Apply”• Ancient Order of Hibernians• Molly Maguires: Irish miners’ union in PA• Political Machines: Tammany Hall in NYC

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Old Immigration Period (pre-Civil War)

• Immigration tripled in the 1840s and quadrupled in the 1850s

• Million and a half Irish and almost as many Germans• Journey now only took 2-3 weeks due to steam power• Push Factors

– Overpopulation in homeland• Pull Factors

– Freedom from aristocracy and state religion– Letters home: low taxes, no compulsory military

service, 3 meals a day

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German Forty-Eighters

• Many uprooted farmers• Few liberal political refugees fleeing

collapsed democratic revolutions in 1848• Most had a few material goods• Influential group of voters• Conestoga wagon, Kentucky rifle,

Christmas tree were all German contributions

• Many drank “bier” in huge quantities

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Anti-Foreignism

• Immigration sparked “nativism”• By 1850, Catholicism was the number one

religion• Order of the Star-Spangled Banner: Know-

Nothing party

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Creeping Mechanization

• Why was the United States so slow to mechanize?– Land was cheap– Labor was scarce until immigration increased– Little money for capital investment– Could not compete with mass-produced

European goods– British had a monopoly on textile machinery

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Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin

• Led to increased number of textile mills in the North

• Factory system began to flourish• Interchangeable parts and the early

assembly line– Colt revolver– Sewing machine– 28,000 new patents by 1860

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Other New Inventions

• Morse’s telegraph• McCormick’s reaper• Goodyear’s vulcanized rubber goods

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Workers and Wage Slaves

• Pre-Jackson– Forced to work in unsanitary conditions– Could not form labor unions– Child labor– “whipping rooms”– Slater’s mill: first machine tenders were all

under the age of 12• Jacksonian Democracy

– Strikes, improved conditions– Commonwealth v. Hunt

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Women and the Economy

• “Factory Girls”• Teachers• House Servants• Once married, women left work and

became part of the “cult of domesticity”– Women’s and Men’s spheres– Families became closer and smaller

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Transportation Revolution

• Highways, Turnpikes, the Cumberland Road

• Steam Ship• Canals• Railroads• Pony Express


Map 14.3: Erie Canal and Main Branches


Map 14.4: Principle Canals in 1840


Map 14.5: The Railroad Revolution


Map 14.6: Industry and Agriculture, 1860


Map 14.7: Main Routes West Before the Civil War


All of this creates a Market Revolution!

Documents

Forging the National Economy 1790-1860 The progress of invention is really a threat [to monarchy]. Whenever I see a railroad I look for a republic. Ralph