The American Pageant

Chapter 14

Forging the National Economy,

1790-1860

Cover Slide

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Slideshow Adapted from: Ms. Susan M. Pojer

Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

Slideshow Adapted from: Ms. Susan M. Pojer

Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

The Westward Movement

• U.S. marched quickly toward the West – proved to be very hard with disease &

loneliness• Frontier people =

– Individualistic– Superstitious– ill-informed of current matters

Shaping the Western Landscape

• Westward movement molds the environment

• Tobacco overuse exhausted the land – settlers forced to move on

• Settlers trapped beavers, sea otters, & bison for fur to ship back East.

• Nationalism an appreciation of the American wilderness– Artist George Catlin pushed for national parks

• achieved it with Yellowstone in 1872.

The March of the Millions• mid-1800s- population continues to 2X every 25 yrs.

– By 1860: • 33 states• American population = 4th in world (behind Russia, France, Austria).

• Urban growth continued explosively.– In 1790, only New York & Philadelphia had 20,000+ people

• by 1860, 43 cities had

• Problems?– poor sanitation,(later sewage systems & piped-in water

came about)

The March of the Millions

• high birthrate = population growth• ~1850s, millions of Irish & German came.

– why come to US? • surplus population in Europe• Land• freedom from church• no aristocracy• 3 meat meals a day.

• transoceanic steamships were used – travel time dropped to 12 days & it was safer.

The Emerald Isle Moves West• Irish potato famine (mid-1840s“Black Forties”)

– death of 2 million – many flee to the U.S

• mainly came to cities like Boston & New York (biggest Irish city)

• were illiterate, discriminated against by older Americans, & received lowest-paying jobs (railroad-building).

• were hated by Protestants because they’re Catholic.

The Emerald Isle Moves West

• Americans hated the Irish (such as “NINA”—No Irish Need Apply)– Irish hated competition with blacks for the

low-paying jobs.• The Ancient Order of Hibernians was

established to aid the Irish.• Gradual property ownership came about, &

their children earned education.• Irish-- attracted to politics

– often filled police departments as officers

American View of the Irish Immigrant

American View of the Irish Immigrant

The German Forty-Eighters

• 1 million came in 1830s-1860s, why?– crop failures & revolution/war of 1848.– had more $ than the Irish,

• they bought land in West, esp. in Wisconsin.

– Votes = crucial• were wooed by U.S. politicians• *** lacked potency because were spread out.

The German Forty-Eighters• contributed to the U.S. culture (i.e. the

Christmas tree) and isolationism.– urged public education (started kindergarten) – Advocated for freedom (were enemies of

slavery).• faced resent from old Americans

– Ger. grouped themselves together– Seen as aloof– clung to their old ways – kept speaking German language & religion, – brought beer to the U.S

Flare-ups of Antiforeignism• “nativists” – older Americans who were

prejudiced against newcomers in jobs, politics, and religion– Catholicism became a major faith

• due to the immigration of the 1840s-50s• set out to build Catholic schools

• nativists feared that Catholicism challenged Protestantism – (Popish idols) so they formed the “Order of Star-

Spangled Banner” AKA, “The Know-Nothings”• met in secrecy - “I Know-Nothing” = their response to

questions

Flare-ups of Antiforeignism• Nativists:– Wanted restrictions on immigration, naturalization– deportation of alien paupers– wrote fiction books about corruption of churches

• Violence:– i.e. Philadelphia (1844):

• burnt churches, schools, and people killed

• Immigration made America a pluralistic society with diversity– as time passed, immigrants = less disliked

• crucial to economic expansion & more jobs were becoming available (although they were low-paying)

National Origin of Immigrants:1820 - 1860

National Origin of Immigrants:1820 - 1860

Why now?

Know-Nothing Party:

“The Supreme

Order of the Star-

Spangled Banner”

Know-Nothing Party:

“The Supreme

Order of the Star-

Spangled Banner”

Creeping Mechanization• U.S. destined to become an industrial giant

– land = cheap– $ for investment plentiful– raw materials = plentiful

• Britain – lacked consumers for factory-scale manufacturing– America had the growing numbers– long-established factory system was in competition with

the infant U.S. industries– kept textile industry secrets as a monopoly (forbade travel

of craftsmen & export of machines)

• U.S. remains very rural & = mostly a farming nation

Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine

• Samuel Slater – “Father of the Factory System”– learned of textile machinery when working in

British factory– escaped to U.S., aided by Moses Brown and

builds1st cotton thread spinner in the U.S. (1791)

Samuel Slater’s

Spinning Frame

(p. 289)•Slater’s frame for spinning wool was powered by water and could spin thread simultaneously onto 96 bobbins (48 on each side of the lower part of the machine). The introduction of the spinning frame revolutionized textile manufacturing dramatically increasing output

Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine

• Eli Whitney – built a cotton gin (which was 50X more effective than

separating cotton seed by hand)– cotton economics now = profitable & saved the South (“King

Cotton”)– South flourished & expanded the cotton kingdom westward– Northern factories manufactured textiles (cloth), especially in

New England, which had: • poor soil• dense labor• access to sea• Fast rivers for water power)

Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin, 1791

Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin, 1791

Actually invented by a

slave!

Map 10.1 New

England’s Dominance

in Cotton Spinning,

1840 (p. 288)

South grew the cotton & New England used their waterpower to spin the cotton

Marvels in Manufacturing• Embargo Act of the War of 1812 encouraged

home manufacturing– after the war:

• GB sent a surplus of cheap goods, • many American factories closed (could not

compete with long-established British companies)

• Congress then passed Tariff of 1816 to protect U.S. economy

• Eli Whitney introduced machine-made inter-changeable parts (on muskets) - 1850– = base of the assembly line - flourished in the North – cotton gin flourished South

Eli Whitney’s Gun FactoryEli Whitney’s Gun Factory

Interchangeable Parts Rifle

Marvels in Manufacturing

• Elias Howe & Issac Singer (1846) – the sewing machine (the foundation of clothing industry)

• 1860s had 28,000 patents – 1800 only had 306

• Principle of limited liability in a corporation (can’t lose more than invested) stimulated the economy

• Samuel Morse’s telegraph connects the business world

Elias Howe & Isaac SingerElias Howe & Isaac Singer

1840sSewing Machine

Samuel F. B. MorseSamuel F. B. Morse

1840 – Telegraph

Workers and “Wage Slaves”

• Factory system impersonal relations• Owners benefitted

– hours = long– wages low– conditions unsafe & unhealthy– no unions existed to address these issues

• child labor = heavy– 50% of the industrial labor force = children

Workers and “Wage Slaves”• adult working conditions improve 1820s & 30s

– mass vote given to workers– 10 hour day– higher wages– public education– ban of imprisonment for debt

• 1840s– President Van Buren est. 10 hour day for fed.

employees

• Were strikes– Most lost because employers imported more workers

(the much-hated immigrants)

Workers and “Wage Slaves”

• labor unions (1830s) were hit by Panic of 1837– Commonwealth v. Hunt

• Massachusetts Supreme Court (1842) legalized unions for peaceful and honorable protest

• Effectiveness of unions was small – mostly because threat of a strike was always

undermined – Management could call in “scabs”

• were plentiful immigrants eager to work

Women and the Economy

• women toiled in factories under poor conditions

• Lowell, Massachusetts– model textile mill – employed young, single

• opportunities were rare• women worked in nursing, domestic service,

teaching (encouraged by Catharine Beecher)

The Waltham plan:

•Recruited farm women & girls as textile workers who would work for low wages.

–Women often found this work oppressive –Many women gained a new sense of freedom & autonomy –By combining improved technology, female labor, & tariff protection, the Boston Manufacturing Company sold textiles more cheaply than did the British Mill Girl, c.

1850 (p. 290)

Women and the Economy• women usually worked before marriage• after marriage became housewives & mothers• arranged marriages decrease• marriages due to love tied family closer• families grew smaller (average of 6)• fertility rate dropped sharply• “domestic feminism” was a crude form of

birth control

Women and the Economy

• child-centered families emerged with less children & discipline

• home changed from a place of labor– Now a place of refuge & rest from labor at the

mill• women were in charge of family• small, affectionate, child-centered families

Lowell in 1850Lowell in 1850

Lowell MillLowell Mill

Early Textile Mill Loom FloorEarly Textile Mill Loom Floor

New EnglandTextile

Centers:

1830s

New EnglandTextile

Centers:

1830s

The Lowell/Waltham System:

First Dual-Purpose Textile Plant

The Lowell/Waltham System:

First Dual-Purpose Textile Plant

Francis Cabot Lowell’s town - 1814

New England Dominance in Textiles

New England Dominance in Textiles

Starting for LowellStarting for Lowell

Lowell GirlsLowell Girls

What was their typical “profile?”

Lowell Boarding HousesLowell Boarding Houses

What was boardinghouse life like?

Lowell Mills Time Table

Lowell Mills Time Table

Early “Union” Newslett

er

Early “Union” Newslett

er

The Factory Girl’s GarlandThe Factory Girl’s Garland

February 20, 1845 issue.

I’m a Factory Girl Filled with Wishes

I’m a Factory Girl Filled with WishesI'm a factory girl

Everyday filled with fearFrom breathing in the poison airWishing for windows!I'm a factory girlTired from the 13 hours of wok each dayAnd we have such low payWishing for shorten work times!I'm a factory girlNever having enough time to eatNor to rest my feetWishing for more free time!I'm a factory girlSick of all this harsh conditionsMaking me want to sign the petition!So do what I ask for because I am a factory girlAnd I'm hereby speaking for all the rest!

Irish Immigrant Girls at LowellIrish Immigrant Girls at Lowell

Western Farmers Reap a Revolution in the Fields

• the trans-Allegheny region (Ohio-Indiana-Illinois) became the nation’s breadbasket– planted corn and raised hogs– Cincinnati =“the porkopolis” of the west

• inventions that boomed agriculture– John Deere – invented the steel plow that cut

through hard soil and could be pulled by horses

– Cyrus McCormick – invented the mechanical mower-reaper to harvest grain

Western Farmers Reap a Revolution in the Fields

• inventions lead to large-scale production & growth of cash crops

• North produced more food than the South (who grew cotton)

• products flowed from the North to the South via sea and rivers– Not East to West – Need for a transportation revolution in roads &

canals to go East to West

John Deere & the Steel Plow(1837)

John Deere & the Steel Plow(1837)

Cyrus McCormick& the Mechanical Reaper:

1831

Cyrus McCormick& the Mechanical Reaper:

1831

Highways and Steamboats

• improvements in transportation = needed for raw material transport

• Lancaster Turnpike – a hard road from Philadelphia to Lancaster, PA – brought economic expansion westward

• Fed. govt constructed the Cumberland Road AKA The National Road – (Maryland - Illinois) with state & federal money

First Turnpike- 1790 Lancaster, PA

First Turnpike- 1790 Lancaster, PA

By 1832, nearly 2400 mi. of road connected most major cities.

Cumberland (National Road), 1811

Cumberland (National Road), 1811

Conestoga Covered WagonsConestoga Covered Wagons

Conestoga Trail, 1820s

Highways and Steamboats

• Robert Fulton – invented the first steamboat, the Clermont in

(1807) – steamboats = common by the 1830s – caused an increase of U.S. trade

• no concern for weather & water current

• Contributed to development of Southern & Western economies

Robert Fulton & the Steamboat

Robert Fulton & the Steamboat

1807: The Clermont

“Clinton’s Big Ditch” in New York

• Gov. DeWitt Clinton’s Big Ditch = the Erie Canal – between Lake Erie & the Hudson River– shortened the expense & time of

transportation (to 1/20th what it was before)– cities grew along canal – price of food was reduced– farmers were unable to compete in the rocky

soils of the East• they went to the West

Erie Canal• The canal had three things in its favor:

– Support of city merchants – Backing of the governor – Gentleness of the terrain west of Albany

• The Erie Canal altered the ecology – Streams & rivers flowed into it – Depriving some areas of the water needed to sustain wildlife & settlers.

Effects of Building the Erie Canal• Brought prosperity to central & western New York

– INSTANT SUCCESS: when the first 75 miles opened, it immediately recovered costs• Linked the economies of the Northeast & Midwest • Prompted a national canal boom.

Erie Canal SystemErie Canal System

Erie Canal, 1820sErie Canal, 1820s

Begun in 1817; completed in 1825

Principal Canals in 1840Principal Canals in 1840

The Iron Horse• 1st railroad in U.S. was introduced in 1828

– by 1860, 30,000 miles of railroad tracks had been laid in the U.S. (3/4 of those tracks in the North)

• railroads were 1st opposed, why?– financiers = afraid of losing money from Erie Canal

traffic– Railroads caused fires to houses from their embers.

• Early trains were poorly constructed (with bad brakes)

• the gauge of tracks varied

Inland Freight RatesInland Freight Rates

Map 10.3 The Transportation Revolution: Roads and Canals, 1820–1850 (p. 298)

By 1850 the U.S. had an efficient transportation system w/ 3 distinct

parts. One system, composed of short canals & navigable rivers, carried

cotton, tobacco, & other products from the upcountry of the southern seaboard

states into the Atlantic commercial system. A 2nd system centered on the

Erie, Chesapeake and Ohio, & Pennsylvania Mainline Canals, linked

the major seaport cities of the Northeast to the vast trans-

Appalachian region. Finally, a set of regional canals in the Old Northwest connected most of the Great Lakes

region to the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers & New Orleans

TheRailroad

Revolution,1850s

TheRailroad

Revolution,1850s

p Immigrant laborbuilt the No. RRs.

p Slave laborbuilt the So. RRs.

The “Iron Horse” Wins! (1830)The “Iron Horse” Wins! (1830)

1830 13 miles of track built by Baltimore & Ohio RR

By 1850 9000 mi. of RR track [1860 31,000 mi.]

Cables, Clippers, & Pony Riders• foreign exports

– South--cotton account for 50% of exports– North--after repeal of the British Corn Law of 1846,

wheat became an important commodity in trade with England

• Americans imported > they exported – causing substantial debt to foreign creditors

• 1858: Cyrus Field laid a telegraph cable between the U.S. & Europe – died in 3 weeks– better one was laid in 1866

• provided instant communication with Europe—a monumental step forward.

Cyrus Field & the Transatlantic Cable,

1858

Cyrus Field & the Transatlantic Cable,

1858

Cables, Clippers, & Pony Riders• American vessels had been idle due to

embargoes & panics• U.S. Navy made little progress • Golden age of American merchant marine

=1840-50s– Donald Mckay built the clipper ships

• dominated the seas for a brief time • they were very fast, sleek, and long

– tea trade with the British grew & carried many to California

Clipper ShipsClipper Ships

Cables, Clippers, & Pony Riders• America’s brief dominance at sea with the

clipper ships was crushed by British iron steamers– = “Tea kettles”

• more reliable• could haul heavier loads, though slower

• Pony Express – speedy communication from Missouri to

California (going 2,000 miles in 10 days). The – Was short-lived though, lasting ~2 years– Replaced by the telegraph wire.

The Transport Web Binds the Union

• steamboat – allowed reverse transport of South to West – served to bind them together

• canals = more trade with East from the West – South was left out with canals

• New York = queen port of the country, – replacing New Orleans, thanks to the Erie Canal

The Transport Web Binds the Union

• Principle of divided labor emerged – each region specializes in its own economic activity

• South cotton to New England• West grain & livestock for the East & Europe• East machines, textiles for South & West

• South thought Mississippi River linked them to upper valley states– they would overlook man-made links when they

began to consider secession

• Transformed the home– Used to = center of economics– now = a refuge from work.

Regional SpecializationRegional Specialization

EAST Industrial

SOUTH Cotton & Slavery

WEST The Nation’s “Breadbasket”

The Market Revolution

• Political landscape changes– economic scene did too

• business began to grow up.

• Era of the self-supported farm changed – more modern, specialty driven economy

• widened gap between rich & poor

The Market Revolution

• Cities saw the greatest extremes– unskilled workers = “drifters” from town to

town looking for jobs • 1/2 of industrial population

• social mobility existed– But, rags-to-riches stories were rare

• Standard of living did rise