Forging the National Economy: 1790-1860

1. Forging the National Economy: 1790-1860 AP US HISTORY Mr. Long

2. The Westward Movement • Andrew Jackson’s rise to presidency exemplified Americas westward march (he is from the west) • The western frontier was the most American part of America (unique and untamed) • “Europe stretches to the Alleghenies; America lies beyond.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

3. The Westward Movement Cont’d • Demographics • People are young • By 1850 ½ population is under 30yrs They are restless and energetic = focused on West. WHY? OPPORTUNITY

4. Shaping Western Landscape • Western movement molded physical environment • Land Exhaustion • Tobacco = barren/rain gutted fields • Kentucky bluegrass • Animals • Beaver and Bison are hunted to near extinction. • Ecological Imperialism

5. Shaping Western Landscape Cont’d • Nature has breed a spirit of nationalism and reverence • America is very unique • Inspired poets, writers and painters • George Catlin (painter/student of Native American Life) proposed national parks

6. March of the Millions • As westward expansion occurred population • Population 2x every 25yrs • 33 states by 1860 • Urban growth boomed • In 1790 two cities had population of 25,000 • 1860 there are 43

7. March of the Millions • Negatives of over-rapid urbanization • slums • bad street lighting (crime) • inadequate policing (crime) • impure water • foul sewage • rats • bad garbage disposal (hogs still roamed streets until 1840’s)

8. Immigration • Why Did they come? • Europe was running out of room • Land of Freedom (from aristocrats) and opportunity • Cheap land • Faster/easier transportation (trans-Atlantic ships) (Fast/Cheap) • 10-12 days instead of 10-12 weeks

9. Immigration Cont’d • 5. Potato Famine (Irish) mid 1840’s “black forties” • Irish are poor = urban • Disliked b/c they took jobs and drove down wages • Worked low skill jobs • Were involved in Politics (Tammany Hall) • Made up large amounts of the police force

10. Immigration Cont’d • 6. Collapse of Democratic Revolutions (Germany) • Well educated (compared to Americans) • Had money • Brought much to America • Christmas tree • Conestoga Wagon • Kentucky Rifle

11. Flare-Ups of Anti-Foreignism • The invasion of immigrants brought FEAR to America. • They feared they would be • Outbreed • Outvoted • Overwhelmed

12. Flare-Ups of Anti-Foreignism • Biggest issues in the minds of Americans • Immigrants took Jobs • Mass Violence • Violence not as frequent because economy was good. • Americans need manpower/brainpower of immigrants. • They were Roman Catholic • Still considered a foreign religion

13. Flare-Ups of Anti-Foreignism • Know Nothing Party-party of nativists who wanted rigid restrictions on immigration and naturalization. • Where have we seen this in the past? • Alien and Sedition Acts (Anti-France)

14. Review Warm-up • The Westward movement was marked by which president? Why? • What was pioneer life like according to the text?

15. Creeping Mechanization • Industrial Revolution hit Britain in 1750 when a series of machines were made to mass produce textiles. (10,000x human power). • The Factory System gradually spread. • Industrial Revolution-refers to a change from hand and home production to machine and factory. • In the US from 1807-1870

16. Creeping Mechanization Cont’d • Why was America, perfect to become industrial giant, so slow to embrace it? • Cheap Land • Scarce labor for factories until immigration. • No investors in pioneer America • Couldn’t produce cheaply enough to compete • British kept textile machinery a secret.

17. Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine • Samuel Slater “Father of the Factory System” • Brought secret textile machinery plans from England. • Backed by a wealthy RI Quaker (capital) • Created an efficient machine to spin cotton thread. • Now we had machinery but where was the cotton? • Still slowly picked by hand in South

18. Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine • Eli Whitney • Cotton gin (1807)- efficient way to harvest cotton (50x more effective then hand separating) • Cotton now becomes very profitable • Provided up to 80% to the crucial British market. • Strengthens the South’s need for Slaves • Slaves are sill needed to pick the cotton from fields.

19. Encyclopedia.com History.com

20. Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine • Factories • Stayed mainly in the Northeast near seaports. • WHY? • Bad soil • Dense population (Labor) • Capital from shipping industry • Seaports made it easy to import raw materials • Rivers provided water power for machines. • South is still tied to profitable agriculture

21. Marvels in Manufacturing • American manufacturing spread slowly until 1807. • Forced to due to embargos, War of 1812, etc. • What happened after the War of 1812 which helped bolster American Industry? • Henry Clay’s “American System”

22. Marvels in Manufacturing • Factories began to flourish in US as other industries in addition to textiles were embraced. • Eli Whitney began to mass produce rifles for the US army • Interchangeable parts made them easy to fix • IMPORTANCE: This became the basis for the modern day assembly line.

23. Civil War Implications • IRONIC: Eli Whitney gave slavery a revival in South w/ cotton gin but also helped factories flourish in North w/ the idea of interchangeable parts. • North will have huge advantage over South (Civil War)

24. Marvels in Manufacturing • Other Machines of note • Sewing machine (Elias Howe 1846, Isaac Singer perfected it) • Telegraph (Samuel F.B. Morse) W6mtc.org

25. Workers and “Wage Slaves” • So what were factories like for workers? • Up to this point labor had been done in the home or small shop. • In factory systems the profits were not spread evenly. • This widens the gap between poor and wealthy

26. Workers and “Wage Slaves”

27. Women and the Economy • Factories took the jobs that women would have done in the home. • EX: spinning yarn, weaving cloth, candles, soap, butter, etc. • Factories relied heavily on women and child labor early on.

28. Women and the Economy • Self-sufficient jobs for women • Nursing • Domestic service • Teaching

29. Women and the Economy • Cult of domesticity- The idea that women would leave their paying jobs when they got married to do their duty as wives and mothers. • The traditional role of the women is glorified during this period. • The home becomes an area of relaxation for men who worked in factories and the women facilitated this.

30. Women and the Economy • Change in Women’s roles from the Industrial Revolution • Marriage based more on love • This meant more close knit affectionate families • Smaller families • Result: more child-centered families • Raised more independent minded individuals.

31. Western farmers reap revolution in fields • As the East (North) was being changed by industry, farming in the west was also changing. • Western farmers first planted corn to feed hogs or make liquor. • easier to transport then grain • The only place they could transport was by way of the Ohio-Mississippi Rivers.

32. Western farmers reap revolution in fields • Inventions that helped the West • Steel plows (John Deere 1837) • McCormick Reaper (1830’s Cyrus McCormick) • Changed the culture • Grain could be harvested 5x faster now = now a humble plowman could become wealthy. • This will increase the desire for land!

33. Western farmers reap revolution in fields • West could now be large scale food production for the domestic and foreign markets. • PROBLEM: Landlocked • They could move goods North and South but not East very easily. • SOLUTION: New Modes of Transportation • Railroads, Steamships, Highways, etc.

35. Transportation • Cheap/Efficient carriers are need to take raw materials WE, and finished products from EW. • Lancaster Turnpike in PA(1790’s, built by private company) • tolls (paid high dividends to stockholders, 15%) • Cumberland Road (1811) • Federally funded national road • Went from Cumberland Md. To St. Louis Missouri (Mississippi River) 591 miles.

36. Transportation • Steamboat (Robert Fulton 1807) “Fulton’s Folly” • Made rivers two-way traveling arteries to transport goods. • Makes the Mississippi really relevant. • Played a vital role in opening both the West and South because both had great rivers.

37. Transportation • Erie Canal (1825) • Linked Great Lakes w/ Hudson River • Midwest to NYC • Decreased shipping costs • Created economic booms • Opened Eastern cities to Midwest farm products.

38. Transportation • Railroads (1828 first lines) • Fast • Reliable • Cheaper to construct then canals • Defied terrain and weather • ¾ of track in North (industry) • Huge advantage to the North during Civil War

39. Railroads in 1870

40. Transport Web binds Union • Desire of East to tap the West stimulated this transportation revolution • Until 1830 goods from the West went South • Mississippi River bound these two areas together. • Impressive internal improvements would offset this “natural” flow of trade and help bind East & West together. • Steamships, Railroads, Highways, Canals, etc.

41. Transport Web binds Union • By the eve of the Civil War a truly continental economy had emerged. SELF-SUFFICIENT • Each region specialized in a specific economic activity • South: raised cotton for export to NE/Britain • West: grew grain and livestock to feed factory workers in East/Europe • East: Made machines/textiles for West and South • TRUE “AMERICAN SYSTEM”

42. Transport Web binds Union • States are now economically woven together = political/military implications during Civil War • South believes the West is tied to them, “natural” connection. • PROBLEM: They overlook the man made connections which link West to the East. • South would not only have to fight Northern armies but also a tight economic bound (West and East)

43. The Market Revolution • Market Revolution- transformed small scattered subsistence farmers into a national network of industry and commerce. • ALMOST DONE

44. The Market Revolution • Advances in manufacturing and transportation brought increased prosperity to all Americans. • Also widened the gap between poor and wealthy • Cities had biggest extremes of economic inequality • Poor factory workers and wealthy owners • “Social Mobility” was fairly scarce • But there was more OPPORTUNITY in America then in the Old World.

45. The Market Revolution • General prosperity helped defuse potential class conflict which happened in European countries during Industrial Revolutions THE END