Presentation Transcript

1. Factory System, Immigration, and Nativism

2. Samuel Slater Established first factory in U.S. Pawtucket, R. I. in 1793 Textile mill supplied by greater supply of cotton
3. Lowell System Boston Manufacturing Co. in 1812 by Robert Lowell in Waltham MA Hired young, rural, and single women and provided boarding houses Workers were paid anywhere from $2.40 to $3.20 a week: extra income Machines were noisy and unsafe Laborers worked 12 hours, six days per week 1850
4. Early Textile Loom
5. Cheap labor Women usually worked 2-5 years and then left to marry By the 1830’s there was a drive to increase textile production As Lowell girls leave Irish immigrants and children were hired to work.
6. Lowell Boarding Houses What was boardinghouse life like?
7. Irish Immigrant Girls at Lowell
8. Lowell Mills Work is redefined Governed by the clock (bells) Monotonous routine Labor subject to the “iron law of wages” Work is steady; year long
9. New EnglandTextileCenters:1830s
10. New England Dominance in Textiles
11. Changing Occupation Distributions:1820 - 1860
12. Economic Opportunity and Distribution of Wealth The gap between rich and poor was widening! American Revolution:45% of all wealth in the top 10% of the population. 1845 Boston: top 4% owned over 65% of the wealth. 1860 Philadelphia: top 1% owned over 50% of the wealth. Economic opportunity located in the West US In 1845
13. First Wave of Immigration:1820 - 1860
14. Early Irish Immigration Single men and women Dug the Erie Canal Laid the rails of the new railroad network Cleared swamps for new cotton and rice plantations Were considered expendable
15. Later Irish Immigration In 1845, a blight afflicted the potato crop of Ireland As a result, millions of people starved, and were forced to eat the grass on their fields “Famine” Irish flee from the Potato Famine: 1.8 million Irish came to North America from 1845-1855 Flock to East coast cities such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, making the cities overcrowded Illiterate and unskilled
16. Immigrant Neighborhoods in New York Lived in ghettoes or ethnic neighborhoods such as the notorious ‘Five Points’ It was overcrowded, often two hundred immigrants would crowd into a single poorly built building The neighborhood had numerous bars where fighting was common; prostitution, gangs and gambling Violence and poor sewage systems Another political cartoon against the Irish
17. German Immigrants From 1846 to 1854, over 1 million Germans came to Germans came to America for political reasons and economic reasons. Escape the failed Revolution of 1848 Economic Opportunity
18. German Immigrants German Immigrants: Lutheran Catholic (Bavarians) Jewish Skilled workers Farmers Brewmasters Artisans Arrived in family units Adolphus Busch
19. German Immigrants Moved to the Midwest: Cincinnati Chicago Milwaukee Educated Established German communities Newspapers Festivals Schools Businesses
20. German Immigration Kindergarten Foods: Cheeses Frankfurter (and other sausages) Wines New Biers Music Celebrations Oktoberfest Christmas Christmas Trees (“O Tannenbaum!”)
21. Nativism Resistance to Immigration and immigrants Roman Catholic Alcoholism Domestic abuse and violence Crime, prostitution, and gambling Political corruption Stereotypes:Irish: “Bridgets” and “Paddies” Discrimination NINA (“No Irish Need Apply” Segregated
22. Anti-Immigrant Violence Burning churches and schools Philadelphia Nativist riots in 1844 Burning a convent in Boston Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk published in 1836: debauchery in a convent Bestseller Baltimore riots of 1856 Rise of the “Know-Nothing” Party
23. Rise of the American Party Know-Nothing Party: “The Supreme Order of the Star-Spangled Banner”—secret society
24. Know-Nothing Party Strongest in the 1840s and 1850s Platform: Limit immigration from Catholic countries Ban Catholics from political office 21 year wait for citizenship English only Ban sale of alcohol Ban Catholic migration to the West Won electoral votes in the election of 1856 Disappear in 1860
25. American Population Centers in 1820
26. American Population Centers in 1860