Economic Growth

1. Economic Growth Chapter 10, Lesson 1

2. The Growth of Industry • The Industrial Revolution (Mid-1700s in Europe; 1800s in America) - the way goods were made began to change and first appeared in Great Britain. • During the Colonial area, workers were in short supply and Americans learned to develop tools that made work easier and more efficient. • British inventors made machinery to perform some of the work involved in cloth making, such as spinning. • The machines ran on water, so British clothes makers built mills along rivers and installed the machines in these mills. • People left their home and farms to work at mills and earn wages. • This historic development became known as the Industrial Revolution.

3. The Industrial Revolution in New England • The Industrial Revolution began in America around 1800. • New England (Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Vermont, and New Hampshire) had poor soil, resulting in poor farms and people seeking work elsewhere. • However, New England had plenty of rushing rivers and streams, perfect for the machinery working with waterpower. • Its location geographically was also great as it was close to other resources, including coal and iron from nearby Pennsylvania. • It also had easy access to many ports that also provided materials such as cotton from Southern States to New England.

4. The Industrial Revolution in New England • Also necessary was a strong economic system that allowed for competition to grow without much government interference. • Capitalism – Individuals put their capital (money) into a business in hopes of making a profit. • Free enterprise – People are free to buy. Sell, and produce whatever they want, as well as work wherever they wish • Major elements include competition, profit, private property, economic freedom. • Buyers also compete to find the best products at the lowest prices.

5. New Technology • Workers, waterpower, location, and capital all played an important role in New England’s Industrial Revolution. • The Industrial Revolution could not have taken place without technology. • Technology – Scientific discoveries that simplify work. • Inventions such as the spinning jenny and water frame (helped spin thread) and the power loom (could weave the thread into cloth) making the manufacture of clothes more time efficient and cheaper. • These were built near rivers to power them. • In 1785, a steam engine provided power to a cotton mill for the first time. • Cotton gin – a machine invented by Eli Whitney of Massachusetts that quickly and efficiently removed the seeds from cotton fiber. • It allowed one worker to complete the work of 50 by hand.

6. New Technology • In 1790. Congress passed a patent law to protect the rights of those who developed “useful and important inventions.” • Patent – gives an inventor sole legal rights to the invention and its profits for a certain period of time. • The first patents went to Jacob Perkins who made a machine to make nails.

7. New England Factories • Britain attempted to keep their industrial technology a secret. • So much so, that they passed laws prohibiting machinery as well as their skilled mechanics from leaving the country. • A few regardless were able to escape to the U.S. • Samuel Slater – worked in a factory that used machines invented by Richard Arkwright for spinning cotton threads. • Slater memorized the design of Arkwright’s machines and slipped out of Britain in 1789. • When he arrived in the U.S., he took charge of a cotton mill and replicated Arkwright’s design and was able to make cotton thread which women could turn into cloth from home. • It was considered an important step in the Industrial Revolution in America.

8. New England Factories • Francis Cabot Lowell – opened a textile plant in Waltham, Massachusetts. • Went several steps beyond Slater’s mill by making it the first time all the stages of cloth making occurred under one roof. • He launched a factory system (system bringing manufacturing steps together in one place to increase efficiency). • This system was a significant development in the way goods were made another part of the Industrial Revolution.

9. Interchangeable Parts • Eli Whitney started the use of interchangeable parts (identical machine parts that could be quickly put together to make a complete product.) • All parts were alike, manufactured with less-skilled labor, and made repairing machines easier. • Interchangeable parts made it possible to produce made different kinds of goods on mass scale for a reduced price.

10. Agriculture Expands • Though many New Englanders went to work in factories, most Americans still lived and worked on farms. • In the 1820s, more than 65 percent of Americans were farmers. • Northeast farms really only produced enough food to sell locally. • In the South, cotton production begins increasing dramatically. • It rise is due to the development of the textile industry in New England and Europe. • The South used slaves in order to plant, tend, and pick the cotton. • The cotton gin’s creation encouraged planters to raise larger crops. • Between 1790 and 1820, cotton production soared from 3,000 to more than 300,000 bales a year. • Agriculture also expanded in the West. • Southern farmers moved west seeking new land to plant cotton. • Western farmers north of the Ohio river concentrated on raising pork and cask crops such as corn and wheat.

11. Economic Independence • Most new industries were financed by small investors (merchants, shopkeepers, and farmers) who invested some of their money hoping to earn profits if the new business succeeded. • People were encouraged to invest in new industries thanks to low taxes, few government regulations, and competition. • Corporations – Large businesses that rose up during the 1830s, after some legal restrictions were removed. • Made it easier to sell stock (shares of ownership in a company) to finance improvement and development. • The charter of the First Bank of the United States expired in 1811 and in 1816, Congress chartered the Second Bank of the United States (also for 20 years) • The Bank had power to make large loans to businesses and was criticized by State banks and frontier accusing it of being a monopoly for the rich and powerful for their own gain. • Others who interpreted the Constitution strictly did not believe Congress had the power to charter such a bank.

12. Cities Come of Age • The growth of factories and trade spurred the growth of towns and cities with new industrial towns growing the fastest. • Many developed along the rivers and streams to take advantage of the waterpower. • Older cities like New York, Boston, and Baltimore grew as centers of commerce and trade. • Out West, towns like Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Louisville profited from their location on major rivers. • As farmers in the West shipped more of their products by water, those towns grew quickly too.

13. Cities Come of Age • Cities and town looked way different from modern urban areas. • Building were made of wood or brick, streets and sidewalks were unpaved, and barn yard animals often roamed free. • No sewers existed to carry waste and dirty water away leading to spread of diseases like cholera (causes severe diarrhea and dehydration) and yellow fever (spread by mosquitos). • In 1783, a yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia killed thousands of people. • Fire posed another threat to cities. • Sparks from a chimney or fireplace could set wooden homes ablaze. • Few towns had organized fire companies, and fires could be disastrous.

14. Cities Come of Age • Advantages existed for people who moved into cities. • Variety of jobs and steady wages being some of the better ones. • As cities grew they attained libraries, museums, and shops that did not exist in the countryside. • For many people these things outweighed the dangers that city life might provide.