The Transportation and Market Revolutions

1. The Transportation and Market Revolutions 1815-1860

2. The Transportation Revolution • Canals, steamboats, and railroads revolutionized American economic and social life during the antebellum period between 1820 and 1860 • Key transportation developments • Turnpikes such as the National Road promoted trade and communication with the Old NW • Steamboats carried bulky farm products such as wheat, corn, and flour far more cheaply than covered wagons • By the 1840s, steamboats opened the Ohio and Mississippi river valleys to two-way traffic • Canals strengthened ties between eastern cities and western agricultural regions • Railroads • Connected cities • Encouraged settlement • Reduced the cost of transporting goods • 13 miles of track in 1829 to 30,626 in 1860

3. The Erie Canal • Farmers and merchants in the Old NW lacked efficient and inexpensive access to the markets along the east coast

4. Erie Canal • The Erie Canal connected Albany on the Hudson River with Buffalo on Lake Erie • When it opened in 1825 the 363-mile-long waterway created an all-water route that cut travel time from New York City to Buffalo from 20 days to 6 and reduced the cost of moving a ton of freight between these two cities from $100.00 to $5.00

5. Erie Canal • The Erie Canal had a number of significant consequences • Helped transform NYC into America’s greatest commercial center • Created commercial ties between the eastern manufacturing centers and western agricultural regions • Inspired a mania for building canals that lasted throughout the 1830s

6. The Market Revolution • During the Era of Good Feelings, most Americans bought goods from friends and neighbors in a local economy • The new network of roads, canals, and rail lines enabled people to buy and sell goods with consumers in distant markets • The term market revolution in the antebellum period refers to the creation of a national economy that connected distant communities for the first time • The creation of large lucrative markets led to an American system of manufacturing that utilized machines with interchangeable parts to mass produce standardized low-cost goods

8. Impact of the Transportation and Market Revolutions • Impact on the Northeast • Accelerated the rate of industrial growth • Prompted the construction of textile mills in New England • Created a close trade relationship between New England and the Old Northwest • Created a wealthy class of urban capitalists

9. Impact of the Transportation and Market Revolutions • Impact on the Midwest • Accelerated the migration of settlers into the Midwest • Transformed Chicago into an important rail-center and agricultural distributor to the West • Enabled Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Cleveland, and Detroit to become thriving industrial and commercial centers • Increased the production of cash crops such as corn and wheat • Linking closely to the Northeast by canal and railroad networks

10. Railways 1850 1860

11. Impact of the Transportation and Market Revolutions • Impact on the South • Failed to keep up with the pace of industrialization and urbanization in the Northwest and Midwest • Extended a plantation system based on cotton and slavery westward into Alabama and Mississippi • Remained an agricultural economy dominated by an elite group of wealthy planters

12. The Old South 1815-1860

13. The Cotton Kingdom • Eli Whitney and the cotton gin • During the late 1700s a series of inventions revolutionized the textile industry in Great Britain • Created a limitless demand for cotton • Southern farmers couldn’t meet the demand because of the difficulty of separating the cotton from its seeds • It required a full day for a laborer to separate a pound of cotton by hand • In 1793, Eli Whitney invented a machine to perform this tedious chore • His cotton gin enabled slaves to separate fifty times as much cotton as could be done by hand • As a result of Whitney’s invention, cotton production soared from 9,000 bales in 1791 to 987,000 in 1831 and 4 million in 1860 • 1 bale=500 pounds of cotton

14. The Cotton Kingdom • King Cotton • Cotton quickly became America’s most valuable cash crop • In 1840, cotton production accounted for more than half of the value of all American exports • The excessive cultivation of tobacco depleted the soil • No longer just the Chesapeake, by 1860, a vast cotton belt stretched from eastern North Carolina to the Mississippi River Valley • This region produced over ½ of the world’s cotton • Proud southern planters confidently boasted that “Cotton is King”

15. The Cotton Kingdom • The impact of the cotton economy • Cotton irrevocably altered the South’s attitude toward slavery • Before the cotton gin, many southerners regarded slavery as a necessary evil that would gradually be phased out • However, as the South became committed to a one-crop cotton economy, it also became committed to slavery • Of the 2.5 million slaves engaged in agriculture in 1850, 75% worked at cotton production • The presence of slavery discouraged immigrants from moving to the South • In 1860 just 4.4% of the southern population was foreign-born • Meanwhile, between 1844 and 1854 over 3 million European immigrants flooded into eastern seaports • The over-whelming majority of these immigrants came from Ireland and Germany

16. The Cotton Kingdom • The impact of the cotton economy • As the South devoted more and more resources to growing cotton, the region lagged behind the North in trade and manufacturing • Southern cotton was primarily exported in northern vessels • While northern factories produced manufactured goods at an ever increasing rate, southern farmers purchased finished goods under a credit system that kept them in debt • The South’s commitment to growing cotton slowed urban growth • With the exception of N.O. and Charleston, the South had few cities • Instead, most southerners lived on widely dispersed farms and plantations

17. Immigration in Antebellum America 1815-1860

18. Key Facts about Immigration in Antebellum America • Immigration slowed dramatically during the 4 decades between the Revolution and the War of 1812 • The French Rev and the prolonged war between BR and FR reduced immigration from Europe to a trickle • First great wave of 19th century immigration took place from 1820-1860 • Almost 5 million people immigrated to America • While many immigrants came from England and Scandinavia, over 2/3s of the total came from Ireland and Germany • The overwhelming majority settled in cities in the North and on Midwestern farms – avoided the South

19. The Irish Immigration • What happened? • 1840-1860 almost 1.7 million Irish men, women, and children came to U.S. • Most Irish immigrants settled in the fast-growing port cities along the Northeast coast • By 1860, Irish made up half the population of Boston and NYC • What caused the Irish immigration? • Desperate living conditions • Most rural Irish were impoverished tenant farmers who barely survived on a diet that depended upon the potato • Beginning in 1845 a blight destroyed three successive potato crops • A million people died from starvation and disease while another 1.7 million immigrated to the United States

20. The Irish Immigration • Why should you remember the Irish immigration? • Transformed Boston, NYC, and Philly into densely populated centers that experienced high rates of poverty and crime • Most Irish immigrants were forced to work in the lowest-paying and most demanding unskilled jobs • Irish women found work as domestic servants while the men built roads, canals, and railroad beds • The percentage of Irish workers employed in the Lowell mills jumped from 8% in 1845 to 50% in 1860 • The Irish played a key role in the growth of the Catholic Church in the U.S. – 700 churches in 1840 to over 2,500 in 1860

21. The Irish Immigration • Why should you remember the Irish immigration? • Aroused intense anti-Catholic prejudice • Stereotyped as an ignorant and clannish people who would never assimilate into American life • Prejudiced employers posted “No Irish Need Apply” signs, while Protestant leaders complained that Irish-sponsored parochial schools would undermine support for public education • Irish voters supported the Democrats as the party of the “common man” • Irish bosses soon played a key role in the formation of big city political machines

22. The German Immigration • Just over 1.5 million Germans immigrated to America between 1830 and 1860 • Unlike the Irish, the Germans typically settled in rural areas of the Midwest • They were a very diversified group that included exiled political refugees and displaced farmers • Although the majority were Protestants, about 1/3 were Catholics and a significant number were Jewish • Because they were such a heterogeneous group, they were difficult to stereotype • As a result, the Germans experienced less prejudice than the Irish

24. Nativism and the Know-Nothing Party • Nativism • The great wave of Irish and German immigration sparked an anti-foreign reaction among native-born Protestants • Nativist leaders argued that Catholics posed a danger to America’s republican institutions • They pointed to a statement by Pope Pius IX denouncing republican institutions because they relied upon the sovereignty of the people instead of the sovereignty of God

25. Nativism and the Know-Nothing Party • Know-Nothing Party • During the early 1850s, nativists formed the American Party • Began as a secret society, complete with special passwords and elaborate handshakes • When members were asked about their party, they were instructed to reply: “I know nothing!” • As a result, the American Party was soon popularly called the Know-Nothing Party

26. Nativism and the Know-Nothing Party • The Know-Nothing Party directed its hostility toward Catholic immigrants from Ireland and Germany • The party’s platform demanded that immigrants and Catholics be excluded from public office • Know-Nothing candidates enjoyed initial success • Captured over 40 congressional seats in the 1854 election • Its 1856 presidential candidate Millard Fillmore won 21% of the popular vote and 8 electoral votes • Success proved to be fleeting • The anti-Catholic fervor subsided slavery became the main topic of national politics

28. The End of Homespun: The Early Industrial Revolution • 1. Identify three factors that contributed to the development of a market economy by the middle of the nineteenth century. • 2. Regions and manufacturers’ specialization contributed to a reshaping of the American economic system. What effect did these changes have on the lives of ordinary Americans? (Positives and Negatives) • 3. Read the handout provided and compile a list of factors that contributed to the development of the early Industrial Revolution in the United States. (Need at least 10) • 4. Rank the factors in order to assess their relative importance in promoting industrial revolution. • 5. Write a thesis statement to account for the early development of manufacturing in the United States.