Forging the National Economy

1. Forging the National Economy 1790-1860

2. Westward Expansion • By 1850, half of Americans were under the age of 30. American “restlessness” contributed to westward movement. • 1840 the demographic center of the American population crossed the Alleghenies. • 1860 Americans had moved across the Ohio River

4. Pioneer Life in the West • poorly fed, ill-clad, lived in shanties • were often victims of disease, depression, premature death • Women- most cut off from human contact; suffered breakdowns & madness • Men- life was tough & crude; “no-holds barred” wrestling • Pioneer Characteristics: poorly informed, superstitious, provincial, individualistic, neighborly (log rolling & barn raising) = “rugged individualism”

5. Pioneers shaped the Environment “Ecological Imperialism” • pioneers exhausted the land ---then moved on leaving barren fields • Kentucky- vast cane fields were burned= European grasses (Kentucky Bluegrass) thrived= ideal for livestock • 1820’s- American fur trappers were trapping all the way to the Rockies; the Rendezvous System was established • Rendezvous System: each summer traders from St. Louis traveled to the Rockies & waited for Indians & trappers to arrive with beaver pelts & swapped for eastern manufactured goods. • By the 1840’s- the beaver were mostly wiped out • Trade in Buffalo robes= virtual annihilation of buffalo (bison) • Americans still revered nature= the unspoiled west was a defining attribute Jim Bridger Christopher “Kit” Carson

6. George Catlin: a painter & student of Native American life was one of the first Americans to push for preservation of nature by our government. (1832 –South Dakota) • 1872- Yellowstone Park created “Ball Play of the Choctaw-Ball up”, 1846-50 G. Catlin

7. The US Population Growth • By the 1850’s, the population was doubling every 25 years • By 1860, there were 33 states • US was the 4th most populous nation in the western world (behind Russia, France, & Austria) • By 1860, 43 cities had populations of 20,000 or more- 300 cities had populations of 5,000 plus. • New York, New Orleans, Chicago- most populated cities • Rapid Urbanization Caused Problems • smelly slums, poor street lighting, inadequate law enforcement, impure water, improper sewage & garbage disposal • 1823- Boston= sewer system installed • 1842- NY- piped–in water • Political machines filled the vacuum created by a government that could not handle rapid urbanization.

8. Population Growth from 1620 to 1860 5.3 million

9. Immigration 1840-1860 • 1840-1850 over a million & a half Irish & almost the same number of Germanimmigrants arrived. • Why did immigrants come to America? • Europe was running out of room (Old World population more than doubled in the nineteenth century) • to escape the European caste system = America as land of opportunity • escape state run churches • America had lots of land to farm, growing factories, low taxes, no compulsory military service • steamships improved travel time (to 10 to 12 days) • The Irish- mid 1840’s “the Black Forties” • 1830- 1860- 2 million came to the US • potato famine in Ireland led many people to leave (2 million died) • came here poor = settled eastern cities & seaboard • NY- became largest Irish city in the world • did the most menial labor for little pay- competed with free blacks

10. Immigration National Origin of Immigrants:1820 - 1860 Major immigrant groups • Irish • Germans Immigration to the United States, 1820-1860

11. IMMIGRATION • Settlements of Immigrants • Irish in Northeastern cities: New York and Boston • Germans would settle in Midwest

12. Hostility towards Immigrants • **“Nativism”- hostility towards immigrants by native-born Americans; feared competition for jobs & Catholic Church influence in American life. • “NINA”- No Irish Need Apply • Ancient Order of Hibernians- semisecret society founded in Ireland served as a benevolent society in America- helping immigrants- led to the “Molly Maguire's”- miners labor union of the 1860’s & 1870’s in Penn. Coal mines. • Irish remained in low paying jobs- moved up by buying property • many were attracted to politics– New York’s TammanyHall • Irish dominated city police departments • The US politicians often fired verbal volleys at London because it pleased Irish voters so much

13. The German Immigrants 1830-1860 • million & a half came • most arrived with some material goods– most pushed to the Mid-west (Wisconsin) • German contributions: Conestoga wagon, Kentucky rifle, Christmas tree • Characteristics: • tended to be isolationists, better educated (supported public schools-kindergarten) • native born Americans disliked them—they drank beer on the Sabbath • Political Parties Emerge to Oppose Immigration • arguments- they are taking our jobs, they are Catholic • 1849- The Order of the Star Spangled Banner-later developed into the American Party or “Know-Nothings”; called for restrictions on immigration & naturalization & laws deporting paupers. • many Roman Catholic immigrants set up a separate education system to prevent Protestant indoctrination in public schools • By 1850- Catholics were number one denomination

14. Violence against immigrants • 1834- Boston; Catholic convent burned by a mob • 1844- Philadelphia; Irish Catholics vs. nativists- two Catholic churches burnt down, 13 citizens killed, 50 wounded. • Why were such violent episodes not more frequent? • the American economy provided immigrants a way to make a living without really jeopardizing native populations • without immigrants- the US might have missed the Industrial Revolution

15. The Industrial Revolution- Modern Factory system • 1750- British inventors perfected machines for mass production of textiles. • many of these machines used steam power • affected agricultural production, communication, & transportation • Why was America slow to embrace the Industrial Revolution? • land was cheap= immigrants not willing to coop up in smelly factories= labor was scarce • Capital was not plentiful= raw materials undeveloped, undiscovered, unsuspected. • US could not produce goods of high quality to compete with British manufacturers = British had a monopoly on textiles machinery= tried to keep technology secret. • The Factory System comes to America • Samuel Slater- “Father of the Factory System”; backed by Quaker capitalist Moses Brown, built textile machines based on British models= 1791- 1st American machine to spin cotton thread • Eli Whitney 1793- developed the cotton-gin= 50 times more effective than hand picking seeds from cotton= cotton becomes profitable= South more dependent on slavery

16. Eli Whitney: The Cotton Gin, 1791

17. Cotton Kingdom spread to Alabama & Mississippi • North & South prospered

18. US FACTORY SYSTEM • 1830s, Industrialization grew throughout the North… • Southern cotton shipped to Northern textile mills was a good working relationship.

19. The Growth of Cotton Textile Manufacturing, 1810–1840

20. US FACTORY SYSTEM • Built first textile mill in 1793 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. • Born in England on June 9, 1768 and worked in British factories. • Slater came to US to make his fortune in the textile industry. • Slatersville Mill was the largest and most modern industrial cotton mill of its day Samuel Slater was the "Father of the American Factory System."

21. US FACTORY SYSTEM The Lowell Mills • Americans beat the British at their own game, made better factories • Francis C. Lowell (a British “traitor”) came over here to build British factories met up with Boston mechanic, Paul Moody • Together they improved the mill and invented a power loom that revolutionized textile manufacturing

22. Lowell Girls Lowell Girls Early Textile Loom • Lowell Girls - typical “profile” • Factory Girls Association Lowell Boarding Houses

23. The Lowell SystemLowell, Massachusetts, 1832 • Young New England farm girls • Supervised on and off the job • Worked 6 days a week, 13 hours a day • Escorted to church on Sunday

24. Early Textile Loom

25. The American Factory System • first did well in New England –then NY, NJ, Penn • North: dense populations= labor & markets • shipping = capital, sea ports = easy import of raw materials & export of finished goods • rapid rivers= power for machines • 1860= 400 million pounds of Southern cotton used in Northern mills • The South had little manufacturing because its capital was bound up into slavery & had poor consumers • Invention & Innovators • the Embargo of 1807, Non-Intercourse Acts, War of 1812= American manufacturing grew. • Eli Whitney- interchangeable Parts = adopted in 1850= basis of modern mass production= North will dominate the South in industry • Elias Howe- 1846 invented sewing machine; perfected by IsaacSinger= ready made clothing industry = women go to work in sewing factories • Samuel Morse 1844; perfected telegraph & code • Limited liability= Boston Associates- investment capital co.

26. Samuel F. B. Morse 1840 – Telegraph First Telegraph: “WHAT GOD HATH WROUGHT”

27. Elias Howe & Isaac Singer 1840sSewing Machine Perfected by Singer Gave boost to northern industry Became foundation for ready-made clothing industry Led many women into factories

28. Workers & Wage Slaves • industrialization ended the master craftsman & apprentice relationships= factory work became impersonal • slum like communities grew up around factories • workers worked for low wages, long hours in unsanitary buildings • labor union were forbidden • many of the nation’s workers were children • 1820’s-1830’s- states granted working men the vote= fight to get 10 hour work day, higher wages • employers fought workers demand for 10 hour days • workers used the strike in the 1820’s & 1830’s= employers hired strikebreakers (“scabs”) • 1842- Commonwealth v. Hunt- Supreme Court ruled that unions were not illegal conspiracies.

29. Women & the Economy • Farm women & girls played important role in pre-industrial economy= factories undermined activities like spinning, churning butter etc. • factories offered work to young women • “Factory Girls”= worked 6 days a week, low wages, 12-13 hours a day (Boston Assoc. Lowell, Mass mills employed women & children) • forbidden to join unions, escorted to church • Catharine Beecher- urged women to consider teaching = teaching became feminized. • working women were single; marriage caused them to leave work for the “home sphere” to work as wives & mothers = “cult of domesticity”. • Changes to Families • Love--- not parental arrangement became basis of marriage=parents had veto power • families became more close-knit • Families became smaller= less children • “domestic feminism”- women played key role in decisions in the family (birth control)= family as “republic”

30. US FACTORY SYSTEM Women & the Economy • 1850: 10% of white women working for pay outside home • Vast majority of working women were single • Left paying jobs upon marriage • “Cult of domesticity” • Cultural idea that glorifies the homemaker • Empowers married women • Increased power & independence of women in home led to decline in family size

31. Revolution in Agriculture • Ohio-Indiana, Illinois= nation’s breadbasket • corn main crop= western produce floated down Ohio-Mississippi River systems to the South • John Deere (1837)- steel blade plow • Cyrus McCormick- horse drawn mechanical reaper • farmers scrambled for more acres to plant wheat

32. Cyrus McCormick& the Mechanical Reaper

33. Transportation Revolution • 1790’s- Lancaster Turnpike- 62 miles west from Philadelphia to Lancaster • highly successful= 15% return on investment= western development • 1811- The National Road (Cumberland Road)- Western Maryland to Vandalia Illinois- completed in 1852 • 1807 Robert Fulton & The Clermont -chugged from NY up the Hudson 150 miles to Albany in 32 hours= waterways became two way transportation arteries= By 1860 1000 steamboats on Mississippi River= opened West & South (river rich) • Erie Canal (1825)- linked Great Lakes with Hudson River. • Erie Canal= lowered cost of transporting goods (ex: ton of grain from Buffalo fell from $100 to $5) = land values around canals increased & cities developed (Rochester & Syracuse. • 1828- 1st Railroad appeared in US; BY 1860- 30,000 miles of track crisscrossed the US • Cyrus Field (1858) trans-Atlantic telegraph cable- replaced in 1866 by heavier cable

34. Cyrus Field & the Transatlantic Cable, 1858 • 1ST ATTEMPT • LASTED 3 WEEKS • REDUCED COMMUNICATION TIME • FROM 10 DAYS TO A FEW MINUTES

35. Cumberland (National Road), 1811

36. Erie Canal System

37. TRANSPORTATION REVOLUTION Robert Fulton’s Clermont plies the Hudson River

38. Principal Canals in 1840

40. Internal Improvements • Helped unite the country as well as improve the economy and the infant industry. • Because of the British blockade during the War of 1812, it was essential for internal transportation improvements.

41. National Market Economy: Inland Freight Rates, 1790-1865

42. Shipping & Pony Express • Clipper ships-long, narrow & swift hauled high value cargo faster • Clipper ships eclipsed by British iron tramp steamers (slower, steadier, more reliable. • 1858- stagecoaches carried citizens from Missouri to California. • 1860- Pony Express established to carry mail 2,000 miles from Missouri to California (later obsolete because of Samuel Morse & telegraph). • Transportation Binds the nation • Until 1830- produce from west region went southward on the New Orleans. • canals & RR radiated east= robbing Mississippi River of traffic= NY became a major seaport • The Continental Economy- each region specialized in a particular type of economic activity: South- cotton to export to NE & Britain • West- grain & livestock to feed factory workers in the East & Europe • East- made machines & textiles for South & West

43. Telegraph revolutionized communication • Would replace the Pony Express by 1861

44. The Market Revolution • transformed a subsistence economy of scattered farms & workshops to national network of industry & commerce. • Supreme Court (John Marshall died in 1835)- protected contract rights by requiring states to issue irrevocable charters= monopolies • State incorporation laws= limited liability= more corporations • families: traditional women’s work became devalued= home was no longer the center of economic production= became a sphere for women • increased prosperity to all American's= widened gulf between rich & poor (John Jacob Astor left $30 million at his death in 1848) • Cities: unskilled workers shifted town to town= myth of social mobility • US provided more opportunity than the OLD WOLRD = RISING TIDES LIFT ALL BOATS