AP US History Chapter 11: Technology, Culture, and Everyday Life, 1840-1860

1. AP US HistoryChapter 11: Technology, Culture, and Everyday Life,1840-1860

2. Eli Whitney The Cotton Gin: • Made it easier and faster to remove cotton seeds • Increased profitability caused plantation owners to plant more cotton and increase production • Stimulated the South’s economy • Stabilized the system of slavery by making it more profitable

3. John Deere • Steel-tipped Plow: • Could cut through matted prairie sod and clay soil with half the labor • Sped up the planting of wheat in the Northwest

4. Cyrus McCormick • Mechanical Reaper: • Harvested wheat and other grains 7 times faster with half the labor • Made wheat production the most prominent form of agriculture in the Midwest • McCormick produced his reapers with mass production and sold over 80,000 by 1860

5. Technology and Industrial Progress • “American System” of manufacture: The production of goods with interchangeable parts. • Advantages of the American System: • With the development of machine-made, standardized, interchangeable parts, replacement parts could be obtained. • With improved machine tools, entrepreneurs were able to push inventions into mass production, lowering prices for consumers. • Examples: By the 1850s sewing machines and pistols were mass produced at dramatically lower prices to consumers.

6. Technology and Industrial Progress • Invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. B.. Soon extensive telegraph lines linked major cities, as well as rail lines, improving communication. • Telegraph lines usually transmitted political and commercial messages but were later used to report fires.

7. The Railroad Boom • Vast improvements in railroad technology encouraged its popularity in the 1840’s. • Kerosene lamps allowed night travel • More powerful engines • Communication through telegraph • More tracks led to more places to go

8. Westward Expansion • Separate rail lines were consolidated and standardized • This allowed people to travel greater distances • Station towns • RR companies bought land for stations, and then resold the land around the station to encourage settlement. • Towns sprung up quickly, and population grew • Agricultural Boom • Lower transportation costs of wheat from western states, such as Wisconsin and Indiana, gave farmers larger markets • Industrial Boom and Urbanization • The growth of industrial cities such as Chicago, which linked rail and water lines, provided lumber for farms, and produced flour from the wheat the western farms produced.

9. WAGES THROUGH THE AGES (annual) Rising Prosperity • From the 1830s to the 1860s, wages increased dramatically Annual wages of cotton textile workers • Technological advancements improved the lives of ordinary consumers by reducing the price of many commodities; e.g., clocks that cost $50 to make by hand in 1800 cost 50 cents to make by machine in 1850. • The steam engine eliminated the need for factories to be near sources of running water and also the inconvenience of the wheels stopping when the source of water froze. The steam engine allowed factories to stay open longer and produce more goods. It also contributed to a 25% increase in the average worker’s real income between 1840 and 1860.

10. Urban Growth andthe Labor Force • The growth of cities increased explosively in the mid-19th century. The seasonal fluctuations of agricultural labor, as well as erratic grain prices, caused many farm workers to seek the expanding opportunities for year-round labor available in the industrial cities. • The cost living for working-class families in cities like NYC and Philadelphia in the early 1850s was more than what the average male laborer could earn. As a result, female and child labor became an integral part of the 19th century American labor force.

11. Distribution of Wealth • The middle class became more prosperous, but the gap between the rich and the poor widened considerably. • Urban middle class homes became lavish, but the urban poor lived in crowded tenements.

12. Gap Increases BetweenRich and Poor • Rich and middle class houses became increasingly lavish • Machine-made furniture transformed interiors of houses • Stoves revolutionized heating and cooking • The urban poor lived in cramped tenements

13. The Quality of Life:Conveniences and Inconveniences Coal Heating and Cooking: Conveniences • Coal burns longer and hotter than wood, reducing the time and expense previously devoted to acquiring fuel. • Stoves provided a safer, more convenient way to cook and could also handle more dishes at once. • Pennsylvania had a superior variety of coal, called anthracite, and guaranteed a steady supply. • Fresh fruits and vegetables available due to the railroad revolution meant the potential for healthier diets for Americans

14. The Quality of Life:Conveniences and Inconveniences Coal Heating and Cooking: Inconveniences • An improperly working coal burning stove could fill a room with poisonous carbon monoxide. • Coal left a sooty residue that polluted the air and blackened the snow. • The lack of widespread refrigeration and good preservatives meant that the dietary gap between rich and poor increased, as only the wealthy could afford fresh fruits and vegetables out of season

15. The Quality of Life:Conveniences and Inconveniences Urban Waterworks and Sanitation: • In 1823 Philadelphia created the first system that brought fresh water along aqueducts through pipes to street hydrants • Most incoming water ended at street hydrants - indoor plumbing was still rare • Bathing was infrequent, because of the lack of indoor plumbing and the lack of water heaters • City waste removal was so rare that many cities relied on free-roaming hogs to eat discarded garbage • Flush toilets and sewer systems were rare and confined to only the largest cities

16. Medical Advances:Cholera and Yellow Fever 1832-1833 Cholera and Yellowfever killed one-fifth of the population of New Orleans The transportation revolution quickened spread of infectious diseases Cholera traveled along the newly made routes of transportation, becoming America’s first national epidemic The inability of physicians to come up with an explanation or cure created widespread mistrust of the medical profession. Disease outbreaks encouraged the establishment of municipal health boards, but public health remained a relatively low priority during the 19th century

17. Anesthetics • Ether introduced in 1890s as the first safe and reliable anesthetic • This made longer operations possible and encouraged surgeons to take greater care and work with better precision • Doctors still did not understand the importance of antiseptic hands and disinfecting instruments, which partially offset the benefits of anesthesia • Operations remained as dangerous as the diseases and wounds that they were meant to heal.

18. Before this era, newspapers were supported by political parties wanting their news circulated. They did not have to be popular in order to make money, so they were very short and boring to many common people. • Improvements in printing technology made it much cheaper to produce newspapers and the penny press was born. The stories in the penny press changed from a boring bulletin board style to gripping stories about rape, murder, political scandal, and more as papers fought for circulation. • This revolutionized the “news” to a style more in common with modern journalism - reporting in a “human interest” style designed to capture peoples’ attention rather than just stating the facts straight. Mass Media : Newspapers

19. Early newspapers were heavy on advertisements - the revenue source -rather than popular circulation. The NY Sun - one of America’s 1st mass circulation newspapers

20. Theater, baby! • The 19th century saw a significant increase in the popularity of theater, attracting all classes and ages • Theater audiences were notoriously rowdy, showing their feelings by whistling, hooting, and throwing potatoes and garbage at the stage • The public displayed as much interest in the actors as they did in the plays, in fact, feuds between characters led to fights among fans • A feud between leading American actor Edwin Forrest (above left) and popular British actor William Macready (below left) ended in a riot at New York City’s Astor Place and left 20 people dead

21. Minstrel Shows • Originated in the 1840’s in Northern cities • The shows were performed by white men in • Blackface, or black makeup, and costume • Shows included dancing, songs, comic skits, • and variety acts

22. The Effects of Minstrel Shows • The shows encouraged stereotypes and prejudice against blacks • Demonstrated blacks as stupid, clumsy, and overly enthusiastic in their music

23. The Effects of Minstrel Shows • The shows depicted blacks in several different roles • Docile slaves • Free urban blacks who ruined society • Provocative mulatto wenches • Black soldiers • These characters increased hatred toward blacks and soon whites saw real African-Americans only in these roles

24. Roots of the American Renaissance: Development of an American style of art Two major causes: • Economic: Transportation Revolution and advances in printing technology reduced prices and increased market for books, especially fiction. • Philosophical: Romanticism, a focus on revealing the longings of one’s soul through works of literature.

25. Popular Fiction: Price Changes, and the Effect on the Masses • Before the 1830s, books could cost upwards of $30 or more. • New printing technologies dropped the average cost of a novel to 7 cents, allowing the working class people to read and become better educated.

26. Growth of Popular Literature • Romanticism: a new philosophical system, stated that literature should reflect the inner longings of the author’s soul (subjective and individualistic). • Romanticism challenged the earlier 18th century school known as classicism, which proposed that standards of beauty were objective and universal.

27. Democratization of Literature • Classical literature was elitist: • written for the educated, upper-class minority. • Written to share ideas, not for profit. • Romanticism turned literature into a mass market: • Romantic fiction did not require knowledge of ancient Greek or Roman History • Appeal to emotion widened popular audience • Women were a new audience, as well as, increasingly, predominant authors: • E.g., Uncle Tom’s Cabin, written by Harriet Beecher Stowe

28. James Fenimore Cooper: With the use of his popular character Natty Bumppo, Cooper was one of the first American authors to develop a distinctly American literature as a model for future writers. The New American Literature:James Fenimore

29. Ralph Waldo Emerson: Leader of the transcendentalist movement. Emerson rejected the primacy of education and reason in seeking truth. Asserted that every individual is capable of knowing God, truth, and beauty by following his feelings. Asserted that America could produce its own uniquely American art and literature without European influence. The New American Literature:Ralph Waldo Emerson & Transcendentalism

30. His philosophy of nonviolent resistance influenced many future political leaders. He refused unfair government policies and chose to go to jail instead. The New American LiteratureHenry David Thoreau “I became convinced that noncooperation with evil is as much a moral obligation as is cooperation with good. No other person has been more eloquent and passionate in getting this idea across than Henry David Thoreau. As a result of his writings and personal witness, we are the heirs of a legacy of creative protest.” Martin Luther King, Jr.

31. One of the leaders of the transcendentalism movement Combined transcendentalism with feminism in her book Women and the Nineteenth Century The New American Literature:Margaret Fuller

32. Celebrated the common man of America in his bold free verse poetry collection Leaves of Grass. The New American Literature:Walt Whitman

33. Hawthorne, Melville, and Poevs. Transcendentalists • Transcendentalists had an optimistic view of human nature – conflicts could be resolved if individuals followed the promptings of their better selves • In contrast, Hawthorne, Melville, and Poe had a pessimistic view of human nature – they saw individuals as bundles of conflicting forces that, even with good intentions, they might never reconcile • Their stories featured characters obsessed by pride, guilt, revenge, and moral conflict

34. Nathaniel Hawthorne

35. Herman Melville

36. Edgar Allan Poe

37. American Landscape Painting • The Hudson River school: • Based around the Hudson, but their paintings depicted many different beautiful sights from the West as well • Sought to develop a national identity in art • Wanted to promote nature due to wide-spread fear that its beauty would soon be destroyed. • Recognized that the American landscape differed immensely from the European landscape. Depicted lush, fresh, and relatively untouched landscapes

38. Schroon Mountain, Adirondacks, Thomas Cole, 1838

39. Fur Traders Descending the Missouri, George Cabel Bingham, 1848

40. Kindred Spirits, Asher Durand, 1849

41. The Course of Empire, The Savage State, Thomas Cole, 1834

42. The Course of Empire, The Arcadian or Pastoral State, Thomas Cole, 1834

43. The Course of Empire, The Consummation of Empire, Thomas Cole, 1835-36

44. The Course of Empire, Destruction, Thomas Cole, 1837

45. The Course of Empire, Desolation, Thomas Cole, 1837

46. George Catlin • Like Hudson River School, Catlin wanted to preserve a vanishing America • His goal was to paint as many Native Americans as possible - to capture their images in their “pure” and “savage” state

47. George Catlin • Catlin’s paintings depicted a highly romanticized view of Indians • Catlin and his admirers shared the belief that, although a dignified and noble population, Native Americans were doomed to extinction