Chapter 10

1. Chapter 10

2. The Changing American Population • Most American farmers were part of a national and increasingly international market economy • The northeast and the northwest were developing a complex, modern economy and society which was increasingly dominated by large cities.

3. The Changing American Population • Southern agriculture, particularly cotton farming, flourished as never before in response to the growing demand from textile mills in New England. The south was resisting strong economic development and defending their dependence on slavery.

4. The Changing American Population • The United States needed a population that was large enough to grow its own food and produce a work force. Transportation and communications system capable of sustaining commerce over a large geographical area. • From 1820-1840 the American population increased, became centered in the Northeastern and Northwestern industrial centers, provided the labor force for the factory system

5. The Changing American Population • In 1790 the American population stood at only 4 million. By 1820 it had reached 20 million. By 1840 it equaled 17 million. The United States was growing much more rapidly than Britain or Europe. • Population increasing, migrating westward, moving to towns and cities.

6. The Changing American Population • Improvements in public health (the number of epidemics {such as the great cholera plague of 1832} which had periodically decimated urban and even rural populations), • High birth rate- rapidly revived beginning in the 1830’s. The total population nearly 13 million, the foreign population was less that 500,000

7. The Changing American Population • Immigration boom- By 1832 the immigration climbed to 60,000 and nearly 80,000 in 1837. Increased by reduced transportation costs and increasing economic opportunities. The deteriorating conditions in Europe also helped.

8. The Changing American Population Population Growth 1620-1860 Immigration 1820-1840

9. The Changing American Population • Influx of Irish Catholics- The increased immigration brought a wave of immigrants from Southern Ireland. Marked the beginning of a tremendous influx of Irish Catholics that was to continue through the three decades before the civil war.

10. The Changing American Population • The agricultural regions in New England and other areas grew less profitable, more and more people picked up stakes and moved- some to promising agricultural regions in the west, but more to the eastern cities.

11. The Changing American Population • New York became largest city as a result of natural harbor and Erie Canal, which gave unrivaled access to the interior, liberal state laws • By 1860: 26% of the population of free states was living in towns or cities • In the Northwest once small trading posts became major cities; St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati

12. The Changing American Population American Population Density, 1820 American Population Density, 1860

13. The Changing American Population • Immigrants came from England, France, Italy, Scandinavia, Poland and Holland, but most came from Ireland and Germany • In Germany economic dislocations of the industrial revolution caused widespread poverty, the collapse of liberal revolutions led to social unrest • In Ireland the oppressiveness and unpopularity of the English drove people to emigrate, Potato Famine (1845 – 1849) one million people died of starvation and disease and led to immigration to the US

14. The Changing American Population Sources of Immigration 1820-40 Sources of Immigration 1840-60

15. The Changing American Population • Native American Association was formed to combat the "alien menace", agitating against immigration in 1837, held a convention in Philadelphia

16. The Changing American Population • Supreme Order of the Star-Spangled Banner endorsed a list of demands, included banning Catholics from holding public office, restrictive naturalization laws, literacy test for voting- secret password "I know nothing" • The Know Nothings created the new political organization known as the American Party, contributed to the collapse of the existing party system, creation of new national political alignments

17. The Changing American Population • The Irish settled in eastern cities, provided unskilled labor, many young single women came over and found jobs in factories • The Germans moved on to the Northwest, became farmers or went into business in the western towns, they had more money, came as members of family groups or as single men

18. The Changing American Population • American views of immigration - welcome supply of cheap labor, move into regions to expand population and market for land, resulted in an increase in political influence of western states

19. The Changing American Population • Nativism – a defense of native born people and hostility to the foreign-born, thought they were inferior, newcomers were socially unfit to live alongside people of older stock, were stealing jobs from native labor force, Whigs outraged because so many new comers were voting Democratic, feared they would bring new radical ideas into national life

20. Transportation, Communication and Technology • In the 1820's and 30's America began to turn to other ways of transportation other than roads, steamboats grew in number and improved in design. Steamboats were used to transport corn and wheat of northwestern farmers and the cotton and tobacco of the south to New Orleans where oceangoing ships took the cargoes to eastern ports.

21. Transportation, Communication and Technology • Farmers would pay less to transport their goods, and consumers would pay less to consume them if they could ship them directly eastward to market, rather than by the roundabout river-sea route, New York first to finance canals

22. Transportation, Communication and Technology • A team of 4 horses could haul on and a half tons of goods eighteen miles a day on the turnpikes. The canals could transport the goods much faster. Canals connected the eastern markets with the western goods. • The job of digging the canals fell to the states. De Witt Clinton, a late supporter to the cause became governor in 1817. Digging in New York began in 1817.

23. Transportation, Communication and Technology • The Erie Canal was the greatest construction project Americans had ever undertaken, within 7 years tolls had repaid its entire cost of construction, gave NY direct access to Chicago and growing markets of the west. It went through 350 miles of the high ridges of the Appalachian Mountains

24. The Erie Canal Changes America

25. Transportation, Communication and Technology • The canal gave New York direct access to Chicago and the growing markets of the west. The system of water transportation grew when the Erie Canal was connected to the Ohio River.

26. Transportation, Communication and Technology • Some states didn’t bother with canals; Boston made no attempt to connect to the west. Baltimore and Philadelphia had the challenge of the Allegheny Mountains; efforts were made with discouraging results. • Resulted in increased white settlement in the Northwest, made it easier for migrants to make the westward journey and ship goods back to market

27. Transportation, Communication and Technology Canals in the NE, 1823-1860

28. Transportation, Communication and Technology • Railroads took a secondary role in the 1920’s and 30’s. Railroad pioneers laid the groundwork in those years for the great surge of railroad building in mid century. • Eventually railroads became the primary transportation system for the U.S. and remained so until 1956 (Interstate Highways); railroads were even reaching west of the Mississippi

29. Transportation, Communication and Technology • Competition with the canals- The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company blocked the advance of the B&O Railroad through the narrow gorge of the upper Potomac. New York prohibited railroads from hauling freight in competition with the Erie Canal.

30. Transportation, Communication and Technology • Trunk Lines were a consolidation of short lines into longer lines, four major railroad trunk lines had crossed the Appalachian barrier to connect the Northeast with the Northwest and Chicago became the rail center of the west • The results of these Trunk Lines lessened dependence of the west on the Mississippi, helped weaken further the connection between the South and Northwest, diverted traffic from the main water routes

31. Transportation, Communication and Technology • Sources of funding for these Trunk Lines were private American investors, railroad companies borrowed from abroad, local governments-in the form of loans, stock subscriptions, subsidies and donations of land for right-of way, also federal government in the form of land grants

32. Transportation, Communication and Technology • By 1853 four major railroad trunk lines had crossed the Appalachian barrier to connect the Northeast with the Northwest. New York Central and New York and Erie. The Pennsylvania railroad connected Philadelphia and Pittsburg. The Baltimore and Ohio connected Baltimore with the Ohio River

33. Transportation, Communication and Technology • By 1860, Congress had allotted over 30 million acres to 11 states to help with railroad construction Railroad Growth, 1850-1860

34. Transportation, Communication and Technology • Samuel F.B. Morse perfected the telegraph in 1844 allowing instant communication between distant cities, lines were strung along railroad tracks making the telegraph more common in the North, by 1860 most lines were part of the Western Union Telegraph Company and were being utilized by the Associated Press which was dominated by Northern newspapers that were national in scope.

35. Transportation, Communication and Technology • Transmitted from Baltimore to Washington the news of James K. Polk’s nomination for the presidency. • 1846- Richard Hoe invented the steam cylinder rotary press making it possibly to print newspapers rapidly and cheaply.

36. Transportation, Communication and Technology • In New York there were Horace Greeley’s “Tribune”, James Gordon Bennett’s “Herald” and Henry J. Raymond’s “Time.” All gave serious attention to national and international events with significant circulations beyond New York City.

37. Transportation, Communication and Technology • 1940’s and 50’s journalism helped to feed sectional discord. Most of the major magazines were in the north, reinforcing the South’s sense of subjugation. The South had a few minor newspapers with focused on local news. The combined circulation of the Tribune and the Herald exceeded that of all the daily newspapers published in the south.

38. Commerce and Industry • By the mid-1800s the U.S. had developed the beginnings of a modern capitalist economy with an advanced industrial capacity that created enormous wealth • Consumers – In cities there came to be stores that specialized in groceries, dry goods, hardware, etc, in smaller towns people depended on general stores, and rural areas barter was still common

39. Commerce and Industry • Businesses were mostly limited partnerships that were dominated by great merchant capitalists (Vanderbilt) that had sole ownership of their enterprises • Corporations which combined the resources of a large number of shareholders began to develop rapidly during the 1830’s when legal obstacles to their formation were removed

40. Commerce and Industry • States began to pass general incorporation laws under which a company could get a charter by simply paying a fee, as opposed to getting a charter through a special act of the state legislature as was previously the case, also these new incorporation laws granted limited liability to shareholders which meant that they were only responsible for their investments not the liability of the company as a whole

41. Commerce and Industry • As a result, these new corporations accumulated much larger amounts of capital and made possible much larger manufacturing a business enterprises, however there was not enough available credit to handle the needs of these growing businesses so economic instability was a fact of life

42. Commerce and Industry • The Government had alone could issue official currency (gold or silver) or paper notes backed by gold and silver. The emergence of corporations caused a demand for more money. Banks began to issue unofficial currency that circulated in the same way.

43. Commerce and Industry • The rise of the factory before the War of 1812 was the most profound development of the mid nineteenth century. • Most manufacturing took place in private households or individually operated workshops.

44. Commerce and Industry • The Factory System which brought textile manufacturing under a single roof started in New England began to spread to other geographic areas and to other areas of industry (shoes), however of the 140,000 manufacturing establishments in the U.S. in 1860, 74,000 were located in the Northeast and those factories produced 2/3 of the manufactured goods in the U.S., also of the 1.3 million factory workers in the U.S. 938,000 of them were located in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states

45. Commerce and Industry Value of Manufactured Goods (In Millions) 2000 1500 1000 500 0 1840 1850 1860

46. Commerce and Industry • The U.S. began to lead the world in the manufacturing of machine tools which would then be used to make machinery parts; the national government supported much of this research because it was used to supply the military

47. Commerce and Industry • Three important innovations came during this time period – the turret lathe (used for cutting screws and other metal parts), the universal milling machine (which produced identical milled metal parts), and the precision grinding machine (which was used in constructing sewing machines)

48. Commerce and Industry • All of these innovations were based on Eli Whitney’s idea of interchangeable parts, and enabled U.S. factories to become world leaders in the production of watch and clock making, the manufacturing of locomotives, the creation of steam engines, the making of many farm tools, and they also led to the development of newer devices such as bicycles, sewing machines, typewriters, and cash registers

49. Commerce and Industry • Changes in energy sources also allowed for this rapid industrialization, the shift from water and wood as a source of energy to the use of coal took place during this time period • Coal production (most of it around Pittsburgh) was 50,000 tons in 1820, but it increased to 14 million tons by 1860, and allowed factories to be located away from running streams and allowed industry to expand

50. Commerce and Industry • The number of patents granted in 1830 was 544, by 1850 it was 993, and by 1860 it was 4,778 • Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber in 1839 and created a major rubber industry in the U.S. by 1860