APUSH 10 - America’s Economic Revolution

The American Population, 1820-1840

With public health improving, more children could live to adulthood. This along with rising immigration caused the American population to increase. Most people were migrating to cities and moving westward.

Immigration and Urban Growth, 1840-1860

New cities emerge around the Mississippi as trade grows. The amount of immigrants from Europe severely increases from Ireland and Germany due to economic opportunity and the potato famine. Most German immigrants settle in the northwest while Irish immigrants settle in the northeast.

The Rise of Nativism

A few people welcomed the rise of immigration for economic or political gain, but others condemned it calling themselves ‘Nativists’. The Nativists were racist towards immigrants, even though they often had immigrant ancestry, and would accuse them of being uncivilized and taking jobs. The Nativists would later become called the Know-Nothings who would try to become a political party, however this does not go well for them and they don’t end up doing much.

The Canal Age

Without a practical way to move goods across land, canals began to emerge as an alternate method of travel to compete with sea travel. The biggest and most important of these was the Eerie Canal. The success this canal brought New York in becoming a powerful center of trade made other cities want their own, with little success.

The Early Railroads

Small, disorganized railroads shape throughout the country. They are able to carry passengers and cargo for short distances, however canal companies limited them in order to maintain their monopoly on transportation in their area.

The Triumph of the Rails

Railroads become much more popular and important for trade and transportation throughout the country. Chicago emerges as a center for railroads and has a lot of traffic. With Chicago being a connection to the west, and railroads lessening the reliance on the Mississippi, the south becomes less advanced as the north. The south has a lot less railroads than the north does, and this promotes even more sectionalism between the regions.

Innovations in Communications and Journalism

The invention of the telegraph allowed for fast communication throughout the country and was a quick success in spreading informations across long distances. This allowed for news to be on a national level as opposed to only local.

The Expansion of Business, 1820–1840

Larger and more specialized retail stores emerging in areas with a large population due to the new transportation methods of goods and state governments making it easier to obtain a charter. Investors are not longer viable for the losses of an entire company if they fail so more people are investing. Stores use credit because investments are often not enough, and banks are very unstable at this time with no good national currency.

The Emergence of the Factory

Before, manufacturing was done in a private household. The ability to make manufactured goods in a large quantity allowed for the economy in the northeast to benefit. Manufactured goods, mainly made in New England, nearly matched the sales of agricultural products.

Advances in Technology

The United States is becoming a leader in factory technology and is more advanced than Britain at times. Inventions by EliWhitney and Simeon North stirred these advances boosting the US economy. Coal allows for factories to be moved away from water power and replaces wood.

Innovations in Corporate Organization

Merchants switch from trade to manufacturing due to British competition, and also the economic opportunity available in manufacturing business. The already established merchant class in the northeast leads that region to becoming a prominent area for factories.

Recruiting a Native Work Force

Most people are moving to urban areas in order to get work in factories. Mainly women and children are working in factories. Conditions in most factories and mines were very poor, but there were not many other options for unmarried young women.

The Immigrant Work Force

Immigrants are willing to work for cheap, so conditions were low and nobody could do anything about it because if they complained they could be replaced. Conditions in factories deteriorated over time.

The Factory System and the Artisan Tradition

Small artisans cannot keep up with the speed and efficiency of factories. When people tried to unionize, they were met with hostile responses from most, viewing unions as illegal conspiracy.

Fighting for Control

Workers continue to try to the improve their rights and conditions. Commonwealth v. Hunt declared that unions were lawful organizations and that the strike was a lawful weapon. Nativists grow to dislike immigrants even more because when they tried to strike, immigrants would take the jobs giving them no leverage.

The Rich and the Poor

The wealth gap increases with 45% of the wealth in that hands of 10% of the population. This gap only increases as time goes on. Despite the very hard conditions for many free African Americans to sustain themselves financially, they sometimes would additionally be working to buy the freedom of relatives left behind in the south.

Social Mobility

Not a lot of class conflict occurred because the conditions of where people left were often worse than where they got to. If they were able, some people would move to the vastly available western land. White men were also able to vote which gave them a feeling of playing a significant part in their communities.

Middle-Class Life

Growth of the industrial economy fueled the growth of the middle class. Domestic wives were emerging as they could afford to stay home, as opposed to the working class where everyone had to work to provide an income. Home life also improved through the invention of the stove and also because middle class families would furnish them to differentiate themselves from the working class.

The Changing Family

The patriarchal system of the father controlling their children’s futures by controlling their inheritance of land was no longer a thing in urban settings and allowed children to leave more often than in rural areas. Birth control and abortions lead to a decline in birth rate.

Women and the “Cult of Domesticity”

Women still don’t have many rights and rely on a man in order to get legal protection. They don’t have as much access to education as men do, and are forced to be helpers for their husbands. The men would have their public sphere where they could go out and make money and women would have their private sphere where they would stay home and be a domestic mother (only in middle class+ families)

Leisure Activities

Only the wealthiest Americans got leisure time because most people had to work long hours for little money. Men would sometimes go to taverns, and women would go to another’s houses for social gatherings.

Northeastern Agriculture

Farmers in the northeast cannot compete with the richer and more plentiful soil in the northwest. Dairy farming is still popular in the northeast. Over time the industrial growth in the northeast outweighs the agriculture and the rural population continues to decline.

The Old Northwest

The northwest was primarily an agricultural region that sold their products to be processed by the northeast. Native Americans remained the most numerous inhabitants in the upper third of the Great Lakes area, as the region was not yet dominated by white people. Technological innovations like the automatic reaper, and the thresher fueled the economic development of the northwestern region.

Rural Life

Unlike in an urban setting, rural people didn’t have as much of a social life. Religion drew most farming and other small communities together. Women also would come together and share domestic tasks, but even with these small social gatherings they still were not on the pop culture level of urban areas.