Causes of the Market Economy

Market Economy - free economy

• Increase of population by a higher birth rate and immigration

• (Immigration was not a key factor, high birth rate was)

• Transportation revolution

• Increase in capitalism

• Regional specialization

• American System, promoted more integration in economy

  • As well as the global economy, becoming more interconnected as well

• A growing demand and employment in factory jobs

• Increased urban migration

• An agricultural shift away from subsistence farming (for self-sufficiency) towards commercial farming (for profits)

• These were advancements made to society, making a more efficient economy.

• The Lowell System made women work as well so that they had an excuse to pay low wages to them, therefore not creating bigger issues regarding money

Growth of American cities

American cities like New York, Chicago, and New Orleans boomed because of a higher birth rate and increased immigration.

New York - A metropolis

Chicago - “Hog of the World”

Effects:

• Rats, bad sewage, improper garbage disposal, just bad stuff

  • Boston pioneered a sewer system

  • New York pioneered water supply and got rid of disease-carrying mosquitos

Events in Ireland

• Irish potato famine - The irish migrated to the United States as a result of the dying and rotting potatoes in their land. Because of the lack of food from this potato famine, Irish began migrating to America to find more resources and to stay alive.

• Various political failures in Europe -

Experience of Irish Immigrants

• Settled in cities like Boston

• Did hard labor for very low wages

• Suffered from prejudice (Preconceived opinions not based on reason or actual experience).

  • “Native” Americans thought they were stealing jobs

  • Many were catholic and faced anti-catholic hate

• Politically important support for the democratic party

  • Tammammy Hall - NY

• Did not receive good treatment

• Forced to fend for themselves

• Remained in low-skill occupations for very little pay

• Improved by acquiring small properties

• Reaped patronage awards as they got public office

Anti-Immigrant organizations

• Know Nothing Party - Group of nativists who advocated for immigration restrictions, deportation, etc

• Nativists - Thought that immigrants took jobs from Americans, would outvote the “native” Americans and ruin the American culture

Innovators and the innovations

Regional Specialization

As the market economy developed, different regions specialized in different industries.

• North - industrial revolution

• West - agriculture (wheat, livestock), the nation’s bread basket

• South - cash crops/global economy, all about cotton

Regional specialization overshadowed national needs.

Impact of the Cotton Gin

• Increased the need for slaves

  • If they have that tool, slaves can work faster so more slaves = rapid increase in cotton production w/ the tool

• Northern factories purchased the produced cotton

• Planters cleared more and more land for cotton

• Cotton Kingdom pushed westward

• Yankee machines put out avalanches of textiles

• America's Industrial Revolution first blossomed in cotton textiles

Mass Production

Mass production was possible due to factories. One such factory was the Lowell Factory System in Lowell, Massachusetts.

• Worked by New England women and immigrants for low wages, long hours, and horrible conditions

  • Unsanitary buildings, workers forbidden to form unions (see commonwealth v hunt)

• Used an assembly line

  • “Wage slaves”

Commonwealth v. Hunt

Allowed labor unions in Massachusetts, but no major labor union movement manifested until later.

Cult of domesticity

• Changing family dynamics as women and children leave the home to work in factories, the home was a special place for women that was their “realm”

  • The cult of domesticity is the glorification that women are meant to work in the home and tend to the children

• Further instigated by a child-centralized family unit as the birth rate increased

Effects:

• Families become close-knit and affectionate

• Emotional refuge in the face of capitalization

• Families smaller (fertility rate dropped)

Transportation technology and their impact on specific regions

The coastal south had less impact on specific regions.

• STEAMBOAT - made transportation costs cheaper

• Turnpikes like the CUMBERLAND ROAD -

• ERIE CANAL - linked great lakes with the hudson river, a canal boom manifested in the 1820’s-30’s

  • Linked northeast and midwest

• RAILROADS - ended up being more fast and reliable than a canal

  • Led to an explosion of construction technology in the north

  • Faced opposition from canal builders

Impacts:

• A continental economy emerging with extended markets

• A controversy on who should pay for transportation revolution: federal or state governments?

Characteristics of the Second Great Awakening/Reform era

• Concerned about lack of religious fervor

• Ideas of Deism and Unitarianism spread

• Wave of revivals spreading across the country

  • “Camp meetings”

  • Charles Finney

• Huge increase in numbers for methodists and baptists

  • Personal conversion rather than predestination

  • Democratic control of church affairs

  • Emotional worship

• Increase in evangelicalism in following reform movements:

  • Prison reform

  • Education reform

  • Temperance movement

  • Women’s movement

  • Anti-Slavery

• Key role of women in religion, they were majority of new church members

Deist beliefs

• Less revelation, more reliance on reason

• Less bible, more science

• Believed in god/a supreme power

• Technically kind of like transcendentalists

• Not industrialized religion

  • Ex: Jefferson

Unitarian beliefs

• Humans can achieve salvation through good works

• Humans have free will

• Spinoff of less extreme puritanism

• BELIEVE IN 1 GOD, disagreed with holy trinity

Mormon story

Joseph Smith - created the church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day saints, traveled to llinois, murdered in 1844 (said he got messages written on golden plates, book of mormon)

Brigham Young leads Smith’s followers to Utah (to the west), develops a separate community called New Zion

• Created a prosperous cooperative community

• Number of people increased as birth rate in settlements increased

Mormons’ Utah was not admitted as a state due to their controversial issues of polygamy.

Details:

• After establishing a religious oligarchy, Smith ran into issues with his non-Mormon neighbors, first in Ohio, then Missouri, then Illinois.

• He and other mormons believed that they should antagonize rank-and-file Americans, who were individualistic and dedicated to free enterprise.

• Joseph Smith also had many accusations and was reputed to have several wives.

• The falling torch was then reclaimed by a remarkable Mormon Moses named Bringham Young.

Wealthy Americans' views towards public education

Wealthy Americans started to think about public education as needed to educate the now diversified voter base.

Dorothea Dix

• Worked to reform mental health treatment

  • Traveled country to document the issues, leading to professional treatment for mentally ill

Women’s involvement in and competition with other reform movements

• Women resisted their substandard position society -- democratization did not apply to many women

• Some women are very involved in temperance+abolitionist movements

• It was mainly abt the suffrage of people

Seneca Falls Convention - 1st national meeting amongst women, “all men and women are created equal,” demanded right to vote, beginning of women’s rights movement

• The movement was overshadowed by the abolitionist movement, women must wait until 1920

Key leaders of the women’s rights movement

• Susan B. Anthony (women's rights.)

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton (luv u sm <3)

• Grimke Sisters (abolitionist movement.)

• Margaret Fuller - (women's rights activist that works along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, she traveled around the country delivering speeches in favor of women's suffrage. SUSAN B ANTHONY WANNABE DOOP???!!)

• Lucrecia Mott (also an abolitionist, grimke sisters doop !?!?!?!)

Common aspects of Utopian communities

• Strived to create a “utopian” society, move away from conventional societal expectations

  • Mormons valued communal effort

  • Brook farm was a secular society inspired by transcendentalism

  • New Harmony, tried to answer questions posed by industrialization (the inequality that it brought)

Luisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known as the author of the novel Little Women and its sequels Little Men and Jo's Boys.

• In search of autonomy, Alcott was a seamstress, governess, maid, and teacher before becoming an author

• Grew up during the transcendalist movement

Margaret Fuller

• Joined the Boston transcendalists

• Editor for the movement’s journal

• Launched series of paid seminars to encourage scholarly discussions amongst elite women

• 1845 - Published Women In The Nineteenth Century

  • Critique of gender roles, shaped the womens rights movement

• Fuller sailed to Europe and took part in the Italian revolution for a republic

• Died in a shipwreck while returning to the US

Transcendentalist influences and beliefs

• Truth “transcends” the senses

• Every person contains an inner light that can reveal the truth

Transcendentalist thinker - Ralph Waldo Emerson, stressed self reliance, wrote “the american scholar” to challenge Americans to define arts and culture

Also: Henry David Thoreau, “on the duty of civil disobedience,” and “walden” refuses to pay taxes because it was unjust, inspired people like Ghandhi and MLK

Civil Disobedience

• Civil disobedience = peaceful resistance

Henry David Thoreau published a pamphlet called “Resistance to Civil Government,” later renamed “On The Duty of Civil Disobedience”

• All men have the right to revolt against corrupt government

• In a country where so many people are enslaved, a revolt is coming

• Spread idealistic thought worldwide

  • Influenced Gandhi and MLK

Common characteristics of American historia ns

In the mid-1800s, American historians began to emerge.

• George Bancroft - Father of American History

• Predominantly New Englanders

• Usually abolitionist, looked at the south with scorn

  • Received criticism for this viewpoint

Notable People