Market Revolution

In the early Antebellum era (1800-1840), the U.S. economy grew rapidly

the South, North, and West each developed specialized regional economies that became connected to a national market economy

In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, making cotton easy to refine and very profitable

Cotton became the dominant cash crop of the Deep South (known as “King Cotton”)

The South provided 75% of the world's cotton and was the main U.S. export by 1840

Cotton led to an increase in western expansion

Cotton led to an increase in slavery in the Deep South

Only 25% of Southern whites owned any slaves; Those who did own slaves owned very few

However, most slaves lived on large plantations

Eli Whitney’s development of interchangeable parts of new textile technologies led to an Industrial Revolution in the North

In the 1790s, Samuel Slater used British industrial designs to build the first American textile factories

By 1840, Northern factories mass-produced textiles, farm equipment, and other finished goods

The growth of factories led to an increase in American cities (called urbanization)

The growth of factories created jobs and led to an increase in European immigration to the US

In the 1840s, millions of Irish and Germans immigrated to America

Immigrants worked in low-paying New England factories

Rapid immigration led to hostility and prejudice by native-born Americans called nativism

Population growth and land opportunities led to the rapid growth of the west

New technologies made large-scale farming possible

Cyrus McCormick’s mechanical reaper

John Deeres steel plow

The West became “America’s breadbasket,” where commercial farms produced wheat, corn, livestock

From 1800 to 1840, these three regional economies became connected into a national market economy

Henry Clay American System helped connect the South, North, and West

A transportation revolution created an infrastructure of roads, canals, early railroads

Many states built canals to link the East and West

The first major link between the East and West was the Erie Canal (finished in 1825)

By 1860, railroads were the dominant means of transportation in America