Ch 9
A New Market Economy:
Stemmed from innovations in transportation and communication.
By the 18th century the colonies got drawn into the British commercial empire.
Farm families often produced more than what they needed and would bargain and trade for the things that they need
Many americans focused on solving technical problems that inhibited commerce within the country
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Roads and Steamboats:
There were many technological innovations especially in transportation
These being: steamboat, canal, railroads, and telegraph
→ lower transportation costs → easier to sell + linked farmers to national and world markets
The US gov also supported transportational development
1806 Congress authorized the construction of the National Road from Cumberland, Maryland to the Old Northwest
→ 1818 Wheeling → 1838 Illinois
Robert Dulton invented the steamboat in 1807 and innovated commerce allowing for upstream commerce
1st test Hudson River → Albany
The Erie Canal:
Erie Canal: Completed in 1825 allowed flow from New York to the Great Lakes
Led to more farmers settling along the canal from New England
The canal would boosts New York's economy heavily
Other states wanting in with the profits quickly tried to develop transportation systems to rival New Yorks taking out loans
Some states borrowed so much that they went bankrupt when economic depression happened in 1937
More than 3k miles of canals had been built
Network linking the atlantic states with ohio and mississippi valleys
Railroads and the Telegraph:
Railroads were also very important to the growth of the Americas.
Increased mining for coal and iron
Work in Baltimore and Ohio had the ast commercial railroad that stretched 30k miles > rest of the world combine
Telegraph was invented in 1830s by F. B. Morse
Put into operation in 1844
Within 16 years 50k of telegraph wires had been installed
Helped business like newspaper due to quicker flow of information
Rise of the West:
Improvement in transport and communication was able to make the West rise up as a power
1790-1840 4.5m people crossed the Appalachian > pop during Washington
Most took place after war of 1812
After the war in 1815 they had new states
Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, AAlabama, Mississippi, and Maine
Westward expansion was usually in large groups to make life easier
Farmers and slaves South → Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas
Farm Families Upper South → Southern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois
⅓ pop New England → Upper Northeast, northern ohio, indiana, illinois, michigan, and wisconsin
“Squatters” Migrants who set up farms on unoccupied land without a clear legal title
Land was purchased from gov for 1.25 per acre paid in cash or by credit with land speculators
Americans rushed to claim lands owned by others
With to many americans just expanding the SPanish sold Florida to the americas in 1819
1840 gov has sold 43m acres of land to settlers and companies with a pop of <7m pass the Appalachians
1810-1830 Ohio pop 231k → 900k : 1850 → 2m
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An international Borderland:
Southern states were more closely aligned compared to their northern counterparts
Until 1850s farmers from the south of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois were more likely to ship their goods south than north
The Cotton Kingdom:
The Cotton Kingdom came to rise due to the massive demand for cotton for factories to produce textiles
The invention of the cotton gin(Eli Whitney) revitalized the cotton growing industry in the South → resurgence of slave labor
The invention of the cotton gin made it easier to remove the thorns and seed from cotton
As the Americas expanded its territory it encouraged farmers to expand into taken territory
However smaller farmers were confined to hill country
The ban on importation of slaves in 1808 → massive domestic slave trade revitalised
The Slave trade became a well organized business.
They had firms acquiring slaves in Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina
1m slaves forced to move from older slave states to the Lower South between 1800 - 1860
Destruction of many african family ties
US 1793 produces 5m lbs of cotton → Whitney cotton gin 1820 170m lbs
Market Society:
The south became a agricultural district moving towards a more agrarian society
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Commercial Farmers:
The North changed to more manufacturing cities abound by a web of transportation and credit to eastern centers of commerce and banking.
Farmers got drawn into this economy increasingly concentrating on growing crops and raising livestock for sale.
Growth of Cities:
Porkopolis(Cincinnati): was a slaughter house where hundreds of thousands of pigs were butchered year and would be shipped to eastern consumers
1830 chicago grew due to the rise of transportation from a small town to a massive city
Rural areas saw dramatic changes with the rise of transportation
Many took advantage starting businesses and started several businesses practices as wages fell
The Factory System:
In some industries factories surpassed the normal means of production quite easily
Slater rebuilt a cotton jenny from memory by observing the British
(outwork system)Initially the fabric produced by factories would be sent to traditional sewers to make clothes with the fabric
The Embargo of 1807 and war of 1812 led to the rise of factories 1st large scale factory was established in 1814 at Waltham by a group of merchants and 1820 they started their own factory town
Most early factory were built along the river as a means of energy however during the development of steam power factories moved towards the coast
In 1850 factories could produce a variety of goods called American system of manufactures
The “Mill Girls”:
Some factories employed entire families
New england textile mills relied on women and child labor
Most of employed were unmarried women and in order to convince people to give up their daughters to work factories set up boarding houses
Mill girls: were women who worked in factories
Often complained about low wages and long hrs
Typically remained in factories
The Growth of Immigration:
Between 1790-1830 immigrants heavily contributed to the growth of the americas providing more population and an able workforce
90% headed to the South
1860 of the 814k resident in NY more than 384k were residents
Modernization led to pushing out farmers and traditional craftsmen
Majority of immigrants were Irishmen fleeing from the potato famine
Many of these immigrants took the hard and unwanted jobs
Irish helped build railroads, dug canals, and worked as common laborers, servants, longshoremen, and factory operators
⅘ of the irish immigrant remained in the Northeast
Germans settled in the east and were usually settled in tightnit societies. But were often known for their skilled craftsmanship
40k Scandinavians settled in farms in the old Northwest
The Rise of Nativism:
Even though the US provided refuge for immigrants it also always lead to suspicions and fear from the citizens
Archbishop John Hughes took an aggressive stance on converting people Protestants to Catholicism going after catholic parents and pushing for the government to pay for catholic schools
BC of the Catholic church many questioned the American identity and many protestants feared the catholic church was trying to take over America
Nativists: Where americans who were suspicious and worried about the influx of migrants
Often blamed immigrants on their problems and crimes
And that they didn’t care about america
The Transformation of Law:
The government made many laws to encourage entrepreneurship in the market revolution
Shield them from local govs
Dartmouth College v. Woodward: John Marshall's supreme court defined corporate charters issued by the state legislature as contracts, which future lawmakers could not alter or rescind.
Gibbon v. Ogden: Court struck down a monopoly the New York legislature had granted for steamboat navigation.
1837 Roger B. Taney ruled that Massachusetts legislature did not infringe the charter of an existing company that had constructed a bridge over Charles River when it empowered a second company to build a competing bridge
The Free Individual:
1830 market rec and westward expansion had produced a bunch of european tourists
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The West and Freedom:
Manifest destiny: Was a belief from John L. O'Sullivan that America was destined by God to expand and take over all of North America
Due to high prices and little land in older states many saw the west as very appealing and was thought as “the last home of the freeborn American”
The Transcendentalists:
American freedom seen as absence of restraints on self-directed individuals seeking economic and personal advancements
Ralph Waldo Emerson said that freedom was an open-ended process of self-realization by which individuals could remake themselves.
Transcendentalists: New England intellectuals who insisted on the primary of individual judgment over existing traditions and institutions
Henry David Thoreau called for individual self-reliance
Thoreau pushed for the idea of living your own life and pursuing your own career
Thoreau walked the walk and lived 2 years in a cabin in the woods alone
The Second Great Awakening:
Second Great Awakening: addenda religious underpinning to the celebration of personal self-improvement, self-reliance, and self-determination.
Reverend Charles Grandison Finney held religious meetings which help arise the attention towards religion within 1820s and 1830s
Talked about hell and how to convert in towards salvation
Practices of religion grew in the number of members and ministers
Preachers talked how men is a free creature to go down whatever path they want
The Awakening’s Impact
Focussed on spiritual judgment and how salvation is deemed through good deeds
Revivalists ministers took advantage of this time to spread the message and how it resonated within the market values
Evangelical at the times were just “cheerleaders” chasing off people’s boo boo sins
Revivalists took advantage of the market revolution and resonated with the market as some sort of item that caught the attention of people as a result converting them to religion
Evangelical saw Finney’s converts to be a controlled individualism
The Emergence of Mormonism
Mormonism
aka Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints
Hoped to create a Kingdom of God on earth
Founded in 1820s by Joseph Smith
Farmer in upstate New York
Experienced religious visions
Allegedly led by an angel to a set golden plates
Translated plates and published in The Book of Mormon
Book talks about three families who move from Middle East to North America and became Native Americans
Includes Jesus Christ of course
Emerged from Second Great Awakening
POLYGAMY LES GO
Smith married at least 30 women
Forced out of New York, Ohio, and Missouri
Joseph Smith killed in Illinois and replaced with Brigham Young
Young leads Mormons to Salt Lake City, Utah
Liberty and Prosperity
“Self-made man”
Self-explanatory term
Market Revolution enriched numerous farmer bankers, merchants, industrialists, and planters
New middle class
“An army of clerks, accountants, and other office employees who staffed businessmen in Boston, New York, and elsewhere”
New opportunities for farmers
Domestic and foreign demand for products
Race and Opportunity
Market Rev was supposed to be amazing for everyone but racism exists
Blacks were excluded from taking advantage of the Rev
A lot were discriminated
Lived in poor conditions
Assaulted by White Mobs often; WHITE SUPREMACY!!!
Barred from public services
Unable to expand westward for economy as it was essential
Whites were children on Christmas again from the Rev
Sought to bar slave states from skill employment
Didn’t want to do business with blacks cuz monkeys
The Cult of Domesticity
Some women were undermined and some went from homes to factory due to jobs for production of goods
Some husbands were sugar daddy so women’s role for some were redefined to be protecting the tension from markets
Women is now responsible for creating a living environment for families without tensions about marketing or business related situations
Cult of Domesticity- 19th century ideology of “virtue” and “modesty” as the quantities for proper motherhood
No more doing the deed for women and less babies created
Women were trapped inside house, men were just normal dudes
Women and Work
Women had no representation and sorts of freedom to have a role in daily life
Women who worked were domestic servants, factory workers, and seamstress
Middle Class women were spoiled with a sugar daddy as they conducted business in offices, shops, and factories
Large Class women are just basking with their husbands working as lawyers, factory owners, and doctors (bigger sugar daddies)
Women was only mentioned to degrade men during capitalism but that’s it
Family Wage- idea of how male workers should earn enough money to provide for their families
Should occur amongst all classes
The Early Labor Movement
Market Revolution was liked and disliked by some as it wasn’t focussing on the public good
Market Rev was seen as a loss of freedom
War of 1812 - 1840 saw an economic depression 1837 shucks
Economic transformations created a larger gap between poor and rich
Employment for jobs were unstable and cause a rollercoaster of jobs working or failure
In Massachusetts with sugar daddies or mommies, richest 5% owned half the wealth
Workingmen Parties created by skilled craftsman (1820)
Mobilize lower-class support
Press for free education
End imprisonment for debt
Union organization spread and strikes become more common and prices go up
The “Liberty of Living”
Workers started to protest on older ideas of freedom related to economy
New York tailors planned to seek to protest for higher wages but convicted
Mill Women of Lowell walked off job to protest reduction in wages
“Daughters of Free men” banners when rent were raised
I’ll finish dww