Chapter 14: Forging the National Economy (1790-1860)

1. Chapter 14: Forging the National Economy (1790-1860)

2. The Westward Movement • US marched quickly toward west • Pioneer life is very hard w/ isolation, disease & loneliness • Frontier people were individualistic, superstitious & ill-informed because new information was slow to reach them

3. Shaping the Western Landscape • Westward movement molded environment • Tobacco exhausted land & moved on, but “Kentucky blue grass” thrived • Ecological imperialism • Trapped beavers, sea otters, and Bison to manufacture for East

4. Shaping the Western Landscape • Spirit of nationalism led to appreciation of American wilderness • Catlin pushed for national park & achieved it with Yellowstone in 1872

5. The March of the Millions • Mid-1800s, pop cont’d to double every 25 years • 1860-orginial 13 states now has 33 states; pop 4th in the world (Russ, Fra, Austria) • Urban growth cont’d explosively • 1790-only New York & Philadelphia had >20,000 people, but 1860, 43 had • Brought bad sanitation  sewage system & pipe-in water

6. High birthrate had accounted for pop growth, but near 1850s, millions of Irish, German came • A surplus pop. in Euro but not all came to US 25/60 million • Appealing of US (land, freedom from church, aristocracy, 3 meat meals a day) • Intro of transoceanic steamship (reduce traveling to 12 days, death rate high not as bad)

7. The Emerald Isle Moves West(1830s-1960s-2 million) • Irish potato famine in mid-1840s led to death of 2 million & many flee to US • Illiterate, discriminated • Hated by Protestants because they were Catholic and it was feared that the Powerful Church may get a foot hold in America • Hated competition w/ blacks for job • Ancient Order of Hibernians (serve to aid Irish)

8. The Emerald Isle Moves West (1830s-1960s-2 million) • Because of rules of “enfranchisement” (granting voting citizenship) they slowly gain power • Gradual property owning (grand success), children educated. • Attracted to politics, filled police dept. • Politicians tried to appeal to Irish by yelling at London

9. The German Forty-Eighters • 1 million poured in bet 1830s-1860s because of crop failures (economic failures) and an autocratic government (does not take public’s opinions to mind) • Liberals such as Carl Schurz contributed to elevation of US politics • They easily assimilate and thrive in the U.S. having brought more $ than Irish and possessing better skills. Many bought land in west esp. in Wisconsin. • Votes crucial so wooed by US politicians but not as potent because they spread out • Contributed to US culture (Christmas tree); isolationism • Urged public education & freedom (enemies of slavery) • Still subject of resentment from nationalists because they are a group & brought beers to US.

10. Flare-ups of Anti-foreignism • “Nativists” prejudiced newcomers in jobs, politics, religion • Catholic became major religious group because of immigration of 1840s, 50s & set out to build catholic school

11. Flare-ups of Antiforeignism • Nativists feared that Catholicism would build on Protestantism (popish idols) so formed “Order of star-spangled Banner” • Met in secrecy-“Know-Nothing” party • Fought for restriction on immigration, naturalization & deportation of alien paupers • Wrote fiction books about corruption of churches • Mass violence, ex. Philadelphia 1844-burned churches, schools, people killed • Made America pluralistic society w/ diversity • No longer hated because they were crucial to economic expansion & more availability of jobs

12. The March of Mechanization • Industrial revolution spread to US & US destined to be an industrial giant because: • Land was cheap, labor available, $ for investment plentiful, raw available BUT: We Lacked consumer for factory-scale manufacturing • British long-established factory was our major competition • Kept textile to own monopoly (forbade travel of crafts men & export of machine) • US remained very rural to farming

13. Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine • Samuel Slater – “Father of the Factory System” • Learned machinery when working in British Factory escaped to US, aided by Moses Brown build 1st cotton thread spinner in US (1791) • Eli Whitney built a cotton gin (50 times more effective than hand picking cotton) • Cotton economy now profitable, saved the South to King Cotton • South flourished & expanded cotton kingdom toward west • Northern factories manufactured, esp. New England (w/ poor soil, dense labor, access to sea, river for water power) • West produced the food to feed the people in the northeaster factories.

15. Marvels in Manufacturing • Embargo of war of 1812 encouraged home manufacture • With peace of Ghent, British poured in surplus in cheap $, forcing close of American factories • Congress passed Tariff of 1816 to protect US economy • Eli Whitney introduced machine made replaceable parts (on muskets-1798) universal in manufacturing by1850 • Base of assembly line (flourished North); cotton gin flourished south • England will be the #1 purchaser of American Grown Cotton

16. Marvels in Manufacturing • Elias Howe & Issac Singer (1846) made sewing machine (foundation of clothing industry) and the textile mills (cloth) will be the first mass industry to take off in America • Decade of 1860 had 28,000 patents while 1800 only had 306 • Principle of limited liability (can’t lose more than invested) stimulate economy • Laws of “free incorporation” (1848)-no need to apply for charter from legislature to start corp. • Samuel Morse’s telegraph connected business world -“What hath god wrought?”…..the first message typed from Washington to Baltimore-by Morse.

17. Workers and “Wage Slaves” • Factory system led to impersonal relations • Benefit went to factory owner, labors were long, wages low, meals bad, no union • Child labor heavy

18. Adult working condition improved in 1820s & 30s w/ mass vote to workers • 10 hour day, higher $, tolerable condition, public education, ban of imprisonment for debt • 1840s president Van Buren made 10 hour day for Federal Workers • Many struck but lost because employers import more workers (so hated immigrants) • Unions formed in 1830s but hit by panic of 1837 • Case of Commonwealth vs. Hunt in Supreme court of MA (1842) • Legalized union on peaceful & honorable protest

19. Women and the Economy • Women were toiled in factory under bad conditions • Opportunities rare & women mainly in nursing, domestic service, teaching • Women usually worked before marriage, after marriage they were house wives (made more decisions in family)

20. Women and the Economy • Arrange marriages died down; marriage w/ love tied family closer • Family grew smaller (avg. 6); fertility rate dropped sharply “domestic feminism” • Child-centered w/ less children & discipline not physically

21. Western Farmers Reap a Revolution in the Fields • Trans-Allegheny region (Ohio-Indiana-Illinois) became nation’s breadbasket • Planted corn & raised hogs (known as “porkopolis” of the west” • Inventions that boomed agriculture • John Deere -steel plow that cut through hard soil & can be pulled by horses • Cyrus McCormick -mechanical mower-reaper • Led to large-scale production & cash crops • Produced more than south; product flow N to S in rivers, not E & W-needed transportation rev,

22. Highways and Steamboats • Improvements in transportation needed for raw material transport • Lancaster turnpike-hard road from Philadelphia & Lancaster; brought economic expansion to west • Federal gov’t constructs Cumberland Road (Maryland -Illinois) (1811-1852 ) w/ state & federal $ • Robert Fulton invents steam engine (Steam boats)-1807 • Contributed to development of S & W economy

23. “Clinton’s Big Ditch” in New York • Clinton’s Big Ditch-Erie Canal between Great Lakes & Hudson River(1817-1825) • Annoys many New England farmers because it forces them to move for construction (some give up farming all together) • Impact is enormous on economy as it shortens expense & time of transportation & cities grew along the side, • Price of food reduced approx 70%

24. Pioneer Railroad Promoters • 1st railroad in US (1828); by 1860-30,000 mi. railroad tracks in US (3/4 at north) • Railroad 1st opposed bec. financier afraid to loose $ from Erie canal & also caused fire to houses • Trains were badly constructed (brakes bad) & gauge of traveling varied

25. The Transport Web Binds the Union • Steamboat allowed reverse transport of S to E to bind them together • New York became the Queen port of the country goods distributed • Principle of divided labor-each region specialize in own economic activity • Transformed the home: no longer the center of industry now a restful place to tend to the Family

26. Wealth and Poverty • The industrial revolution widens the gap bet. rich & poor • Unskilled workers were “drifters” who went from town to town for jobs • (1/2 of industrial pop) -forgotten • Social mobility existed but not in proportion, rags-to-riches were rare • Standard of living did raise, wage rose too (helped diffuse potential class conflict)

27. Cables, Clippers, and Pony Riders • Cotton accounted for ½ of exports • After repeal of Corn Law of 1846, wheat became imp role in trade w/ Eng. • American imported more than exported (substantial debt to foreign creditors) • 1858-Cyrus Field laid Cable between US & Euro (but died in 3 weeks); better one in 1866 • Golden age of naval commerce came in 1840s, 50s • Mckay builds clipper ships (fast, long) • Tea trade w/ British flourishes & carried many to CA • Crushed by British’s iron tramp steamers • Speedy communication-roads from Missouri to CA, Pony Express