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

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Chapter 14 Forging the National Economy
(1790-1860)
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The Westward Movement

• US marched quickly toward west (very hard w/
  disease loneliness)
• Frontier people were individualistic,
  superstitious ill-informed

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Shaping the Western Landscape

• The westward movement molded the environment.
• Tobacco overuse had exhausted the land forcing
  settlers to move on, but Kentucky bluegrass
  thrived.
• Settlers trapped beavers, sea otters, and bison
  for fur to ship back East.

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Shaping the Western Landscape

• The spirit of nationalism led to an appreciation
  of the American wilderness.
• Artist George Catlin pushed for national parks
  and later achieved it with Yellowstone in 1872.

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The March of the Millions

• Mid-1800s, pop contd to double every 25 years
• 1860-orginial 13 states now has 33 states pop
  4th in the world (Russ, Fra, Austria)
• Urban growth explosive
• 1790-only New York Philadelphia had gt20,000
  people, but 1860, 43 had
• Brought bad sanitation ? sewage system pipe-in
  water

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The March of the Millions

• 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)

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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
• Hated competition w/ blacks for jobs
• Ancient Order of Hibernians (serve to aid Irish)

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The Emerald Isle Moves West (1830s-1960s-2
million)

• Gradual property owning (grand success), children
  educated.
• Attracted to politics, filled police dept.
• Politicians tried to appeal to Irish by yelling
  at London

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The German Forty-Eighters

• 1 million poured in bet 1830s-1860s
• Liberals such as Carl Schurz contributed to
  elevation of US politics
• Had more than Irish so bought land in west esp.
  in Wisconsin
• Votes crucial so wooed by US politicians but not
  as potent
• Contributed to US culture (Christmas tree)
  isolationism
• Urged public education freedom (enemies of
  slavery)
• Resentment from Old because of group aloof
  brought beers to US

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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

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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

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The March of Mechanization

• Industrial revolution spread to US US destined
  to be an industrial giant bec.
• Land was cheap, labor scare, for investment
  plentiful, raw materials not discovered
• Lacked consumer for factory-scale manufacturing
• British long-estab. factory was competition
• Kept textile to own monopoly (forbade travel of
  crafts men export of machine)
• US remained very rural to farming

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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)

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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

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Marvels in Manufacturing

• Elias Howe Issac Singer (1846) made sewing
  machine (foundation of clothing industry)
• Decade of 1860 had 28,000 patents while 1800 only
  had 306
• Principle of limited liability stimulate seconomy
• Laws of free incorporation (1848)-no need to
  apply for charter from legislature to start corp.

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Marvels in Manufacturing

• Born 1791 in Masachusetts
• Professional artist
• In 1832 gets idea on board a ship
• 1842 demonstrates for Congress
• Samuel Morses telegraph connected business world
  -What hath god wrought?..the first message
  typed from Washington to Baltimore-by Morse.

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Workers and Wage Slaves

• Factory system led to impersonal relations
• Spindle cities, slums
• Benefit went to factory owner, labors were long
  hours, wages low, bad meals, no union
• Child labor 1820 ½ workers are under 10.
• 1836 First state child labor law Massachusetts
  requires children under 15 working in factories
  to attend school at least 3 months/year

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Unions

• 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)
• Only 24 recorded strikes before 1835
• Unions formed in 1830s but hit by panic of 1837
• Case of Commonwealth vs. Hunt in Supreme court of
  MA (1842)
• Before labor unions which attempted to 'close' or
  create a unionized workplace could be charged
  with conspiracy. However, in March 1842, Chief
  Justice Lemuel Shaw ruled that unions were legal
  organizations and had the right to organize a
  strike.
• Legalized union on peaceful honorable protest
• Jacksonion democracy (voting) does help worker

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Women and the Economy

• Factory girls toiled in factory under bad
  conditions
• 10 outside the home in 1850 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)
• Arranged marriages died down
• Family grew smaller (avg. 6) fertility rate
  dropped sharply

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Western Farmers Reap a Revolution in the Fields

• Trans-Allegheny region (Ohio-Indiana-Illinois)
  became nations breadbasket
• Planted corn raised hogs
• Chicago known as porkopolis of the west
• Inventions that boomed agriculture
• John Deere -1837 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

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Highways and Steamboats

• Improvements in transportation needed for raw
  material transport
• Lancaster turnpike-hard road from Philadelphia
  Lancaster brought economic expansion to west
• Federal govt constructs Cumberland Road
  (Maryland -Illinois) (1811-1852 ) w/ state
  federal money
• Robert Fulton invents steam engine (Steam
  boats)-1807
• He also designed a new type of steam warship. In
  1800 he was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte to
  design Nautilus, which was the first practical
  submarine in history.
• Contributed to development of South Wests
  economy

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Clintons Big Ditch in New York

• Clintons Big Ditch-Erie Canal between Great
  Lakes Hudson River(1817-1825)
• Famous in song and story. Proposed in 1808 and
  completed in 1825, the canal links the waters of
  Lake Erie in the west to the Hudson River in the
  east. An engineering marvel when it was built,
  some called it the Eighth Wonder of the World.
• Shortens expense time of transportation
  cities grew along the side,
• Price of food reduced

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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

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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

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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)

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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 Britishs iron tramp steamers
• Speedy communication-roads from Missouri to CA,
  Pony Express