Antebellum Economic Developments

I. Productivity Factors Behind the

“Industrial Revolution” and the

“Market Revolution”

A) Abundant Natural Resources

Lumber

B) Technological Innovations

Eli Whitney

CottonGin

&

InterchangeableParts

Robert Fulton & the Steamboat

Ex: John Deere & the Steel Plow

Ex: Cyrus McCormick & the Mechanical Reaper

Ex: Samuel Slater & the Factory System

Ex: Samuel Morse &

the Telegraph

C) Transportation Developments

Rivers,Canals

&Turnpikes

Main TransportArteries

Before 1850

Railroads

Begins

To

Dominate

Transport

By 1860

D) Abundant (Cheap) Labor

E) GovernmentFinancial & Political Support

For Economic Growth

• Easy Credit (State Banks & B.U.S.)• Protective Tariffs

• “Common Wealth” Laws (ex: Limited Liability & Eminent Domain)

• “Laissez-Faire” Labor Regulation

II. The Industrial & Market Revolutions

Increase Political Sectionalism

New England Textile Mill

“King Cotton” in the South

Foodstuffs in the West

“Regional Specialization”

Leads to

“ComparativeAdvantage”

III. Social Impactsof Economic

Changes

Urbanization

mainly in

the

North

“Outwork System”

Replaced by

“Factory System”

&

“Division ofLabor”

American Urbanization Example:

Lowell, Mass.“Model” Factory Town??

Increase in Child & Female Labor

Growing Inequality Leads to:“Wage Slaves”

Loss of Individual Craftsmanship

JourneymenArtisans

Lose StatusDespite

Unionization

Efforts

“Labor Theory of Value”

Loses to the efficiency

of the

Factory System

Nativism Grows as immigrants come seeking jobs and face backlash

ex: “Know Nothing” Party

Anti-Catholic Cartoon