Forging the National Economy 1790-1860

Chapter 14

1. Population growth• 1800 = 5.5 million to 33 million by 1861• 13 states to 33 states by 1861 • Expansion of cities

2. Flow of Immigration – 1830’s to 1860’s• Why? Potato famine and European problems

• Irish• German 48er’s

• Hated by “Nativists”

3. Transformation of American Industry• Industrial Revolution – why?

• American System• Sectionalism

• Industrial pioneers

Westward Movement

• Americans marched quickly toward west– very hard w/ disease & loneliness

• Frontier people were individualistic, superstitious & ill-informed

• Westward movement molded environment

– tobacco exhausted land – “Kentucky blue grass” thrived

5.3

mil

lion

Population Growth from 1620 to 1860

City growth

Westward expansion Growth of cities and states by

1850

The March of the Millions The March of the Millions The March of the Millions The March of the Millions

• High birthrate accounted for population growth

– Population doubling every 25 years

• Near 1850s, millions of Irish, German came

• Beginning in 1830, immigration in the US soared

Irish escape famine in their country

Causes

Millions of Germansarrived and settled in the Midwest

Settled mostly in urban areas of the Northeast

Event

U.S. experiencesHuge influxOf immigrants.

Effects

Produced feelingsOf nativism amongMany Americans

Know-Nothing PartyWas started to preventImmigrants from Holding office

Irish ImmigrationIrish Immigration• Irish Potato Famine 1845-1849• Main ports of entry – New York,

Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston• Irish were too poor to move inland and

farm so they stayed in the cities– Boston did not particularly like the Irish –

catholic, illiterate, poor – “No Irish need apply!”

• Ancient Order of Hibernians– Benevolent society to help Irish– Spawned “Molly Maguires” (miners union)

• Gradually improved and became active politically

– NY’s Tammany Hall, Irish political machine

German ImmigrationGerman Immigration

• Most Germans came due to crop failures– Germans better off than Irish, came west,

many to Wisconsin

• A few were political refugees from collapse of democratic revolutions in 1848

• German contributions include Kentucky rifle, Christmas tree, kindergarten, and abolitionists

• Some Americans were suspicious because they tried to preserve language, culture and lived in separate communities, and drank beer

Sources of Immigration,

1820-40

Sources of Immigration,

1820-40

Sources of Immigration,

1840-60

Sources of Immigration,

1840-60

Settlements of ImmigrantsSettlements of Immigrants

•Irish in Northeastern cities: New York and Boston

•Germans would settle in Midwest

Early NativismEarly Nativism• American “nativists” feared 1840s &

1850s invasion of immigrants– Took jobs, grew Roman Catholicism– Catholics built their own schools, were #1

denomination by 1850• 1849: Nativists form Order of the Star-

Spangled Banner, developed into “Know-Nothing” party

– Wanted immigration restrictions– Nativists occasionally violent, burned Boston

convent (1834) – Philadelphia Irish fought back, 13 killed in

several days of fighting (1844)

The “Know-Nothings” [The American Party]

The “Know-Nothings” [The American Party]

ß Nativists.

ß Anti-Catholics.

ß Anti-immigrants.

ß Nativists.

ß Anti-Catholics.

ß Anti-immigrants.1849 Secret Order of the

Star-Spangled Banner created in NYC.

1849 Secret Order of the Star-Spangled Banner created in NYC.

Know-Nothing Party:

“The Supreme

Order of the Star-

Spangled Banner”

Know-Nothing Party:

“The Supreme

Order of the Star-

Spangled Banner”

• A shift from goods made by hand to factory and mass production

• Technological innovations brought production from farmhouse to factories– Invented in Britain in 1750; smuggled to U.S.– Beginning of US Factory System

• US slow to embrace factory system– Scarce labor– Little capital– Superiority of British factories

Resourcefulness & Experimentation

Resourcefulness & Experimentation

Americans were willing to try Americans were willing to try

anything. anything.

They were first copiers, thenThey were first copiers, then innovators. innovators.

Americans were willing to try Americans were willing to try

anything. anything.

They were first copiers, thenThey were first copiers, then innovators. innovators.1800 1800 41 patents were 41 patents were approved.approved.

1860 1860 4,357 “ “ “4,357 “ “ “

1800 1800 41 patents were 41 patents were approved.approved.

1860 1860 4,357 “ “ “4,357 “ “ “

•Eli Whitney’s cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry.

•He is also noted for the concept of mass production and

interchangeable parts by creating dyes for pistols and rifles.

•Very important early pioneer in America’s industrial revolution.

The invention which changed

the South, cotton and slavery.

Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine

• Cotton gin invented in 1793– 50 times more effective than hand picking

• Raising cotton more profitable– South needs slavery more than ever for “King Cotton”

New England factories flourish with Southern cotton

Cotton Gin

Increased exports for the SouthPlanters became rich

Increased demand for slaves

Effects

Eli Whitney’s Gun FactoryEli Whitney’s Gun Factory

Interchangeable Parts RifleInterchangeable Parts Rifle

•1830s, Industrialization

grew throughout the North…

•Southern cotton shipped to Northern

textile mills was a good working relationship.

•Built first textile mill in 1793 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

•Born in England on June 9, 1768 and worked in British factories. •Slater came to US to make his fortune in the textile industry.

•Slatersville Mill was the largest and most modern industrial cotton mill

of its day

Samuel Slater was the "Father of the "Father of the American Factory American Factory

System."System."

Workers & Wage Slaves

Workers & Wage Slaves

• With industrial revolution, large impersonal factories surrounded by slums full of “wage slaves” developed

• Long hours, low wages, unsanitary conditions, lack of heat, etc.

– Labor unions illegal

• 1820: 1/2 of industrial workers were children under 10

Workers & Wage Slaves

Workers & Wage Slaves

• 1820s & 1830s: right to vote for laborers– Loyalty to Democratic party led to improved

conditions

– Fought for 10-hour day, higher wages, better conditions

• 1830s & 1840s: Dozens of strikes for higher wages or 10-hour day– 1837 depression hurt union membership

• Commonwealth v. Hunt – Supreme Court ruled unions not illegal

conspiracies as long as they were peaceful

The Lowell MillsThe Lowell Mills• Americans beat the British at their

own game, made better factories

• Francis C Lowell (a British “traitor”) came over here to build British factories met up with Boston mechanic, Paul Moody– Together they improved the mill and

invented a power loom that revolutionized textile manufacturing

Lowell MillLowell Mill

Starting for LowellStarting for Lowell

Lowell GirlsLowell Girls

What was their typical What was their typical “profile?”“profile?”

Lowell Boarding HousesLowell Boarding Houses

What was boardinghouse life What was boardinghouse life like?like?

Lowell Mills Time Table

Lowell Mills Time Table

Early “Union” Newslett

er

Early “Union” Newslett

er

Irish Immigrant Girls at LowellIrish Immigrant Girls at Lowell

Early Textile LoomEarly Textile Loom

The Lowell System Lowell,

Massachusetts, 1832

• Young New England farm girls• Supervised on and off the job• Worked 6 days a week, 13 hours a

day• Escorted to church on Sunday

Women & the Economy

Women & the Economy

• 1850: 10% of white women working for pay outside home– Vast majority of working women were single– Left paying jobs upon marriage

• “Cult of domesticity”– Cultural idea that glorifies homemaker

• Empowers married women– Increased power & independence of women in

home led to decline in family size

Industrialists and Inventors

Development or Invention

Samuel Slater

Francis C. Lowell

Eli Whitney

Samuel F.B. Morse

steamboat

Textile machine

Mass production of textiles

Interchangeable parts

Telegraph; Morse code

Robert Fulton

John Deere & the Steel PlowJohn Deere & the Steel Plow

Cyrus McCormick& the Mechanical Reaper

Cyrus McCormick& the Mechanical Reaper

Samuel F. B. MorseSamuel F. B. Morse

1840 – Telegraph1840 – Telegraph

“WHAT GOD HATH WROUGHT”“WHAT GOD HATH WROUGHT”

Cyrus Field & the Transatlantic Cable, 1858

Cyrus Field & the Transatlantic Cable, 1858

Elias Howe & Isaac Singer1840s

Sewing Machine

Elias Howe & Isaac Singer1840s

Sewing Machine

Perfected by SingerGave boost to northern industry

Became foundation for ready-made clothing industry

Led many women into factories

From left to right: Eli Whitney (cotton gin, interchangeable parts), Robert Fulton (steam boat), Thomas Edison (light bulb), Cyrus McCormick (reaper), Richard Hoe (automatic printing press)

From left to right: Eli Whitney (cotton gin, interchangeable parts), Robert Fulton (steam boat), Thomas Edison (light bulb), Cyrus McCormick (reaper), Richard Hoe (automatic printing press)

Transportation Industrialization

Railroads: enabled trains to travel fast and go wherever track was laid

Steamboats: made river travel more reliable

Erie canal: connected the Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo N.Y

Manufacturing went from hand tools to large complex machines

Interchangeable parts transformedOne-by-one process into a factoryProcess. Telegraph quickly sentMessages over long-distances

National Road: major east-west Highway that reached from Cumberland, Maryland to Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia)

Skilled artisans gave way to Workers organized by tasks

Factories replaced home- based Work manufactures sold wares nationwide

Highways• Bad roads made transportation highly

unreliable

• The National Road begun in 1811 and completed by 1832– Connected Maryland to Illinois.– Built by US government

Cumberland (National Road), 1811

Conestoga Covered WagonsConestoga Covered Wagons

Conestoga Trail, 1820sConestoga Trail, 1820s

• Population shift because of westward expansion – the West demanded transportation.– The Land Act of 1820, gave the West its wish by authorizing a buyer to purchase 80

acres of land at a minimum of $1.25 an acre in cash

• Erie Canal started in 1817 and completed in 1825– NY Governor DeWitt Clinton built the Erie Canal– Connected New York City from Hudson River with the Great Lakes and the West

• Clinton’s Big Ditch--------Other canals follow

• Navigable rivers and the steamboat– the first steamboat on western waters was in 1811.

1807, Fulton's Clermont, was the first commercially successful and reliable

steamboat. Steam boat would revolutionize water travel.

The steamboat was often the only mechanical means of river travel and freight transportation

from 1808 through 1930.

1807, Fulton's Clermont, was the first commercially successful and reliable

steamboat. Steam boat would revolutionize water travel.

The steamboat was often the only mechanical means of river travel and freight transportation

from 1808 through 1930.

Erie Canal SystemErie Canal System

Principal Canals in 1840Principal Canals in 1840

Inland Freight RatesInland Freight Rates

•Help unite the country as well as improve the economy and

the infant industry.

•Because of the British

blockade during the War of 1812, it was essential for

internal transportation improvements.

The Railroad Revolution,1850s

The Railroad Revolution,1850s

•1850 to 1860, RR proved most significant development toward national economy

•Americans demanded transcontinental railroad to California.– Completed by 1869.

The “Iron Horse” Wins! (1830)The “Iron Horse” Wins! (1830)

1830 1830 13 miles of track built by Baltimore & 13 miles of track built by Baltimore & Ohio RROhio RR

By 1850 By 1850 9000 mi. of RR track [1860 9000 mi. of RR track [1860 31,000 31,000 mi.]mi.]

Pioneer Railroad Promoters

Pioneer Railroad Promoters

• 1800 to 1850: Roads, canals, navigable rivers with steamboats were the main modes of transportation.

• 1850 to 1860, RR proved most significant development toward national economy

• Competition between Railroads and Canals• Obstacles

– opposition from canal backers– danger of fire– poor brakes– difference in track gauge meant changing trains

Map rr

Clipper ShipsClipper Ships

Effects of the Transportation

Revolution

Effects of the Transportation

Revolution• 1860-61, Pony Express connected East-West• Telegraph instantly sent messages across US• Attraction of many large capital investments

and encouraged risk taking in the US economy

• People moved faster and country expanded– Unifying spirit among fellow country men– A need for a transcontinental railroad that

connected east to west

•Telegraph revolutionized communication

•Would replace the Pony Express by

1861

Trails

ECONOMIC?ECONOMIC?

SOCIAL?SOCIAL?

POLITICAL?POLITICAL?

FUTUREPROBLEMS?

FUTUREPROBLEMS?