T H E DY N A M I C S O F G R O W T H

CHAPTER 9

TRANSPORTATION, COMMUNICATION, AND THE MARKET REVOLUTION

• New roads• As the population moved west, farmers needed easy

access to markets so they could sell their products. This prompted a dramatic increase in new roads.

• Water transportation• The 1820s saw the introduction of new forms of

transportation, such as the steamboat. Steam ships were able to move upstream much faster than were oar-powered boats. Canals were dug between major bodies of water to connect interior farms with coastal markets, thus crops were able to get to market much quicker and with less risk of spoiling.

TRANSPORTATION WEST 1840

TRANSPORTATION, COMMUNICATION, AND THE MARKET REVOLUTION

• Railroads• The first rail line was created in 1825, and by the 1850s, the

railroad would supplant all other forms of shipping of goods to market. As you can see from the maps, vast amounts of railways would be built across the United States by 1860.

• Ocean transportation• The emergence of the clipper ships expedited ocean travel by

applying American ingenuity to shipbuilding techniques. These ships were able to get perishable goods to markets unimaginable before their creation; during the gold rush of 1849, they kept California markets stocked with products that could not be transported overland.

• The role of government• Government investment in improving the infrastructure generated

fierce debate in Congress. A precedent set in 1850 established a method for providing land to compensate the companies building rail lines into the interior.

TRANSPORTATION, COMMUNICATION, AND THE MARKET REVOLUTION

• A communications revolution• Mass communication had not advanced in thousands of

years and still took the form of mail or newspapers. The invention of the telegraph would break this barrier and would in effect draw the country closer together.

AGRICULTURE AND THE NATIONAL ECONOMY

• Cotton• Cotton was a labor-intensive crop, requiring extensive

manual labor. Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, however, was able to remove the seeds at high speed. By the 1860s, cotton represented over 50 percent of the total U.S. exports per year.

• Farming the west• Overproduction of farmland in the east began to drain

the soil of necessary nutrients. This coupled with cheap land in the west and the economic panic of 1819 caused many farmers to move west to start over.

POPULATION DENSITY 1820

1860

RAILROADS 1860

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• Early textile manufactures• As a member of the mercantilist society of Great Britain,

the American colonies were forbidden to develop manufacturing facilities. They were to be concerned only with providing the raw materials the mother country needed for its industrial base. When the American Revolution ended, the United States was well behind the curve in developing this area. What little base existed before Jefferson’s embargo in 1807 was well supplanted by the increase in demand for finished goods.

• American technology• The Lowell system• The Lowell system of mills involved placing the entire

weaving process under one roof. It was powered by a nearby river.

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

• Industrialization and the environment • The demand for water to power the new factories

challenged old rules about the control of waterways for commercial uses. Dams and canals to guide water to factories angered downstream farmers and fishermen.

• Industry and cities• The growth of massive factories required large numbers

of workers, and soon after a factory was established, a city would be built to house and support the labor force.

THE POPULAR CULTURE

• Urban recreation• During the 1830s, boxing became a popular form of

entertainment. Taverns and saloons also sprang up to meet the desires of the social drinker.

• The performing arts• Theaters still provided the primary outlet for America’s

entertainment.

IMMIGRATION

• European turmoil during the first part of the nineteenth century contributed to a major influx of immigrants to the United States.

• The Irish• In 1845, an epidemic of potato rot in Ireland resulted in the

death of 1 million people. By 1850, 43 percent of the foreign-born population of America were Irish. They would settle in the cities and provide cheap unskilled labor.

• The Germans and other immigrants• German immigrants were usually more educated than their

Irish counterparts. They tended to move to the interior of the country and establish themselves in communities with other Germans. During this same time period, British citizens continued to immigrate to the United States. By 1869, Scandinavians numbered in excess of 70,000, and the Chinese, settling primarily in California numbered 35,000 by 1860.

IMMIGRATION

• Nativism• Many of the new immigrants in the first half of the

nineteenth century were Catholic. This caused Protestant Americans to fear that the nation was at risk of being converted to Catholicism. Unfounded as this would prove, the scare created a surge in nativism, or the fear of all things not American.

• Immigrant labor• Another factor in the rise of nativism was the fact that

immigrants often competed for jobs with native-born Americans and were willing to accept a lower pay rate.

ORGANIZED LABOR

• Early unions• To help the cause of working men, labor organizations

were created in form of trade unions.

• Labor politics• A few third political parties would specifically represent

the working classes, but they found little electoral support. After they disappeared, groups of workers organized under the auspices of the Democrats and worked within that system to get their demands met.

ORGANIZED LABOR

• The revival of unions• After the financial crisis of 1837, labor unions began to emerge again.

By the mid-nineteenth century, workers began to place an increasing importance on joining unions and ensuring only members from their union be hired for similar jobs.

• The rise of professions• Teaching was the fastest growing of the new professions during this

time, and often it was used as a stepping-stone for young men to study law. Young attorneys and doctors had very little formal training, which was usually not regulated. The Industrial Revolution spurred the development of the new profession of engineer. By the time of the Civil War, engineering had become one of the largest professions in the nation.

• Women’s work• Although it was a period of scientific and political improvement, the role

of women in the United States had not changed much. Women were still considered to be the primary caregivers at home. However, women began to seek careers in the male-dominated professions.

JACKSONIAN INEQUALITY

• Few who started off poor became self-made men• Although this age has been considered a promotion of

the common man, the facts belie conventional wisdom. Very few who started out poor were able to become self-made men.