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Ch. 14 –

Forging the National

Economy

The Westward Movement &

Landscapes

George Catlin

American painter

Author

Traveler

Specialized in portraits

of Native Americans in

the OldWest.

He was one of the early

advocates of

preserving nature

(including the Indians)

as a national policy.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

•May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882

•An American essayist,

philosopher and poet

•Best remembered for leading

the Transcendentalist

movement of the early 19th

century.

•“Because of his Self Reliance”

lecture-essay, he was seen as a

champion of individualism.

Frontier life/Fur Trappers

Jedediah Smith’s travels

Frontier life has been glorified: It

was a harsh existence with poverty,

disease, boredom & premature

death.

Population GrowthWestward

movement

• Population

doubling every

25 years

• High birth rate

Urban growth

• 43 cities over

20,000

• New York,New

• Orleans,Chicago

• Problems:Slums,

lighting, police,

water, sewage, rats,

garbage

Population Growth

Did all really have this when they came?

National Origin of Immigrants:

1820 - 1860

Why

now?

Irish Immigrants

• “Black Forties”—Potato

famine

• 1845-50: ¼ died (2 million)

• By 1860: 2 million

• immigrated here

• Big Cities:

eastern

seaboard

• Too poor to move west

• Unskilled jobs—wage

• depression

Irish

Immigrants• 1.5 Million – greatest

export to US

• Distrusted by “old

stock”

• Americans:• Reasons:

• Most were RomanCatholic

• Lived in squalor:Uneducated; unskilled

Look how the Irish &

Blacks are stereotyped

Irish

Immigrants• Response:

• NINA – “No Irish need

apply” signs on

businesses

• led to Nativism

• Ancient order of the

Hibernians

• Irish Catholic Fraternal

• Organization

• Started the“Molly

Maguires:” a coal

miners union blamed

for some violence in the

1860’s & 70’s

German Immigrants

• Refugees: 1830-1860s

• 1.5 million

• Left Germany:

• Religiousstrife

• Fall of democratic governments

• Kept to themselves

• Kept own language and culture

• Contributions:• ConestogaWagon

• Kentuckyrifle

• Christmastree

• Kindergarten

• “Bier”Beer

Anti-foreignism—“Nativists”

Anti-foreignism—“Nativists”

• Middle class

• Protestants:

• Fear Irish-Catholic

immigrants

• “Nativism”

• Favors the interest

of the native born

over that of

immigrants

Occasional violence:

Baltimore riots of 1856

left about 16dead

Order of The Star Spangled

Banner Part of the nativist

movement

Originated in NY in 1843 as the America Republican Party.

Spread to other states as: Native American Party

Became a national party in 1845.

In 1855renamed:

AmericanParty.

• “Know Nothing Party”:

• semi-secret organization in

the party.

• If a member was asked about its activities, he was

supposed to reply, "I know nothing”.• Hence…The Know Nothing

Party

• Goals:

• Rigid restrictions on

• immigration & naturalization

• Deportation of poor foreigners

• Spread false literature

Order of the Star Spangled

Banner

Know-

Nothin

g

Party:“The

Supreme

Order of

the

Star-

Spangled

Banner”

Industrial Revolution--Factories

England—Industrial

Revolution--1790s• U.S. slow to catch on

• Still had land so could move

• west

• Scarcity of labor in U.S.

• Couldn’t compete w/Europe quality & prices

Samuel Slater—”Father of

FactorySystem”

• Memorized British textile

• machinery (illegal)

• Recreated it in Rhode

Island—1791

Samuel Slater

“Father of the Factory System”

Industrial Revolution--Factories

EliWhitney

Cotton Gin(1793)

50 times faster than handpicked cotton

Industrial Revolution--Factories

Revived “dying” slavery – most Southern cotton was sold

to Britain (big issue later on)

Industrial Revolution--Factories

Cotton Kingdom - “King Cotton”—chief

crop

inSouthAnother Single-Crop economy for the South (Tobacco

had depleted the soil by now.)

“Interchangeable parts” also invented by Whitney

Muskets: will lead to Massproduction

Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin, 1791

Gin is short for

engine

Eli Whitney’s Gun Factory

Interchangeable Parts Rifle

Industrial Revolution--Factories

Factory growth

Populous areas—NY,NJ

New England—ideal for factories: first factories were Textilemills

Rocky soil, good harbors

Fast rivers (power), largecities (labor)

Helped by War of 1812; slowed by treaty – as the British dumped cheap good on the US to destroy US manufacturing

Industrial Revolution:

Investment

“Limited Liability”

Only liable for

individual’s portion

“Free

Incorporation”—

NY,1848

Can create

corporations w/out

charters from

government.

Other Inventions

Robert Fulton – Steamboat

Cyrus McCormick – mower-reaper

Elias Howe & Isaac Singer—Sewing

machine

Samuel F.B.Morse—telegraph

Elias Howe & Isaac Singer

1840s

Sewing

Machine

Samuel F. B. Morse

1844 – Telegraph

Industrial Revolution: Unions

Collective bargainingUsed the total worker union

to gain contracts & better working conditions

Strikes last-resort tactic

would stop work

form picket lines

try to gain their goals

mixed results

Strikebreakers “Scabs”Crossed the picket lines and

worked anyway

Hurt the strikers in their efforts to gain better payetc.

Commonwealthv.Hunt

Massachusetts

SupremeCourt

Ruled that labor unions were not illegal conspiracies,if…

Their methods were“honorable and peaceful”

Industrial Revolution: Unions

Charles River Bridge vs. Warren

Bridge Supreme Court & business so far:

Chief Justice John Marshall protected

contract rights

States uphold charters

But there is a change:Charles River Bridge vs. Warren Bridge:

About sanctity of contracts

Charles River Bridge had an original

contract

(New) Chief Justice Roger Taney sided

with Warren Bridge builders

„ “Rights of the community”outweigh

exclusive corporate rights.

Result: opened greater competition in

industry

Lowell, Massachusetts

1814, businessmanFrancis

Cabot Lowell

Formed a company: Boston Manufacturing Company

Built a textile mill next to the Charles River in Waltham, Massachusetts

The Waltham mill

First integrated mill in the United States

Transformed raw cottoninto cotton cloth in onebuilding

Lowell Girls

Lowell Mill Girls or Factory Girls: Female textile workers in Lowell, Massachusetts

Lowell textile mills workforce was three quarters female

Most from New England farms

The Lowell female textile workers wrote andpublished several literary magazines: I.E. LowellOffering

Featured essays, poetry and fiction written by female

workers

Also participated in early labor reform Legislative petitions

Labororganizations

Essays and articles to a pro-labor newspaper the Voice of Industry

Protesting through "turn-outs" or strikes

New England Dominance in

Textiles

The Lowell/Waltham System:

First Dual-Purpose Textile Plant

Francis Cabot Lowell’s town - 1814

Lowell in 1850

Lowell Mill

Early Textile Loom

Starting for Lowell

Lowell

Girls

What was their typical “profile?”

Lowell Boarding Houses

Lowell

Mills

Time Table

Early

“Union”

Newsletter

The Factory Girl’s Garland

February 20, 1845 issue

Irish Immigrant Girls at

Lowell

Cult of Domesticity

Domesticity

A division between work and home

Encouraged by the Industrial Revolution

Men went out in the world to earn a living

Home became the woman's domain

She created a "haven in a heartless world" for her

husband and children.

Domestic feminism

Growing power & independence of women

Glorified women’s role in the home

Families were getting smaller &more

child- centered

John Deere & the Steel Plow

(1837)

Cyrus McCormick

& the Mechanical Reaper: 1831

Transportation

Revolution 1800’s – National Road

Improved roadways

1820’s – Canal EraReduced transportationcosts

1830’s – Steam BoatsEasier to travel againstcurrent up the Mississippi

Had their most use on western & southernrivers

1840’s – RailRoadsYear-round commerce toany desired spot

Lancaster Turnpike First used in 1795

Long-distance, paved (crushed gravel) road built in the United States

First to use

engineered plans

and specifications

Links Lancaster Pennsylvania and Philadelphia

62 miles long.

Helped link the East

to the trans-

AlleghenyWest

First Turnpike- 1790 Lancaster,

PA

By 1832, nearly 2400 mi. of road connected

most major cities.

Conestoga Covered Wagons

Conestoga Trail, 1820s

Cumberland (National Road),

1811

Robert Fulton

& the Steamboat

1807: The

Clermont

Erie Canal

Funded by the state of NewYork

Built from 1817-1825

Insured the growth and success of New York City

Led to the building of several other canals

Barges were pulled by mules on “tow paths”

It was faster than carts pulled by draft animals

Cut transport costs about 95%

Not suitable for other craft like steamboats

First transportation system between eastern seaboard NYC & the western interior (GreatLakes)

Erie Canal

Erie Canal

o Immigrant labor

built the northern RRs.

o Most RR’s built in

North

o Slave labor built the

southern RRs.

The “Iron Horse” Wins!

(1830)

1830 13 miles of track built by Baltimore & Ohio RR

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

Cyrus Field

& the Transatlantic Cable,

1858

Clipper Ships

A clipper was a very

fast sailing ship of the

19th century that had

multiple masts and a

square rig. They were

generally narrow for

their length, could carry

limited bulk freight,

small by later 19th

century standards, and

had a large total sail

area.

Were replaced by

Steamships.

Pony Express

Communication from St.Joseph,Missouri, to Sacramento,California

April 1860 to October 1861 (just 18 months)

Became the nation's most direct means of east-west communication before the telegraph

Was vital for tying California closely with the Union just before the American CivilWar

Pony Express

Market

Economy

Division of labor:

Increased productivity & profits in thefactory

Each region now specialized in a specific type of economicactivity:

South = supply cotton

to North an Britain

West = grain to East andEurope

Northeast = manufacturing goods for the South andWest

Note: Very Close to Clay’s American System

Market Revolution

Economic revolution that

changes the US from a

subsistence economy of

scattered farms into a national

network of industry and

commerce.

One result = increasing

farmer indebtedness.

However: wages did increase

and so did the American’s

standard of living.

John Jacob Astor

Made millions from fur

trade – The American

Fur Trading Company

Became America’s

first millionaire

He then began to deal in

real estate in NY

Worth 30 Billion $$

(a billionaire in

today’s money)