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America Growing Apart

Objective:

• Analyze the Market Revolution’s influence on agriculture and industry in the North

Northern Sections

• Northwest: – “Old Northwest”, the land N and W of the Ohio River

• Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota

– Agriculture Economy

• Northeast– Old New England and Middle Colonies

– Industrial Economy

New Technologies

• John Deere– Steel Plow

• Cyrus McCormick– Mechanical reaper

Farming in the NW

• Produced corn, wheat, and grains– Grew well, but spoils if not processed quickly

– Corn fed to pigs and grains turned into Whiskey

– Cincinnati (“Porkopolis”) and Chicago

Farming in the Old NW

• Transporting Goods– Used new railroads and ships to get their crops on

the market

– Mississippi River to New Orleans• Then to the Caribbean, the Atlantic Coast and Europe

Industries of the NE• Farms to Factories

– As time marched on, areas became more urban (one or more cities with high populations)

• Industrialization increased– CT by 1850 had more people in manufacturing

than farming– PA: coal mining, lumber, ships, iron, leather, and

textiles– MA: shoes, carpet and bricks

Factories

• Francis Cabot Lowell– Began a textile mill in CT that was the first to be

centralized—town of Lowell

– Hired young, unmarried girls promising a moral environment and a stable income

• $3.25 for 72 hrs. - $1.25 for room and board = $2.00 a week---a great wage for the time

Do the Math….• Wages for Women in Lowell’s mills in the

1930s:– 72 hour work week: $3.25

• How much an hour?

– 1 week’s Room and board: -$1.25

– Total Weekly Earnings: $2.00

• So Again why Women. . .– ½ the price of men for the same work– North didn’t have slaves. . .by the 1840s though, women will be losing jobs to

men and immigrants.

Growth of Cities

• The NE was crowded with young looking for work– High population in the NE left no more room for

farming

– Some headed W, but most went to find work in factories

• NYC: 33,000 in 1790 to 131,000 by 1820

Urban Life

• Most were poor and crowded into cheap housing -tenements

• Tenements: crowded apartments with poor sanitation, safety and comfort

• Cities were unable to handle the increasing populations– Opportunities for the spread of diseases

Labor Disputes• Most Factories paid little and provided no benefits

-Workers demanded rights

Complaints: Long hours, low wages

Many went on strike -1834-36: 150 strikes

• National Trades Union (NTU)– Wanted to protect rights

– Died out though because owners got a law passed banning labor organizations

– Willingness to stand up against injustice

In Review:

• How did farming develop in the Old Northwest?

• What new Industries arose in the Northeast?• What caused the growth of cities, and what

problems arose as they grew?• What kinds of labor disputes arose in

factories?