Unit VPart III

1820-1861

The Hudson River Group

American landscape painters Like Romantic writers and

transcendentalists, they celebrated nature in its “natural” form (unspoiled by civilization)

Grand vistas like Niagara Falls Most paintings have a broken tree stump

somewhere in the painting Humans in the pictures are small,

insignificant Cole, Church, Durand and others

Audubon

An American Naturalist Many paintings, watercolors,

sketches of American birds

The Labor Movement

Problems caused by the Industrial Revolution: Jobs were lost to automation Lost pride in hand-crafted goods Rigid and long factory hours (13-16 a

day) Poor pay ($2.00 a week) Poor (unsafe) working conditions Big social division between workers and

employers

Trade Unions

By 1830’s most crafts had unions Demanded

More Money Shorter Hours Closed Shop

Unskilled (factory) Workers

Had little success in unionizing They were easy and cheap to replace

The success of industry was partially due to the cheap labor that was available and to the government’s support of business rather than labor

The Workingman’s Party

An early attempt at unionizing unskilled labor

Did not last long Torn apart by radicals representing

different unions AND state courts ruled against

unions: they were combinations of working men forcing employers to raise wages (considered a criminal act)

The Panic of 1837

Ended the hopes of most unions and organizers

BUT by 1840 most government workers had a 10-hour day

Industrial Revolution

Worked WITH the Commercial Revolution

The Price revolution was a part of the Commercial Revolution

Inflation and Cost of living

Unskilled Labor

Will not successfully unionize until the 1930’s

And only then with government help

Attempts at unionizing will continue after the Civil War

By the 1850’s

Singer and Howe made improvements in the sewing machine

Many women did “putting out” work: got materials, patterns from the factory, worked from home and were paid when finished goods were delivered

The Lowell System

New England Textile factories were always on the lookout for cheap labor

Women were paid less than men

The Lowell factories (and others) advertized for young women workers to come to the city from the countryside to make a little $ for themselves between their school years and their weddings

The Lowell System

Was, AT FIRST, not a bad deal Women lived in boarding houses

owned by the mills Rigid rules, hours, church

attendance, “visitors”

They DID make an effort to watch out for their employees (paternalistic) and women WERE able to save a little extra

Later

Textile mills became sweatshops Women were abused (in addition to being underpaid)

Yellow Dog Contracts

Contracts signed by workers in which they agreed not to form or join a union as long as they were employed by the company

The American Dream To be one’s own boss Still: the American Farmer

1840’s Tocqueville: A French writer who wrote vignettes about American life

Noted that Americans loved associations: political, religious, educational, charitable, etc.

Much American volunteerism Much organized, cooperative activities:

sewing bees, barn-raisings, sewing circles and the like.

Entertainment

Sports: boxing, wrestling, baseball (1850’s), hunting and fishing

Community plays and musical performances

1850’s Farm Machinery John Deere’s Steel Plow McCormick’s reaper

Will help farmers produce more Will cause a surplus in agricultural

products causing farmers to be harmed by lower prices

Just like the machinery used for the Industrial Revolution did the same with manufactured goods

Value of Manufactured Products

1810……under $200 Million 1850…...over $1 Billion

Politics

Panic 1837 and Depression Unemployment State governments had over-extended in

internal improvements and had defaulted on loans

Discouraged all investors Farmers survived Soup kitchens (private, church charity…

not gov’t)

Van Buren…Laissez-faire

Ignored crisis Did not want government

interference Refused to accept any responsibility

for suffering Was afraid of beginning a deficit

Whigs suggested public works but were ignored

Pet Banks Began to Collapse!

What to do? Van Buren had to find a substitute

for Pet Banks

Suggested Independent Treasury System:

Construction of government-owned vaults in various parts of the country

Government would store federal revenue there until needed

Independent Treasury System

Seemed to work (but did not) Economy improved due to:

1849 Gold found in California Lots of European investment:

Railroads, etc. Big Battle: Banks and businesses

objected to the government withholding so much $ from circulation

Election 1840

Was driven by the poor economy Van Buren did not have a chance

Democrats: Van Buren (60) Whigs: Wm. Henry Harrison (234)

War Hero and Tippecanoe and Tyler too

Liberty Party: Birney (0) Abolish Slavery

William Henry Harrison

First Whig President Whigs had learned lesson from

Jackson’s times Whigs portrayed Harrison as a log

cabin type (was not)

Harrison was not interested in policy or real work. Just wanted to party and have people stand when he entered a room

Harrison

Harrison as figurehead was perfect!

Secretary of State: Webster Speaker of the House: Clay Would do the work Everybody happy Then disaster struck!

Harrison died after one month in office…

Gave his inaugural address in the chilly rain, caught pneumonia and died

Webster and Clay did not expect problem with VP…Tyler…but

Tyler was a Jackson-Hater Whig (not a real one)

Tyler

Was the first to become a President as the result of the death of a President

Was called, “His Accidency”

Whigs had not yet passed a Bank Bill (providing for a new BUS…did not expect problems

BUT Tyler vetoed Bank Bill twice!

Remember

The Whig Party Platform was Clay’s American System

Tyler was not on board His cabinet resigned except for

Webster Webster was busy working on

treaties so he stayed BUT Tyler will not get Whig support

in 1844 and the Democrats thought him a traitor

In the Meantime..

Henry Clay (Speaker of the House) made a deal with westerners in the House

Clay wanted the Distribution Act: to distribute money from recent land sales to bail out states and then to raise tariff to make sure the U.S. would have money coming in

The South was screaming but there was little they could do

The Westerners

Agreed to support the Distribution Act if New England would support their bill:

The Pre-emption Act: said that squatters would have first chance to purchase the land that they already inhabited

Both Bills passed in Congress

The South could not stop a combined effort of the North and the West

BUT THEN…

Tyler signed the Pre-emption Act but vetoed the Distribution Act

Whigs were really mad at Tyler (he was not a true Whig)

The Tariff

Was raised to 1832 standards

Manifest Destiny

In the 1840’s the U.S. will acquire vast amounts of land

Was driven by intense patriotism The habit of pushing through

frontiers

The Northern Boundary of Maine

Was not settled since the Treaty of Paris

The Aroostook War: Fighting between Maine settlers and Canadian lumber jacks!

Van Buren had sent 50,000 troops to the border (just in case)

Under Harrison and Tyler Webster (Sec of State) worked it out with a treaty

The Webster-Ashburton Treaty

Settled the Northern Boundary of Maine

Also defined the boundary between Lake Superior and Lake-in-the-Woods

Election 1844

Democrats: Polk (The Expansionist) 170

Whigs: Clay (105) Liberty Party: Birney took enough

popular votes from the Whigs to give Polk the victory

Why did the Liberty Party steal votes from the Whigs and not from the Democrats?

Polk…the expansionist

Campaigned on:

Annexing Texas Adding Oregon An Independent Treasury System A lower Tariff No federal spending on internal

improvements

Polk

Made it clear he wanted to serve only one term

He got everything he wanted and more within 2 years

After the election but before the inauguration, Tyler asked Congress to annex Texas (1844)

1846: A new Independent Treasury System

1846: Oregon Treaty 1846: The Walker Tariff (really

lower)

The Oregon Treaty

Oregon USED to be occupied by Russia, Spain, Brits, U.S.

Was valuable for Beaver Pelts

Russia backed out after Monroe Doctrine

Spain gave up claims with 1819 Adams-Onis Treaty

Brits and U.S. had a Treaty of Joint Occupation

Oregon

The Brits did not want to leave Americans, “54-40 or Fight!” (54th

parallel and 40 minutes)

We settled on the 49th parallel

Then…War with Mexico!

See next slide group IV-4