Forging the National Economy

1790-1860

American Pageant Chapter 14

The Westward Movement & Landscapes

George Catlin

American painter

Author

Traveler

Specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West.

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

movementPopulation doubling

every 25 years

High birth rate

Urban growth43 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 famine1845-50: ¼ died (2 million)

By 1860: 2 million immigrated here

Big Cities: eastern seaboardToo 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 Roman Catholic

Lived in squalor: Uneducated; unskilled

Politics:„ Voting power as a block

„ Political machines

„ Tammany HallLook 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: 1830-1860s1.5 million

Left Germany:Religious strife

Fall of democratic governments

Kept to themselves

Kept own language and culture

Contributions: Conestoga Wagon

Kentucky rifle

Christmas tree

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 16 dead

Order of The Star Spangled Banner

Part of the nativist movementOriginated in NY in

1843 as the America Republican Party. Spread to other states

as: Native American Party Became a national

party in 1845. In 1855 renamed:

American Party.

Order of The Star Spangled Banner“Know Nothing Party”:A 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-Nothing Party:

“The Supreme Order of the Star-Spangled

Banner”

Industrial Revolution--Factories England—Industrial

Revolution--1790sU.S. slow to catch onStill had land so could move

west Scarcity of labor in U.S.Couldn’t compete w/Europe

quality & prices

Samuel Slater—”Father of Factory System”Memorized British textile

machinery (illegal)Recreated it in Rhode

Island—1791

Samuel Slater“Father of the Factory System”

Industrial Revolution--FactoriesEli WhitneyCotton 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--FactoriesCotton Kingdom - “King Cotton”—chief crop

in SouthAnother Single-Crop economy for the South (Tobacco had

depleted the soil by now.)

“Interchangeable parts” also invented by WhitneyMuskets: will lead to Mass production

Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin, 1791

Gin is short for engine

Eli Whitney’s Gun Factory

Interchangeable Parts Rifle

Industrial Revolution--Factories Factory growthPopulous areas—NY, NJNew England—ideal for

factories: first factories were Textile mills Rocky soil, good harborsFast rivers (power), large

cities (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

1840sSewing 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 tacticwould stop work form picket lines try to gain their goals mixed results

Strikebreakers “Scabs” Crossed the picket lines and

worked anywayHurt the strikers in their efforts

to gain better pay etc.

Commonwealth v. Hunt Massachusetts

Supreme Court

Ruled that labor unions were not illegal conspiracies, if…

Their methods were “honorable and peaceful”

Industrial Revolution: Unions

Resourcefulness & Experimentation

Americans were willing to try anything.

They were first copiers, theninnovators.

1800 41 patents approved

1860 4,357 patents approved

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

• Regarded material advance as the natural fruit of American republicanism & proof of the country’s virtue and promise.

The “American Dream”

A German visitor in the 1840s, Friedrich List, observed:

Anything new is quickly introduced here, including all of the latest inventions. There is no clinging to old ways. The moment an American hears the word “invention,” he pricks up his ears.

Lowell, Massachusetts

1814, businessman Francis Cabot LowellFormed a company: Boston

Manufacturing Company

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

The Waltham millFirst integrated mill in the

United States

Transformed raw cotton into cotton cloth in one building

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 and published several literary magazines: I.E. Lowell Offering Featured essays, poetry and fiction written by female

workers

Also participated in early labor reform Legislative petitions

Labor organizations

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

What was boardinghouse life like?

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

husband and children.

Domestic feminismGrowing 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 RoadImproved roadways

1820’s – Canal EraReduced transportation

costs

1830’s – Steam BoatsEasier to travel against

current up the Mississippi Had their most use on

western & southern rivers

1840’s – Rail RoadsYear-round commerce to

any 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-Allegheny West

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 New York

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 (Great Lakes)

Erie Canal

o Immigrant laborbuilt 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 RRBy 1850 9000 mi. of RR track [1860 31,000 mi.]

Cyrus Field & the Transatlantic Cable, 1858

Clipper ShipsA 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 ExpressCommunication 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 Civil War

Pony Express

Market Economy Division of labor: Increased productivity

& profits in the factory

Each region now specialized in a specific type of economic activity:South = supply cotton

to North an BritainWest = grain to East

and EuropeNortheast =

manufacturing goods for the South and West

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)