Chapter 14Forging the National Economy

Unit 4: Jacksonian America and Antebellum Reform

Chapter Themes

• Growth, movement and shifts in American population

• Changes to American economy due to Industrialization

• Industrialism’s impact on workers, women and children

• Possibilities and problems with the industrial economy

Movement West

Pioneer Life

• Self Reliance• Myth vs. Reality• Isolation• Environmental Impact– Kentucky Blue Grass

Changes in Fur-Trapping

• Rendezvous system• Decline of the beaver• Buffalo • Otters• Ecological Imperialism

Nascent Preservation Movement

Population Growth

Year White Non-WhiteTotal Population

1790 3,172,000 757,000 3,929,000 1800 4,306,000 1,002,000 5,308,000 1810 5,862,000 1,378,000 7,240,000 1820 7,867,000 1,772,000 9,639,000 1830 10,537,000 2,329,000 12,866,000 1840 14,196,000 2,874,000 17,070,000 1850 19,553,000 3,639,000 23,192,000 1860 26,922,000 4,521,000 31,443,000

Growth 7.49 4.97 7.00

Changing Complexion of America

Reasons for Immigration from Europe

• Movement within Europe– 40% of immigrants did not come to the U.S.

• Running out of room– “Surplus” people

• Freedom and opportunity• Transoceanic travel was swift and relatively

inexpensive

ImmigrationYears Irish German

1830s 207,381 152,454 1840s 780,719 434,636 1850s 914,119 951,667 1860s 435,778 787,468 1870s 436,871 718,182 1880s 655,482 1,452,970 1890s 388,416 505,152

Irish Immigrants • Hatred of British• Irish famine – potato crop failure– Settled in Boston and New York

• Poverty• NINA• “Biddies” - house servants• “Paddies” – manual labor• Ancient Order of the Hibernians• Molly Maguires• Political influence

German Immigrants• Uprooted farmers displaced by crop failures• Some political refugees seeking democratic

society• Modest means – moved to Midwest– Model farms

• Scattered population limited political influence

German Contributions

• Conestoga Wagon• Kentucky Rifle• Christmas Tree• Isolationism• Kindergarten and education• Abolitionist• Preservation of language and culture

Antiforeignism

• Growing diversity led to clashes• Nativists• Protestants v. Roman Catholics– Catholic educational system

• Know-Nothing Party• Awful Disclosures and other propaganda

The Know Nothings

Mechanization

• Industrial Revolution in England• Industrial growth was slow in America– Cheap land– Scarce labor (until immigrant population boom)– Limited capital investment – Poor quality production– British monopoly on textile machinery• Slater’s photographic memory

Cotton Gin• Cotton picking/processing time consuming and

expensive• Cotton gin led to economic transformation in both

North and South

Early Industrial America• Cotton Kingdom stretches west– South remains agrarian

• New England factories– Poor land for farming– Numerous streams– Dense population– Accessible markets

• Eventually spread throughout the North

Growth of Industrial America• Lack of imports:– Embargo– Nonintercourse– War of 1812– “Buy and wear American”

• Treaty of Ghent and British dumping– Tariff of 1816

• Factory system and interchangeable parts

Encouraging Innovation• Patents – legal protection for ideas• Limited Liability – forerunner of the corporation– Investors financial risk is limited to his initial

investment• Telegraph• McCormick’s reaper• Colt firearms• Goodyear vulcanized rubber products

Workers and “Wage Slaves”• Old system– Small shops, homes– Master craftsmen and apprentices

• Factory System– Inequitable benefits– Long hours– Low wages– Unsanitary conditions– Unions were forbidden by law

Labor Exploitation• Child labor– Under ten– “Mentally blighted, emotionally starved, physically

stunted”– Abused

• Adult workers– Jacksonian reforms gave laborers (male) the vote– Democrats– Rise of trade unions– Commonwealth v. Hunt MA Supreme Court

Women and the Economy

• Promise of economic freedom• Earn money to buy manufactured goods• 6 days per week, 12-13 hours per day• Domestics, nursing, teaching were primary

jobs• Cult of domesticity– Glorification of the homemaker

Social Changes of Industrialization

• Love matches• Close knit families• Smaller families– Early birth control– Domestic feminism

• Child centered families

Revolutions in Farming

• Westward expansion– Corn and wheat

• Hogs• Steel Plow• McCormick Reaper• Subsistence farming gave way to large scale

food production

Infrastructure• Waterborne commerce and undeveloped roads• Need for improvements– Lancaster turnpike– State’s rights opposition to federal infrastructure

projects– North feared population drain– National Road– Steamboats

Clinton’s Big Ditch

• Erie Canal– Began in 1817 and finished in 1825– Buffalo to Hudson River– Increased land values– Birth of new cities– Other canals

Railroads

• Cheaper and easier to develop than canals• First appeared in 1828 and spread quickly• Need for standardized gauge• Other innovations– Better brakes– Sleeping cars– Time zones

Transportation Revolution

• Trans-atlantic cabel• Clipper ships– Speed– Short lived supremacy

• Pony Express• Return trips for steamboats

Market Revolution• Continental economy• Legal and regulatory concerns– Development of monopolies (Marshall)– Good of the community (Taney)• Competition

• Household evolution from seat of production to refuge from work

• Growth of cities– Economic inequity