Forging the National Economy

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Chapter 14

• Forging the National Economy

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The Westward Movement

• Europe stretches to the Alleghenies America
  lies beyond. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Frontier people were individualistic, restless,
  energetic ill-informed.

Settlers travel westward Courtesy, Library of
Congress
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The Center of Population in theCountry Moves WEST
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George Catlin

• In 1832, realizing that the American Indians were
  dying out, George Catlin resolved to rescue their
  types and customs from oblivion. With this object
  he spent many years among the Indians in North
  and South America. He lived with them, acquired
  their languages, and studied very thoroughly
  their habits, customs and mode of life, making
  copious notes and many studies for paintings.

Smithsonian American Art Museum
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The March of the Millions

• 1860
• 33 states in the Union
• U.S. the 4th most populist nation in the western
  world
• Many big cities
• As cities grew the biggest problem was sanitation
  caused by sewer problems
• High birthrate had accounted for most of the
  population growth, but in the 1850s, millions of
  Irish, Germans immigrated to the U.S.

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Immigration to the U.S.
Sources US Census Bureau Statistical Yearbook,
Immigration and Naturalization Service
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Irish Immigration

• In Ireland during the 1840s millions died because
  of a disease in the potato crop.
• Tens of thousands of Irish flocked to the U.S. in
  search of a better life.
• Most settled in the cities because they were too
  poor to travel to the frontier.
• Most lived in slums, were discriminated against,
  and had the toughest jobs.
• NINA No Irish Need Apply.
• Irish were hated by other workers and caused
  resentment because they drove down wages.
• Irish became a powerful political force in places
  like New York and Boston

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Potato Famine

• A famine in Ireland in the nineteenth century
  caused by the failure of successive potato crops
  in the 1840s. Many in Ireland starved, and many
  emigrated. More than a million Irish came to the
  United States during the famine.

A potato infected with the fungus phytophtera
infestans
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Irish Immigration
Irish immigrants arriving in the United States in
1902.  
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German Immigration

• Germans came to the U.S. because of crop
  failures, political unrest and wars.
• Political liberals like Carl Schurz helped
  elevate American political life.
• Generally came to the U.S. with more money than
  most immigrants, therefore they oftentimes moved
  west.
• German contributions
• Conestoga wagon, the Kentucky rifle, the
  Christmas tree, and Kindergarten

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German Immigrants in North Dakota
Between 1890 and 1910 North Dakotas population
more than doubled in part due to immigrants from
abroad and in part due to settlers from the east
eager for their own piece of land. These
turn-of-the-century settlers often lived in sod
houses like the one pictured here. North Dakota
State Hist. Society
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German Immigration
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Rise of the Know-Nothing Party

• The influx of immigrants in the wake of Irelands
  potato famine in the 1840s sparked the nativist
  political movement of the American Party. Also
  known as the Know-Nothing Party for its staunch
  denial of participating in anti-immigrant
  activities and secret societies, the party sought
  to limit immigration and require that all elected
  officials be native-born Americans.

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Industrial Revolution

• Change from handmade to machine made goods.
• Industrial Revolution came to the U.S. late
  because of the following reasons
• Land was cheap therefore most did not need to
  find factory work
• Labor was scare
• Money for capital investment was not plentiful
• Raw materials were not discovered
• Few consumers
• Reliance on British factories
• Know-how British were top secret about
  construction of factories
• U.S. was a land of farmers
• Industrial Revolution hit America in the mid
  1800s because of the Embargo Act, the British
  blockade and the War of 1812

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Industrial Revolution
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Samuel SlaterFather of the Industrial
Revolution

• Britain naturally wanted to maintain its monopoly
  on textile production and prohibited the
  exportation of machinery and the emigration of
  mechanics or engineers with knowledge of those
  machines.
• Slater recognized that his information had great
  value and left England in disguise for New York
  City in 1789. He later met Moses Brown, a
  prominent Quaker merchant in Rhode Island. With
  Brown providing the capital and Slater the
  carefully memorized specifications for the
  equipment, the two opened a small mechanized mill
  in Providence in 1790.

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Samuel Slater
Old Slater Mill, Pawtucket, RI (1793), Samuel
Slater
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Eli Whitney

• Eli Whitney was the inventor of the cotton gin
  and a pioneer in the mass production of cotton.
• Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin
  revolutionized the cotton industry in the United
  States. Prior to his invention, farming cotton
  required hundreds of man-hours to separate the
  cottonseed from the raw cotton fibers.

National Museum of American History Behring
Center An original model of an Eli Whitney
cotton gin (c. early 1800s) is on display in
Communities in a Changing Nation The Promise of
19th-Century America.
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Cotton Gin
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Eli Whitneys Mass Produced Interchangeable
Parts.

• Eli Whitney made one more important innovation.
  He invented interchangeable parts.
• The process involved standardization of parts
  of a machine so that they could easily be
  replaced.
• Whitney's innovation allowed him to win a
  contract for the production of muskets. It was
  the first step in the era of mass production

 Lock parts for 1842 musket SmithM1985, p 85.
Drawing by Steve Foutz
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New England Factories

• Poor soil, fast moving rivers, an abundance of
  labor, and deep harbors made New England an ideal
  place for factories during the Industrial
  Revolution.

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Sewing Machine

• In 1846, Elias Howe of Spencer, Massachusetts,
  received a patent for his hand-cranked sewing
  machine. Isaac Singer patented one five years
  later. Howe sued Singer for infringement and
  won...but by that time Singer was well ahead in
  the sewing machine business.

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Samuel F. B. Morse

• Morse refined (1838) and patented (1854) the
  telegraph and developed the telegraphic code that
  bears his name.
• In 1844 Morse demonstrated to Congress the
  practicability of his instrument by transmitting
  the famous message What hath God wrought over a
  wire from Washington to Baltimore.

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Morses Telegraph

• this signaling device was quite simple. It
  consisted of a transmitter (containing a battery
  and a key), a small buzzer as a receiver and a
  pair of wires connecting the two. Samuel Morse
  improved it by adding a second switch and a
  second buzzer to enable transmission in the
  opposite direction as well.

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Creation of Corporations

• The Boston Associates was one of the earliest
  investment capital companies in America. It was
  founded by fifteen families in Boston,
  Massachusetts. Over time, they came to dominate
  the textile, railroad, insurance and banking
  business of Massachusetts.
• Provided limited liability

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Workers and Wage Slaves

• Factory system created wage slaves
• Wages were low, hours were long, meals were
  skimpy, conditions were dangerous and
  unionization was next to impossible.
• Child labor common
• Factory owners held all the power.
• President Martin Van Buren established the
  ten-hour day for federal employees

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Featuring the original photo captions by Lewis W.
Hine.
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(No Transcript)
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Commonwealth v. Hunt

• In Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) the Massachusetts
  Supreme Court provided an important precedent in
  labor relations by arguing that members of labor
  unions were not engaging in criminal conspiracies
  against their employers.

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Women and the Economy

• Many factories preferred to hire women because
  they could pay them less.
• Overall though, factory jobs were usual for
  women.
• The vast majority of working women were single.
• In the home women were enshrined in a cult of
  domesticity, a widespread cultural creed that
  glorified the customary functions of the
  homemaker.
• Arranged marriage died down marriage because of
  love made family closer.
• Families grew smaller and more child-centered

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Lowell Factory

• Named after Francis Cabot Lowell, was a
  paternalistic textile factory system of the early
  19th century that relied almost exclusively on
  young, unmarried women laborers and purported to
  increase efficiency, productivity and profits in
  ways different from other methods. Emphasis was
  placed on mechanization and standardization the
  entire textile industry used this as a model, and
  machines using this system were sold to other
  mills.

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Inventions That Helped Farmers

• Steel Plow John Deere in 1837
• McCormick Reaper Cyrus McCormick in 1830s

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Transportation Revolution

• Industrial Revolution Transportation Revolution
  Continental Economy
• Roads
• Steamboats
• Canals
• Railroads

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Roads

• 1790s the Lancaster turnpike was completed.
• 62 mile highway that connected Philadelphia to
  Lancaster
• Travels paid a toll - Turnpike
• 1811 completion of the National Road
• 591 miles from Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia,
  Illinois.

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Lancaster Turnpike
1795 - The Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike
Road Carl Rakeman
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National Road
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Steamboats

• Started by Robert Fulton who installed a powerful
  steam engine in a vessel that came to be known as
  the Clermont.
• Allowed for two-way travel on rivers

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Canals

• Erie Canal
• Built with New York state money with no help from
  the federal government
• New York Governor Dewitt Clinton provided the
  leadership.
• Clintons Big Ditch
• From Buffalo on Lake Erie to the Hudson River and
  on to New York Harbor
• Profitablility of farming in the Old Northwest
  increased
• Great Lakes cities like Buffalo, Cleveland and
  Toledo prospered
• Immigrants rushed to the Old Northwest states
• Competition for New England farmers
• Less traffic on the Mississippi River

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Erie Canal
Historic waterway, northern U.S. It stretches
from Buffalo, N.Y., on Lake Erie to Albany, N.Y.,
on the Hudson River. Commissioned by Gov. DeWitt
Clinton of New York, it opened in 1825. It
connected the Great Lakes with New York City and
contributed greatly to the settlement of the
Midwest, allowing for the transport of people and
supplies. Enlarged several times, the canal is
340 mi (547 km) long, 150 ft (46 m) wide, and 12
ft (4 m) deep. Now used mainly for pleasure
boating, it is part of the New York State Canal
System.
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1825 Erie Canal
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Erie Canal in 1890
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Railroads

• Fast, reliable, cheaper than canals, and not
  frozen over in the winter
• First railroad appeared in the U.S. in 1828

Stourbridge Lion "The Delaware Hudson" (DH
collection)
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Continental Economy

• South Produced cotton
• West Produced grain and livestock
• East Produced manufactured goods, machines and
  textiles
• Roads, steamboats, canals and railroads allowed
  for transportation of goods throughout the
  country.
• Widened gap between rich and poor

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Transatlantic Cable

• On midnight, 28 July, 1858 H.M.S. Agamemnonand
  U.S.N.S. Niagara, each loaded with a suitable
  length of cable, met in mid-ocean, and proceeded
  to pay out the spliced cable in opposite
  directions towards their respective home ports. .
  
•   On 5 August, a total of 3240 km had been laid,
  the Agamemnon now anchored in Dowlas Bay,
  Valentia, Ireland and the Niagara anchored in
  Trinity Bay, Newfoundland.  At 2.45 a.m. of that
  day the first telegraphic message passed across
  the Atlantic Ocean.  It merely announced to the
  Niagara that the Agamemnon had landed the
  cable." 
• (From Semaphore to Satellite, Published by the
  International Telecommunication Union, Geneva
  1965)

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Transatlantic Cable
The H.M.S. Agamemnon Laying Cable (1858)
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Pony Express

• Established in 1860 to carry mail speedily from
  St. Joseph, Missouri, to Sacramento, California.