Economic History of the US

Transcription

1 Economic History of the US Revolution to Civil War, Lecture #4 Peter Allen Econ 120

2 US in 1819

3 First organization of labor After 1815 Rapid industrialization and urbanization Esp. NE and Mid-Atlantic % change, pa Estimated GDP ($ mm) , % (% manufacturing) 1% 17% Population (million) % GDP per capita ($) %

4 Labor Force Distribution (thousand/%) Total Ag. Manuf. Mining Trans , % 0.0% 0.5% 2.6% , % 0.0% 0.4% 1.6% , % 0.0% 0.5% 1.7% , % 8.8% 0.6% 2.0% , % 14.5% 1.2% 1.9% , % 13.8% 1.6% 2.0% % change, pa 3.2%

5 Figure 11.1 Labor Force Additions from Migration,

6 Yearly Immigration (thousand) Total England Ireland Germany Other

7 Growth of Factories and Factory Employees NE, (average per annum) Firm # Workers per Firm Shoes 5.4% 1.9% Cotton textiles 14.8% 3.5% Flour mills 14.4% -1.0% Glass 7.8% 0.4% Hats and caps 11.4% 2.4% Iron mills 10.8% 0.7% Liquor 4.6% 2.1% Paper -3.3% 1.5% Tanning 11.4% 0.3% Wool textiles 8.6% 2.8%

8 Early Industrial Relations Industrial organization Larger and larger production units Rudimentary mechanization Division of labor Specialization, repetition of tasks High proportion of women and children Productivity in textiles, 4.5% pa, hour day ½ hour for meals 6-day, 72-hour work week Sunday off

9 Concentration of Wealth % of all capital assets held by Richest 1% Richest 10%

10 Early Union Movement Growing # of urban workers in close proximity Efforts to organize began immediately New phenomenon economic fluctuation Employment uncertainty and insecurity Labor scarcity, relatively high wages vs. crude labor standards

11 Early Union Movement Before 1860, union members never exceeded 1% of the labor force Contrast with England Craft unions, most successful Largely excluded factory workers, farm workers, domestic servants English Common Law: unions viewed as a criminal conspiracy until 1840

12 Real Wages, Adult Males in Manufacturing Avg. Growth per annum New England Mid Atlantic Total Avg. Wage (pa) $267 $292 $341 $360 PV (2008) 4,061 6,220 8,720 8,530 Productivity growth in textile mills averaged 4.5% p.a., Deflation, 1820-mid-1830s and again in early 1840s Little to no real wage increase in 1850s (1854/1857 recessions)

13 Wage Differential England v. the US, (English Wage = 100)

14 Figure 11.2 Market for Manufacturing Workers

15 Figure 11.3 Market for Manufacturing Workers by Skill

16 Southern Migration Economy of 5 southern states hurt most by: Independence, loss of export market in England Esp. tobacco, indigo, rice Jefferson s effort to stay out of Napoleonic Wars Plantation system revived by Cotton beginning after 1794 Better land and climate conditions as wealthy planters moved westward into Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, W. Texas

17 Cotton gin, patented March 1794 Eli Whitney Huge increase in productivity One worker 55 lbs./day Instead of 1 lb. 5,400%

18 Southern Migration Western plantations Cotton became central to southern agriculture Exported to Europe, also NE textile manufacturing By 1860 Cotton was ½ of all US merchandise exports 10X larger than second largest export, wheat cotton goods/fabric was #1 manufactured export

19 Map 8.4 Shifts in Cotton Cultivation

20 Entrenchment of Slavery Cotton revived southern states economic model Very large-scale plantations with free labor economies of scale Huge profits and wealth build-up, but prevented industrialization, modernization, development, change Little immigration from Europe

21 Table 13.4 Economies of Scale in Southern Agriculture (Index of Free Southern Farms)

22 Table 13.8 Per Capita Income pre- Civil War (1860 Prices)

23 Table 13.3 Southern Population by Race, (in mm)

24 Figure 13.2 Distribution of Slaves in the Western Hemisphere, 1825

25 Table 13.2 Slave Emancipation in the North for Free-Born

26 Decent to Civil War Morality of slavery gradually came to dominate politics Most citizens wanted to contain Fight was over extension to territories Northwest Ordinance (1787) banned slavery there Western migrations kept issue alive Southern states wanted to maintain equal voting power in Senate

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28 Table 13.2 Slave Emancipation in the North for the Free-Born

29 Map 13.1 Missouri Compromise of 1820

30 Missouri Compromise, 1820

31 No Way to Compromise : states admitted in pairs 1850: 15 slave and 15 free states 36 x 30 Mexican Cession, 1848 Compromise of 1850 California, free New Mexico/Utah territories, slave-holding permitted Kansas-Nebraska Act, 1954 and popular sovereignty

32 Map 13.2 New Settlements