and Study Guide Lesson 2 Early Industry ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS How did the nation s economy help shape its politics? How did the economic differences between the North and the South cause tension? Reading HELPDESK Content Vocabulary free enterprise system market economy in which privately owned businesses have the freedom to operate for a profit with limited government intervention interchangeable parts uniform pieces that can be made in large quantities to replace other identical pieces labor union an organization of workers formed for the purpose of advancing its members interests strike work stoppage by workers to force an employer to meet demands Academic Vocabulary transportation method of travel from one place to another extraction the act or process of drawing or pulling something out
TAKING NOTES: Organizing ACTIVITY As you read about early industry in the United States, complete the graphic organizer below by listing the major milestones in transportation and industrialization that occurred in the United States in the early 1800s. IT MATTERS BECAUSE A revolution in transportation and industry led to great social and economic changes. Early industrialization also led to the growth of Northern towns and cities. A Revolution in Transportation GUIDING QUESTION Why did improved transportation help the nation s economy? In the summer of 1817, workers began building a canal across upstate New York. The new Erie Canal would connect the Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo. The canal would span a colossal 363 miles (584 km). Building the canal was difficult and dangerous. However, the canal workers completed the immense project in 1825. The Erie Canal was an important example of a revolution in transportation in the Northern states in the early 1800s. This revolution led to big social and economic changes. Roads and Turnpikes The nation took the first steps toward a transportation revolution as early as 1806. In that year, Congress called for the surveying of a major east-west highway called the National Road. Construction started in 1811. By 1818 the roadway reached from the Potomac River at Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), on the Ohio River. But the National Road turned out to be the only important federally funded transportation project of its time. Madison and his successors did not believe that the federal government had the power to fund roads and other internal improvements. States, localities, and private businesses built roads instead. New York alone had about 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of toll roads by 1821. Steamboats and Canals Rivers were faster, cheaper, and more efficient at moving goods than were roads. Roads were often just wide paths. A barge could hold many wagonloads of grain or coal. Loaded boats and barges could usually travel only downstream, however. Moving upstream against the current with heavy loads was difficult.
The steamboat changed all that. In 1807 Robert Fulton and Robert R. Livingston amazed the nation when their steamship, the Clermont, traveled 150 miles up the Hudson River from New York City to Albany in just 32 hours. The steamboat made river travel more reliable. Upstream travel became easier. By 1850 over 700 steamboats, also known as riverboats, traveled along the nation s waterways. The rapid rise of river travel and the construction of thousands of miles of canals increased trade and encouraged new economic growth. The Iron Horse Railroad transportation also developed in the early 1800s. In 1830 the locomotive Tom Thumb pulled the nation s first load of train passengers down 13 miles of track. The train traveled at a then-astounding speed of 10 miles per hour. Trains traveled much faster than stagecoaches or wagons. They could go anywhere track was laid. Trains helped settle the West and stimulate trade more than any other form of transportation. The nation laid more than 30,000 miles of railroad track between 1830 and 1861. This increased the demand for coal. Coal was needed to make the iron rails. Coal extraction rose by about 20 million tons. PROGRESS CHECK Identifying Cause and Effect How did steamboats improve transportation? A New System of Production GUIDING QUESTION How did the Industrial Revolution change the economy and way of life? Even as transportation changed greatly, the Industrial Revolution changed business and industry. The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the mid-1700s. This revolution contained several basic developments. Manufacturing changed from using hand tools to using large, complex machines. Unskilled workers replaced skilled artisans. Factories replaced home-based workshops. Industry developed quickly in the United States for several reasons. The U.S. free enterprise system allowed individuals to make money and decide how to use it without strict government controls. This system encouraged innovation. These improvements also encouraged competition and entrepreneurial creativity. The Constitution had removed trade barriers between states. This gave business a wider market. Many states also helped industrialization with laws that let companies become corporations and raise money by issuing stock. These laws limited the amount of money an investor could lose, encouraging investment and prompting economic growth. Full industrialization began in the Northeast. In this region, many streams and rivers could provide textile mills with waterpower. Entrepreneur Francis C. Lowell began opening mills in northeastern Massachusetts in 1814. His mills introduced mass production of cotton cloth to the United States. By 1840 dozens of textile mills had been built in the Northeast. Industrialists also used factory techniques to produce lumber, shoes, leather, wagons, and other products.
Technological Advances A wave of inventions and technological innovations further encouraged the nation s industrial growth. Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton gin, made the use of interchangeable parts popular. Whitney changed gun-making from a one-by-one process into a factory process. This process allowed machines to make large quantities of identical pieces that workers turned into finished goods. Communications also improved. Samuel Morse invented the telegraph and developed the Morse code for sending telegraph messages. By 1844 the first longdistance telegraph line connected Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. Journalism and other businesses needed quick, reliable long-distance communications. Their need drove growth. By 1860 more than 50,000 miles of telegraph wire connected most parts of the country. The Rise of Large Cities Industrialization drew rural people to towns in search of factory jobs with higher wages. Many city populations doubled or tripled. New York City was the country s largest city in the 1820s. It became an important business center with a growing financial network. This led to the growth of the city s financial district on Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange. Workers Begin to Organize The industrial boom created a new kind of laborer, the factory worker. There were 1.3 million factory workers by 1860. As factories grew in size, workers faced longer hours, lower pay, and more unsafe working conditions. Some workers began to join labor unions to help improve wages and working conditions. Most unions were local and focused on a single trade, such as printing or shoemaking. Most unions wanted similar changes. They tried to get higher wages or a shorter, 10-hour workday. Unions did not have much success during this time. Most employers refused to recognize or bargain with them. Strikes, or work stoppages, might have helped the unions to achieve their goals. However, unions did not have the power or money to support strikes. The courts saw unions as unlawful conspiracies that limited free enterprise. In 1835 there was a case in which a union demanded its workers be paid at least one dollar to make a pair of shoes. A New York Court declared that the union could refuse to make shoes for less than $1. However, they could not demand that others could not do the same work for a lower price. Unions did make some gains, however. In 1840 President Martin Van Buren reduced the workday for federal employees to 10 hours. Two years later, in Commonwealth v. Hunt, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that union strikes were legal. PROGRESS CHECK Explaining Why did industrialization begin in the Northeast?
Life in the North GUIDING QUESTION How did the northern United States change during this time? Most of the cities in the North were still fairly small before the Civil War. Their growth would come later. These cities had begun to suffer some of the negative results of growth, however. Some of these effects were crime, overcrowding, and public health problems. Immigration from Europe also added to the growing population and its problems. The population growth in urban centers caused problems for city leaders. Many cities created police departments to combat crime and labor riots. Fire was a major danger in crowded areas. Many structures in cities were still made of wood. Cities had to create professional fire departments. They could not rely on volunteers or the loosely organized fire departments that had existed since _ colonial times. Sanitation was another major challenge. Inadequate sanitation systems were overwhelmed by garbage and human waste as the urban poor crowded into cities. Diseases such as cholera and typhoid broke out in crowded areas. These epidemics eventually led to improvements in municipal sanitation. New York City was the first major city to improve sanitation. Men of all social classes worked outside the home. Many poor women worked either in factories or at home. They often did laundry or sewing for pay. Middleclass women who were not part of a family business were expected to stay at home to create a nurturing environment. In towns, bakeries, butcher shops, clothiers, and candle shops offered goods that women once had to spend long hours making at home. Institutions of higher education were not available to women until the 1830s. Even then few women had the prior education or resources to attend college. Public education was limited, but most Americans could read and write. _ The 1840 census showed that about 80 percent of the total population was literate. This included over 90 percent of the white population. Many young people learned from family members and church schools. Young people also learned from private schools and tutors if they could afford to pay. Some wealthy young men attended college. Free African Americans and those escaping slavery often fled to Northern cities. Most African Americans stayed poor, however. Many African American women worked as domestic servants or laundresses. Many African American men found work in New England s shipping industry as sailors or dockworkers. Cities such as New York and Philadelphia had larger African American populations. In these cities a small African American middle class emerged. This class included carpenters, shoemakers, schoolteachers, and ministers. Industries and cities expanded in the Northeast during the first half of the nineteenth century. However, agriculture remained the country s leading economic activity. On most farms, the whole family shared the work. Fields had to be planted, tended, and plowed. Cows, pigs, and chickens had to be cared for. In the winter months, men and boys made repairs and cut wood for the fire. Women spun thread into yarn and wove cloth for clothing. Until the last decades of the century, farming employed more people and produced more wealth than any other kind of work.
Northern farmers produced enough to sell their surplus in the growing cities and towns. Farmers helped feed the population and their work nourished the region s economy. As parts of the North began concentrating on manufacturing, the South continued to rely on agriculture and the institution of slavery. PROGRESS CHECK Comparing Why was farming more important in the South than in the North?