HUSH Unit 4 Jefferson, The War of 1812, and the Beginning of the Market Economy
Post War Economic Development A Market Economy is Born
The Transportation Revolution Three Stages: Canals - man made waterways where horses could tow flatbottomed barges Steamboats - ships that relied on the steam engine for power and could be used on rivers, canals or even on ocean-going ships Railroads - first using horse power then shifting toward steam powered propulsion
Roads and Turnpikes Roads: Most were privately built and funded (often as toll roads) The National Road (aka the Cumberland Road) connecting Maryland to Illinois via Ohio and Indiana was funded with some federal money
The National Road (connecting Cumberland, MD to Wheeling, VA) was finished by 1818 Most were private toll roads due to differences between Federalists and Democratic- Republicans Roads in 1825
Steam Power The age of steampowered travel began in 1807 with the successful voyage up the Hudson River of the Clermont, built by Robert Fulton. Commercially operated steamboat lines soon made round-trip shipping on the nation s rivers both faster and cheaper.
Steam Power The number of steamboats in service continued to grow throughout the 1830s and 1840s. Between 1811 and 1880, nearly 6,000 steamboats were built on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers; in St. Louis, 3,184 steamboat arrivals were recorded in 1852
Canals DeWitt Clinton, governor of New York, used state money to build the first canal in America the Erie Canal. It would allow western farmers direct access to New York City. By 1825 the 364-mile-long canal was finished. Here at Lockport, a deep gorge required a series of locks to move barges to the higher water level. Promoted the development of trade with, and rapid settlement of, the old Northwest, and the territories beyond the Mississippi River.
Canals But the Erie Canal was not the only one: Pennsylvania built a 395-mile canal between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh; Ohio developed a series of canals which linked the Ohio river to Lake Erie In the 1840s, Illinois funded a canal to link Chicago and the Great Lakes with the Illinois and Mississippi rivers Although not as profitable as investors wished, all of these canals played important roles in moving manufactured goods and raw materials, and in linking regional economies within the nation.
The Erie Canal (1825) linked Lake Erie and the Hudson River 363 miles Smaller canals also existed, mostly in the North Canals in 1825
Steam Power on Rails The need for more efficient systems to move goods over land led to experiments with rails laid on a road bed. The earliest rail cars were pulled by horses. In 1830 the Tom Thumb took part in a famous race with a horsedrawn rail car. Within a year the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, founded in 1827, had switched from horse to steam power.
Steam Power on Rails The Dewitt Clinton, built for the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, made the 17-mile trip from Albany to Schenectady on August 9, 1831 in the then-unheard-of time of less than an hour. Thousands of miles of track were laid but the lines were primarily located in the North.
Fast sailing ships built beginning in late 1790s/early 1800s Many used a privateers in War of 1812 Built for speed, not large cargo space Clipper Ships
Telegraph Patented in US by Samuel Morse in 1837 Used electrical current to transmit coded messages in series of clicks (short and long) Morse code developed to represent the alphabet and numbers
Internal Improvement Funding of national defense Roads and canals Suggestions for national observatory and a national university Most vetoed as unconstitutional
American Inventions Mostly practical in nature 268 patents 1790-1799 1998 from 1810-1819 2697 from 1820-1829 5616 from 1830-1839 May have been more but a major fire destroyed all early patents in 1836
American Inventions Most well known: Cotton Gin (1793) Refrigeration (1805, 1834) Combine Harvester (1834) Steam Shovel (1835) Vulcanized rubber (1839) Ether anesthetic (1842) Sewing Machine (1846)
The Cotton Gin Eli Whitney, a Yale College graduate who was tutoring in the South, designed an engine that would speed up seed removal. This simple machine was 50 times faster than hand-picking the seeds.
Cotton Gin Cotton fiber had been tremendously expensive; it had taken a full day to pick 1 pound of fiber from 3 pounds of seed before the cotton gin.
Cotton Gin
Changes on the Farm The growth of farms changed the look of America. Initially, farms were self-sufficient for families. Wooden plows failed to cut through the prairie sod in the west; iron ones didn t hold a sharp edge. In 1837, John Deere (IL) produced a steel plow that could handle the tough sod. It was doubly effective because it could be pulled by horses instead of oxen. In 1837, Cyrus McCormick (VA) created the cotton gin of the west - the mechanical mower-reaper (another design was patented by Obed Hussey (OH) in 1833)
Mechanical Reapers The mower-reaper was a horsedrawn machine that cut wheat that was ready to be harvested. It s major advantage was it s speed. It allowed one man to do the work of five men working with sickles and scythes. Farmers rushed to cultivate more land so that more product could be brought to market. Essentially, wheat or corn became cash crops of the trans-allegheny west.
The Steel Plow and Reaper
Industrialization Begins Britain began mechanization in the 1750s in the textile industry. Didn t allow their colonies to develop the machines. Samuel Slater, a British machinist, left England for America in the late 1780s and brought with him memorized plans of how the British machines were constructed.
Industrialization Begins He established the first American textile mill in 1790 at Pawtucket, Massachusetts where the rivers could provide power to the mill. The early mills only produced cotton yarn which had been a huge problem until the invention of the cotton gin.
The American System Tariff of 1816 It was primarily for protection, not revenue Supported by both North and South (only time South supported a tariff) Raised rates to 25-30% depending on item
The Lowell Mills The textile mills, concentrated in New England employed mostly young farm girls who were seeking to raise money before they were married. The Boston Associates mill at Lowell, Massachusetts was a prime example. Girls would work for a number of years in a rigidly controlled environment to save up money for a dowry.
The Lowell Mills
Growth of the Cities In 1790, there were only 2 cities with populations over 20,000 - New York and Philadelphia. By 1860, there were forty-three and about 300 other cities had populations of at least 5,000 inhabitants. Broadway, looking North, in New York City, 1834. These walkup buildings held the workshops and boarding houses for Irish and German immigrants who provided mostly semi-skilled labor.
The March Westward Europe stretches to the Alleghenies, America lies beyond - Ralph Waldo Emerson The young America (half of all Americans were under the age of 30) was expanding westward at a rapid pace. The geographic center of population is the point at which half of the population is east, half west, half north and half south. In 1790, this point was in Maryland (near Baltimore). By 1820, it had moved to what is today West Virginia (along 39 N). By 1840, the center of West Virginia, and by 1860 it was in the center of southern Ohio.
Population Growth 1790-1860 Half of all Americans were under the age of 30. The geographic center of population in 1790, was near Baltimore. By 1820, it was just into West Virginia; by 1840, the center of West Virginia; by 1860 it was in the center of southern Ohio. By 1830, one third of the nation lived west of the Appalachians & Alleghenies.
Immigration by Decade 1,000,000 900,000 800,000 700,000 600,000 500,000 400,000 300,000 200,000 100,000 0 1831-1840 1841-1850 1851-1860 1861-1870 1871-1880 Irish German
Irish & German Immigrants Key Irish Immigrants Fleeing crop failure and starvation Young (under 35) and literate in English Catholic Poor (could not buy land in the west) Concentrated in east coast cities, such as NY and Boston German Immigrants Fleeing crop failure and seeking political asylum Spoke German (and preserved their language) Protestant - but not Puritan Modest wealth ( middle class ) Scattered across the Midwest on purchased farms; sometimes created German communities
Native Reaction Many of the immigrants of the 1840s and 1850s were Catholics. Irish Catholic immigrants flooded into coastal cities, accepting lower wages than native workingmen, creating economic grievances that were added to suspicions against "Popery. Germans were also targeted.
Nativism Know Nothings Secret Society Order of the Star Spangled Banner Short lived political party American Party Generally anti-immigrant but specifically anti- Catholic
National Trades Union Many objected to the poorly skilled factory workers Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) Trade unions legal Most local or specific industries only Formed in 1834 to organize existing unions into a larger national organization More political power Economic downturn in the 1830s ended it
New Professions Men Teachers (especially at first) Lawyers Doctors Engineers Women Mill or factory workers Teachers Nurses