Economic History of the US Revolution to Civil War, 1776-1860 Lecture #4 Peter Allen Econ 120
US in 1819
First organization of labor After 1815 Rapid industrialization and urbanization Esp. NE and Mid-Atlantic % 1790 1860 change, pa Estimated GDP ($ mm) 180 11,800 6.2% (% manufacturing) 1% 17% Population (million) 4 31.4 3.0% GDP per capita ($) 45 376 3.1%
Labor Force Distribution (thousand/%) Total Ag. Manuf. Mining Trans. 1810 2,330 83.7% 0.0% 0.5% 2.6% 1820 3,135 78.8% 0.0% 0.4% 1.6% 1830 4,200 70.6% 0.0% 0.5% 1.7% 1840 5,660 63.1% 8.8% 0.6% 2.0% 1850 8,250 54.8% 14.5% 1.2% 1.9% 1860 11,110 52.9% 13.8% 1.6% 2.0% % change, pa 3.2%
Figure 11.1 Labor Force Additions from Migration, 1800 1860
Yearly Immigration (thousand) Total England Ireland Germany Other 1845-50 233 34 107 66 26 1851-55 350 47 139 129 35 1856-60 160 38 44 61 27
Growth of Factories and Factory Employees NE, 1820-50 (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%
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, 1835-60 12-hour day ½ hour for meals 6-day, 72-hour work week Sunday off
Concentration of Wealth % of all capital assets held by Richest 1% Richest 10% 1776 13 48 1860 29 73
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
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
Real Wages, Adult Males in Manufacturing Avg. Growth 1820 1832 1850 1860 per annum New England 101 131-154 149-188 164-197 1.3-1.7 Mid Atlantic 100 122-143 159-202 157-188 1.2-1.6 Total 101 128-150 155-197 159-191 1.2-1.6 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., 1836-60 Deflation, 1820-mid-1830s and again in early 1840s Little to no real wage increase in 1850s (1854/1857 recessions)
Wage Differential England v. the US, 1820-21 (English Wage = 100)
Figure 11.2 Market for Manufacturing Workers
Figure 11.3 Market for Manufacturing Workers by Skill
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
Cotton gin, patented March 1794 Eli Whitney Huge increase in productivity One worker 55 lbs./day Instead of 1 lb. 5,400%
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
Map 8.4 Shifts in Cotton Cultivation
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
Table 13.4 Economies of Scale in Southern Agriculture (Index of Free Southern Farms)
Table 13.8 Per Capita Income pre- Civil War (1860 Prices)
Table 13.3 Southern Population by Race, 1800-1860 (in mm)
Figure 13.2 Distribution of Slaves in the Western Hemisphere, 1825
Table 13.2 Slave Emancipation in the North for Free-Born
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
Table 13.2 Slave Emancipation in the North for the Free-Born
Map 13.1 Missouri Compromise of 1820
Missouri Compromise, 1820
No Way to Compromise 1820-50: 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
Map 13.2 New Settlements