Chapter 3: Section 4 The Market Revolution

Market revolution Due to new technology, better transportation and communication a market revolution took place. It involved people buying and selling goods rather than make them for themselves

Free enterprise The fast pace of the US economy in the 1840s coincided with the growth of free enterprise – the freedom of private businesses to operate competitively for profit with little gov regulation Entrepreneurs are businessmen who invest their own money in new industries. They risk losing everything or making a profit

Inventor-entrepreneurs Some inventions fueled economic revolution Samuel Morse patented the telegraph which revolutionized communication Sent messages in code over a wire in seconds Businesses use the new communication device to transmit orders, etc By 1854 there were 23,000 miles of wire

Robert Fulton & the steamboat Steamboat improved transportation 1807 the Clermont made the historic trip up the Hudson river in 32 hours By 1830 over 200 steamboats were transporting goods on all the nation’s rivers

Erie canal Water transport was extremely important in moving heavy cargo & raw materials Where water didn’t exist, canals were created. Canals in the Great Lakes area linked the area with the East Coast

Railroads Eventually railroads will replace canals which offered great advantages in terms of speed and winter travel

Market revolution transforms nation Manufacturing workers in the early 1800s produced more and better goods at lower prices Goods became affordable to ordinary Americans & improved transportation made it possible for people to purchase goods made in distant places.

Interdependence Improved transportation & communication made the country more interdependent (connected) Canals, railroads & steamboats linked all sections of the country Northeast became the center of US commerce Many moved to Midwest to farm New inventions included: John Deere steel plow, Cyrus McCormick reaper South remained agrarian

Changing workplaces Producing goods moved from the home to the factory and this: Split families Created new communities Transformed relationships between workers & employers

Workers seek better conditions Entrepreneurs built the Lowell mills Employed 1000s of women who were paid less Women went on strike in 1834 when Lowell announced 15% pay cut. Eventually went back to work Public opinion was against them In the 1830s & ‘40s there were dozens of strikes but most lost because workers could be replaced with immigrants who desperately needed work

Immigration increases European immigration rose dramatically between 1830 & 1860. Irish immigrants fled Ireland due to the Great Potato Famine They faced prejudice because they were Catholic and poor They were resented also because of their willingness to work as cheap labor.

National trades’ union Trade unions from several industries united in 1834 to form the National Trades’ Union. Faced fierce opposition from bankers & owners. In addition the courts declared strikes illegal In 1842 however, the Mass Supreme Ct supported the workers’ right to strike in the case of Commonwealth v. Hunt.