Northern Transformations, 1790-1850 Chapter 8 Northern Transformations, 1790-1850

Postcolonial Society, 1790-1815 1789: Generally a nation of farmer householders First goal: Provide sustenance for families Second goal: Attaining “competence” Living up to community standards Protecting long-term independence of their households Most farmers produced a variety of crops and animals Gender distinctions in farm work Household Industry Interdependence between farm families very common Barter rather than cash transactions Changes in inheritance system

Largest cities were all seaport cities Undemocratic distribution of wealth in society Erosion of position of skilled artisans Lost independence Increasing reliance on unskilled “slop” workers Undercut patriarchal status of fathers and husbands Women supplemented family income Backcountry: White settlers adapted some Indian ways Viewed poorly by Easterners Increase in alcohol consumption By 1820, social reformers branded alcohol a threat

The Transportation Revolution Roads National Road: between the Potomac River and the Ohio River at Wheeling, VA President Monroe committed to completion of the road; completed in 1818 Wilderness Road: Cumberland Gap to Kentucky Lancaster Turnpike: Connect Philadelphia and Pittsburgh Land transport very expensive compared to water Rivers Flatboats Keelboats Steamboats Robert Fulton (1807) – first commercial steamboat Robert Fulton’s Clermont plies the Hudson River 2

Erie Canal: completed in 1825 Who had the idea of the canal? What was the importance of the Erie Canal? Railroads Connected cities to rivers and canals Steam locomotive great innovation Baltimore-Ohio (B & O) first railroad By 1840: 3, 328 miles of track; by 1860: about 30,000 miles Tied communities together Made a market society physically possible 5

Railroads in the United States, 1840 and 1860 (c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved 11

The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad’s DeWitt Clinton began service in 1831 (c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved 12

Transportation saves time and money ▪ Freight costs go down ▪ Speeds improved Market-driven economy: “market revolution” Until 1840 markets more regional than national Northeast, Northwest, and Mid-Atlantic states become unified market in 1840s and 1850s 15

Changes Based on the Market System Many New England farmers could not compete with western, frontier farmers Livestock raising replaced mixed farming Provided meat and perishables to factories and cities Less self-sufficient, but standard of living increased Position of outworkers declines; factories increase Households Begin to limit the size of their households Search for privacy and comfort in the houses Declining reliance on neighborliness Domesticity 18

Idealized depiction of rural progress in western New York (c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved 19

Northwestern Farmers Southern settlers kept southern folkways of free range and barter Northern farmers Practiced intensive, market-oriented agriculture Were receptive to improvements in farming techniques (Ex: Iron plows) Others rejected improvements John Chapman

The Industrial Revolution 1820-1870: Greatest period of urban growth in U.S. history Inventions change lifestyles and work Iron plow (1797); John Deere’s steel plow (1855) Cyrus Hall McCormick’s grain reaper (1834) Canned food Gail Borden’s condensed milk Charles Goodyear’s rubber (1844) Elias Howe’s sewing machine (1846) (c) 2003 Wadsworth Group All rights reserved 2

Textile Industry Technological Advancements New England had advantage with rivers for power and transportation Factory Towns Rhode Island (or family) system Samuel Slater Mills/factories built around villages Company store Waltham System (Lowell Mills) Francis Cabot Lowell and the Boston Manufacturing Company Heavily capitalized and mechanized The Lowell Girls

Metropolitan Industrialization Middle class Growth in amount of laborers who made consumer goods Urban working class ▪ Immigrants: Irish and German ▪ Labor unions and labor politics ▪ Nativism ▪ Men skilled labor, women unskilled Piece work = sweated trade Women’s wages Social distinctions between manual and non-manual labor