Market Revolution and Transportation Revolution Part 2

The Market Revolution By 1840, improved transportation & innovation reduced time & cost to ship goods & allowed for a national market economy: U.S. developed a self-sustaining national economy of commercial farming & manufactured goods But, the U.S. economy was driven by regional specialization Northern industry Southern cotton production Western commercial farming

The Market Revolution Transportation Revolution Forges Regional Ties Canals, roads, steamboats, railroads, improved transportation, created larger markets, and opened new lands up to settlement Transportation promoted diversified economies in the Northeast and Midwest, but not in the South

Changes in the Social Structure The Business Elite Industrialization led to distinct social classes Urbanization and wealth set the elite apart Federal and state tax policies favored the wealthy Early Industrialization in Ohio

Changes in the Social Structure The Middle Class Up to 30% of the Northeast was middle class by 1840s Growth in income and availability of cheap goods grew middle class Middle class values: education, hard work, discipline “The Progress of the Century” by Currier & Ives

Changes in the Social Structure Urban Workers and the Poor In 1840, ½ of white workers were wage laborers The poor faced low wages, slums and alcoholism NYC Five Points Tenement, c. 1850s

America in 1840 The Antebellum South Cotton production divided society in the Deep South: Large plantations with lots of slaves made good money Poor yeoman (with few or no slaves) mixed commercial & subsistence farming

Slave Population, 1820 Slave Population, 1840 Slave Population, 1860

America in 1840 The Antebellum West Land was cheap Settlers transformed the West from wilderness to cash-producing farms: Wheat & corn Hogs & cattle Better transportation made it easier for farmers to get their goods to market

America in 1840 The Antebellum North Shifted from yeoman to small commercial farming Made manufactured goods for farmers in the West & South Experienced rapid urbanization

The Market Revolution The Growth of Cities and Towns Cities, especially in the West, Midwest and the “fall line” grew quickly NYC with its harbor and Erie Canal dominated foreign and domestic trade Painting of the Erie Canal

U.S. Urban Centers

American Population Centers in 1820

The Market Revolution New innovations made work easier & improved American industry & agriculture However, the U.S. was not an “industrial society” in the 1840s 60% of the population were still involved in farming Most production was still done traditionally in small workshops

Essential Question: What problems developed as a result of American industrialism & immigration from 1840-1860?

Mass Immigration Begins

Mass Immigration Begins From 1840 & 1860, 4 million Irish & Germans immigrated to America Motivations for immigration: Most came for higher wages in northern industrial jobs The potato blight from 1845-1852 brought 1.5 million Irish immigrants Low fares on trans-Atlantic ships made access easier Incentive to mechanize, in part, stimulated by lack of labor in North & South. In addition, the new technology created demand for more industry

Between 1840-1860, millions of immigrants-Irish, German and Britons poured into the U.S. (OLD IMMIGRANTS) Germans settled in the midwest and Irish settled the Northeast. Many were Catholic –met with hostility (Nativism)-America=Protestant

Immigration to the US 1820-1860 Where did immigrants go? Farmers Industrial workers Gold miners Cotton farming & cattle

Mass Immigration Begins In 1836, 4% of the Lowell Mill workers were foreign-born; By 1860 62% were foreign-born Immigrants filled low-paying jobs in northern cities or migrated into the West to become farmers This vast pool of cheap labor provided fuel for the U.S. Industrial Revolution in 1850s In the 1840s, factory labor began to shift from American women & children to immigrant men

Mass Immigration Begins Low immigrant wages contributed to urban slums where poverty, disease, & crime were common This influx of immigration led to urban reform movements: Provided police forces, sanitized water, sewage disposal, & improved housing standards But the immigrant poor were largely unaffected by the results Affluent city dwellers moved to America’s 1st suburbs

Anti-Immigrant Reaction Immigrant groups were met with prejudice (esp the Irish Catholics) & tension in 1840s & 1850s Nativism emerged among American-born citizens: Suspicion of the new ethnic neighborhoods & alien cultures Led to bloody anti-Catholic riots, charges of despotism, & anti-Irish propaganda

Nativist propaganda targeting German & Irish immigrants Anti-Catholic “Native American” mob battling the state militia in Philadelphia in 1844

Conclusions In the 1830s & 1840s, the USA was growing more democratic & economically self-sufficient: Innovation & transportation improvements connected regional specialization into a nation market economy This economic growth will stimulate a sense of “manifest destiny” into the West & sectional divisions between North & South In the 1830s & 1840s, territorial & technological growth led to important changes in America: Improved transportation Rapid technological innovation A growing national economy Mass European immigration Desire for transcontinental expansion (“Manifest Destiny”)

Films and Books Little Women (1994, Columbia Pictures, 115 minutes) Directed by Gillian Armstrong, this film re- creates Louisa May Alcott’s book chronicling the values of the white middle class during the mid- nineteenth century. • Gangs of New York (2002, Miramax Films, 168 minutes) Directed by Martin Scorsese, this reenact- ment of the Five Points district of New York City also illuminates the historical context of immi- gration and nativism in 1846. Literature • Tyler Anbinder, Five Points (New York: Penguin, 2001) Historical fiction at its best. Anbinder illu- minates the challenges faced by Irish immigrants in New York City (as seen in Gangs of New York).