Chapter 14 p. 303 - 311

Workers and “Wage Slaves” The system of factory labor led to impersonal relations between employers and workers. Employees worked long hours in hazardous conditions for little pay. Roughly half of the workforce comprised children under 18. Especially vulnerable to exploitation were child workers. In 1820 a significant portion of the nation’s industrial toilers were children under ten years of age. A couple of “wage slaves”

President Martin Van Buren In the 1820s and 30s, conditions for adult workers improved significantly due largely to the enfranchisement of the working man. Laborers were granted shorter ten hour work days, higher wages, and debt was made no longer punishable by imprisonment. In the 1840s, President Van Buren established a ten hour work day for federal employees. Before unions, striking workers were often replaced by cheaper immigrants. President Martin Van Buren (in office 1837-1841)

Labor unions began to form in the 1830s, but struggled with the Panic of 1837. In 1842, the Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled (in the case of Commonwealth v. Hunt) that unions formed for the purpose of “peaceful and honorable protest” were lawful. Early unions were ineffective due to the high availability of “scab” labor, and it would take another 100 years before laborers could meet with management on relatively even terms. A political cartoon accusing the Jacksonian Democrats of being the cause of the Panic of 1837.

An engraving of a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts. Women and the Economy Women also toiled in factories under harsh conditions. An exception was a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts. The mill employed mostly women, and was a model of good treatment for employees. Opportunities were rare and women mainly worked in nursing, domestic service, and teaching (inspired by Catharine Beecher). An engraving of a textile mill in Lowell, Massachusetts.

The very first “family game night.” Women were mostly employed before marriage, becoming housewives and mothers afterward. Betrothment died down as marriages of actual love tied families closer. The average family became smaller (only six members!) as fertility rates dropped sharply. “Domestic feminism” became a form of birth control. Families began to center around the children. A “cult of domesticity” glorified the traditional role of women as homemakers. Home transformed from a place of labor into a place of refuge from labor. Women were in charge of the family, and the home became a small arena for talented women. The very first “family game night.”

Western Farmers Reap a Revolution in the Fields The trans-Allegheny region (Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois) became the nation’s breadbasket. Corn and hogs became staple crops. Cincinnati came to be known as the “Porkopolis” of the West. Almost makes you proud, doesn’t it?

A series of inventions were of great benefit to the agricultural industry. John Deere invented the steel plow that cut through hard soil and could be pulled by horses. Cyrus McCormick (whose name you almost never find on trucker caps) invented the mechanical mower-reaper to harvest grain more expediently. Far Left: Cyrus McCormick (1809-1884) Near Left: His mower-reaper Far Above: John Deere (1804-1886) Near Above: His logo

The new developments led to large-scale productions and the prevalence of cash crops. While the North produced mostly food, the South grew cotton. Products were shipped between the North and South via the Atlantic Ocean and rivers (primarily the Mississippi). Cotton

Highways and Steamboats Improvements in transportation were needed for raw material transport. The Lancaster Turnpike, first used in 1795, was a paved road from Philadelphia to Lancaster, PA that brought economic expansion westward. Constructed by the federal government, the National Road (a.k.a. Cumberland Road) began in Cumberland, MD. It traveled through Wheeling, OH and ended in Vandalia, IL. Following the heyday of the National Road, the towns of Cumberland, Wheeling, and Vandalia were never heard from again.

A sketch of the Clermont In 1807, Robert Fulton invented the first steamboat. Dubbed “Fulton’s Folly” by skeptics, it came to be called the Clermont. By the 1830s, steamboats were commonplace. The powerful steamboats didn’t have to wait for fair weather conditions to travel, and trade in the United States boomed. The steamboat further contributed to the development of Western and Southern economies. Robert Fulton (1765-1815) A sketch of the Clermont