Topic12 The Dynamics of Growth

Importance of Cotton to the Economy

A. Invention of the Cotton Gin Eli Whitney a. New England inventor whose “cotton gin” changed business in America. b. Use of interchangeable parts revolutionized United States industry in the 1790s.

A. Invention of the Cotton Gin (Cont’d . . .) a. Machine which allowed the cotton to be pulled apart from the seed. b. Revolutionized the cotton industry by lowering the cost of cotton production.

B. Revolutionary Impact of the Cotton Gin Impact on Slavery a. Created “King Cotton” in the South. b. Perpetuated slavery. Encouragement of Westward Migration a. Need for land in Alabama and Mississippi b. Removal of Indians Cotton Became an Important Export

B. Revolutionary Impact of the Cotton Gin (Cont’d . . .) Interchangeable Parts a. Whitney received a contract to produce 10,000+ muskets (delivered in 1809). The idea of interchangeable parts made possible the efficient production of manufactured goods, including musket parts.

II. Westward Movement

A. Opening Roads Wilderness Road National Road a. Trail blazed by Daniel Boone from Philadelphia through Virginia into Kentucky and Tennessee. National Road a. Extended from Maryland to Illinois.

B. River Transportation Flatboats a. Used on the Erie Canal and shallow draft rivers Steamboats a. Robert Fulton & Robert Livingston b. Clermont

B. River Transportation Canal Barges Erie Canal Linkages with Railroads

C. Developing the Railroads Railroad growth (1820—1860) Economy, Speed, and Reliability

D. Early Railroad Successes Results & Successes a. Speed (up to ten miles per hour) was faster than stagecoach or water transportation. b. Settlement increased in the interior without direct access to waterways. c. Growth of markets to support iron production and the manufacturing of engines. d. Annual operation without regard to weather.

E. Ocean Transportation Regular Scheduled Lines Black Ball Line b. By 1845, almost 50 lines operated service between the NYC and Europe.

F. Financing Internal Improvements Turnpikes financed by Private Investment States Sponsor Canals Railroads Financed by Private Investment a. Expanded after the Panic of 1837 Federal Support of Canals a. Stephen A. Douglas (Illinois Senator) b. Support of federal funds to Illinois Central and Ohio Railroads.

E. Ocean Transportation Clipper Ships

G. Communication Revolution Telegraph a. Samuel F.B. Morse b. Invented the electric telegraph and code in 1832 “sparking” a surge in communications.

H. Other Technological Advances & Inventions John Deere a. Invented the steel plow increasing the production of crops on farms.

H. Other Technological Advances & Inventions Cyrus McCormick a. Inventor of the mechanical reaper which increased farm production by 1840. Isaac Singer a. Inventor who improved Elias Howe’s sewing machine in 1846 which increased production of clothing in the home.

H. Other Technological Advances & Inventions Charles Goodyear a. Patented the use of vulcanized rubber making it stronger and more elastic.

I. Results of the Communication & Transportation Revolution Affects: The first half of the 19th century was reshaped economically, socially, and politically with advances in communication and transportation. b. The United States became a thriving nation with an engine of capitalist expansion, investment, and global connectivity.

III. The Growth of Industry

A. Early Manufacturing Britain’s Lead in Industrial Production Early Industrial Mills in the United States a. Samuel Slater b. Francis Cabot Lowell

A. Early Manufacturing (Cont’d . . .) Samuel Slater a. British entrepreneur who established the United States’ first textile (thread) mills in Rhode Island (1793). Francis Cabot Lowell a. Catapulted the textile industry in the production of cloth in the mills he established.

A. Early Manufacturing (Cont’d . . .) Impact of the War of 1812 on Early Textile Manufacturing a. Fueled manufacturing in New England. b. Self-sufficiency and international competition. c. Need for the Tariff of 1816 d. Rise of Sectionalism

B. Technology Steam Engines Practical Orientation of American Ingenuity Impact of Inventions on Living Conditions a. Rubber b. Sewing Machine c. Telegraph

C. Emergence of the factory System “Putting-Out” System Raw Materials made into final products at home. The Lowell System a. Young Women Workers (housed and schooled in towns) Competing Fall River System a. Waterpower facilities built in rural areas. b. Paternalism between workers and factory owners.

D. Ecological Impact Textile Mills on Rivers Water Rights a. Conversion of water (used for livestock & farms) b. Water as a commodity Nature Reshaped a. Displacement of forests b. Pollution

E. Industry & the Growth of Cities Commerce & Industry a. Growth of cities (urbanization) b. Atlantic seaports (NYC leading city) c. Cities: labor, capital, warehousing, trading services, access to information, etc. Geographical Distribution (The North)

IV. Popular Culture

A. Urban Recreation City-life Recreation a. Social drinking and boxing b. Opera houses and theatres

B. The Theatre Urban Theatres a. Mostly men attended. b. “Cult of Domesticity” – Women stayed at home.

C. Minstrel Shows Folk Origins Stephen Foster a. Perpetuated stereotype of contented blacks in the South. b. Popular with white-working class in urban north. Stephen Foster a. Composer of various popular tunes in the mid-19th century (example: “Oh! Susanna”)

V. Immigration

A. Immigration to the United States Attraction & Need for Immigrants a. Rural farming or urban factory employment. b. Opportunity and freedom c. Push and pull factors Flow of Immigration

B. Major Ethnic Groups The Irish a. Circumstances of immigration -- Came to the United States in two large waves (1840s and 1850s) for political and economic reasons (e.g. “Potato Rot” of the 1840s). b. Characteristics of Irish life -- The Irish tended to be unskilled laborers or poor farmers who tended to remain in eastern cities.

B. Major Ethnic Groups (Cont’d . . .) The Irish c. Anti-Irish attitudes -- Irish immigrants were almost entirely Catholic leading to the rise of Nativism. d. Linkage to Andrew Jackson -- Democratic party and hero of the “common man.” e. Ties to Roman Catholicism -- Led to the rise of fears and Nativism.

B. Major Ethnic Groups (Cont’d . . .) The Germans a. Many moved to the United States for economic or political reasons (unification of Germany, 1871). b. Germans tended to be skilled farmers or craftsmen. c. German immigrants (the majority were single males) were Protestant- Lutherans. d. Mobility allowed them to the Mid-west to form communities.

B. Major Ethnic Groups (Cont’d . . .) The British The Scandinavians a. Moved primarily to the Mid-west. The Chinese a. Moved to California in the 1850s. b. Worked primarily in construction (the railroads).

C. Nativist Reaction to Immigrants Reasons for Antagonism toward Immigrants a. Nativists were United States born citizens who opposed immigration into the country. b. Nativists used laws and force to make their point. Nativist Organizations a. In the 1840s and 1850s, many joined the Whig Party and the American “Know-Nothing” Party.

C. Nativist Reaction to Immigrants (Cont’d . . .) Nativism

VI. Labor Organizations

A. Skilled Work in the Revolutionary Era Guild System a. Skilled workers (artisans and craftsmen) operated within a system of trade organizations. Trade Association a. Used to promote the interests of local members in the trade association.

B. Early Organizations Among Craft Workers Commonwealth v. Hunt (1842) a. Massachusetts Supreme Court ruled that forming a trade union was not illegal and that workers could strike if an employer hired non-union laborers. Effort to Create National Trade Unions

C. Labor & Politics Rise & Decline of Labor Parties a. Property requirements removed demand for labor unions. b. Radical wing of Jackson’s Democratic Party. Reforms (State by State) a. Abolition of child labor and monopolies. b. Hard money payment (protect against inflation).

D. Revival of Unions Revival a. Rise in unions appeared in the 1850s. b. Many were local and remained weak. c. The post-Civil War period will see a rise in permanent national unions.

VII. Rise of Professions

A. Specialized Knowledge Rise in Demand a. New Towns required new services b. Common people lack the skills needed by those few that acquire “professional” skills.

B. Causes Technology (Rise of Engineering) Education Literacy Revolution

C. Examples of Professions Professionals a. Retail, schools, banks, medicine, newspapers, etc. b. In Jacksonian America, professionalism was an ideal rewarded by hard work, ambition, and merit. c. Rise of inequality in the age of the “common man.”

D. Role of Women Teaching Volunteer Work

VII. Jacksonian Inequality

A. Examples of Self-Made Men a. If occurred, the formula was usually done through the ownership of the means of production (e.g. factory owners in the north). b. John Jacob Astor (German immigrant) who made money in the fur trade and NY real estate.

B. Greater Social Stratification Wealth Accumulation a. In 1828, the top I percent of the families in major cities (NYC, Philadelphia, and Boston) owned nearly 40 percent of the wealth. b. Inheritance and speculation helped create wealth.

C. Increasing Social Rigidity Social Rigidity Under Jackson a. The irony of the “Age of the Common Man” was that the gap between the wealthy and the poor expanded during Jackson.

D. Inequality in the “Age of the Common Man” a. Despite the inequality which did exist during the Era of Jackson, the expansion of democracy and freedom gave Americans a better standard of living than most Europeans at the time. b. Push and pull factors would attract new immigrants.

Making Connections – Topic 12 Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin had a profound effect on southern economic and social development. Topic 15 describes the economy and society of the “Old South” in greater detail.

Making Connections – Chapter 12 The westward migration traced in this chapter increased tremendously in the 1840s, a trend discussed in Topic14.

Making Connections – Chapter 12 As this chapter demonstrated, the birth and expansion of railroads in the first half of the nineteenth century were an important part of the “dynamics of growth.”

Making Connections – Chapter 12 Topic 16 shows how a proposal for the first transcontinental railroad had an unexpected side effect: it intensified the debate over the spread of slavery westward.