Industry and Sectionalism

Objectives Analyze why industrialization took root in the northern part of the United States. Describe the impact of industrialization on northern life. Analyze the reasons that agriculture and slavery became entrenched in the South.

Terms and People Tariff of 1816 – a tax on imports designed to protect American industry capital – money used to invest in factories or other productive assets labor union – a group of workers who unite to seek better pay and working conditions nativist – person opposed to immigrants and immigration cotton gin – machine invented by Eli Whitney in 1793 to quickly separate seeds from cotton fibers

How did the North and the South differ during the first half of the 1800s? Industrialization occurred mainly in the Northeast, while cotton production deepened the South’s dependence on slavery. These two geographical regions developed in different ways, creating a complicated political environment.

Although Thomas Jefferson favored a nation of farmers, Democratic Republican policies in contributed to the growth of American industry in the early 1800s. The embargo of 1807 and the War of 1812 cut off the supply of British goods, leading to the growth of American industry. The Tariff of 1816 protected American industry by increasing the price of imported goods. American manufacturers benefited from the tariff, but the higher prices hurt farmers.

In the early nineteenth century, the North embraced industry. Factory owners had access to capital, or money, for investment. Immigrants provided inexpensive labor. Swiftly flowing rivers provided cheap power. Canals made it easier and cheaper for manufacturers to ship their goods.

In the early nineteenth century, workers tried to unite but were not very successful. The Workingmen’s Party failed in both state and local elections in 1820. The Workingmen’s Party supported the right of workers to form labor unions, organizations that unite to improve pay and working conditions. Early labor unions focused primarily on helping skilled tradesmen, such as carpenters and printers.

The Lowell girls were forced to accept pay cuts when their protests failed in 1834 and 1836. Factory owners frequently turned to sympathetic judges for assistance. A New York court convicted twenty tailors of conspiracy for forming a union in 1835. Early attempts to force employers to raise pay through strikes seldom succeeded.

The industrial revolution brought about the emergence of a middle class. The middle class was made up of managers, clerks, accountants, and retailers, who worked in offices outside the home. The middle class was economically above laborers but below business owners. The middle class moved away from the crowded city, which led to socially segregated neighborhoods. Middle class women began to stay at home.

Immigration changed America’s urban population beginning in the 1840s. Most immigrants came to Northern cities. Few went to the South. Immigration grew from 600,000 per year in the 1830s to 2,800,000 per year in the 1850s. Prior to 1840, most immigrants were English or Scottish. After 1840, a larger percentage were Irish or German. The Irish arrived following a potato famine. The Germans came due to a failed revolution, famine, and depression.

For the first time, many immigrants were Catholic or Jewish. Many Protestants distrusted the Catholic Church and resented immigrants as competitors for jobs. Nativist politicians in the new Whig Party exploited ethnic prejudices and campaigned against immigration and immigrants. In response, most Catholic and Jewish immigrants joined the Democratic Party.

The rapid influx of people caused social, economic and political strains in cities. Various immigrant groups and free Africans competed for jobs and for housing in shabby neighborhoods. This competition led to riots in Philadelphia in 1844 and in Baltimore in 1854. Most immigrants became urban laborers, though some set up businesses or moved to the Midwest.

Although the Founding Fathers had hoped that slavery would gradually fade away, slavery continued in the South. The invention of the cotton gin The expansion of cotton production westward A huge demand for cotton because of industrialization Three developments caused cotton production to surge, making slavery very profitable in the Deep South.

In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. By making it easier to separate the seeds from the cotton fibers, the gin turned cotton from a minor crop into the major export of the American South. Between 1793 and 1820, cotton production rose from 5 million pounds to 170 million pounds a year. Planters expanded or built new cotton plantations throughout the south.

The new plantations filled a demand from factories in the Northeast and Europe as “King Cotton” soon accounted for half the value of all U.S. exports. Importation of slaves was abolished in 1808, causing a huge increase in the cost of a slave from $600 in 1802 to $1,800 in 1860. The slave population grew from 1.5 million in 1820 to 4 million in 1860.

Dependence on “King Cotton” greatly limited the economy of the South. Fluctuating prices led to bankruptcies in bad years and high profits in others. Unlike the North, the South saw very little urban growth. Few immigrants were attracted to the South. The South failed to develop the commercial towns common in the Northeast and Midwest.

As the North’s urban population grew, the South lost political power, especially in the House of Representatives. Southerners feared that Northerners would threaten their investment in slavery. Little was done for poor whites. Illiteracy was three times the rate in the North. Southerners rationalized that slavery was a positive that Christianized and helped Africans.

In 1860, only one in four southern families owned slaves. Three fourths of the families who did own slaves owned fewer than ten. Only a small aristocracy of 3,000 wealthy planters owned 100 or more slaves. The typical slaveholder lived in a farmhouse and worked beside his four or five slaves. While the South defended slavery, slaveholders were actually a small minority.

Most aspired to acquire slaves and a plantation. Southern whites shared a sense of racial superiority and pride in their independence. Most believed that slaves were better off than poor northern factory workers. Most feared that freed blacks would seek a bloody revenge. If so few benefited from slavery, why did Southerners defend the slave system?

Jefferson, Madison, and Washington apologized for slavery as a necessary evil. But by the 1850s, proslavery Southerners defended slavery as a positive good.