1. America’s History Seventh Edition
James A. Henretta
Rebecca Edwards
Robert O. Self
America’s History Seventh Edition
CHAPTER 9
Economic Transformation
Copyright © 2011 by Bedford/St. Martin’s

2. I. The American Industrial Revolution
The Division of Labor and the Factory
1. Labor –mass production replaced “outwork system” artisans replaced by unskilled workers and young women-wages declined but lowered cost of consumer goods
2. The Factory-allowed all work to be done in one central location/building-most built along rivers for water power
The American Industrial Revolution
The Division of Labor and the Factory
Labor – mass production enabled products that had been luxury items to be consumed by all; 1820s-1830s Lynn, MA, shoe industry “outwork system” with a “division of labor” established; some work performed by semiskilled laborers, the rest by women working in their homes; workers’ wages declined as more jobs were now available; increased production and lowered costs to consumers.
The Factory – built for production that was not suitable for the outwork system; concentrated production in one location/building; division of labor utilized; “Cincinnati system” for slaughterhouses divided labor among workers efficiently and increased output; use of waterpower started 1780s; by 1830s factories used minerals such as coal instead of water.

4. 1. What effect would the invention of McCormick’s reaper have on the work of these wheat farmers?
(Answer: increased speed and capacity for production; farmers could decrease the number of hours needed for work, while increasing the amount of wheat they produce for the market; increased profits might result in farmers purchasing more land for production; men and women not needed in the wheat fields could be performing other essential chores or producing additional items for market.)
2. What effects – immediate and long term – might such an invention have on farmers’ daily lives?
(Answer: to farm a tract of land would now require fewer hands; the size of farm families might decrease and/or farm families would reorganize their use of family members/laborers; women might spend less time on the farm, more time in the home on domestic duties as they are needed less during wheat harvest.)

5. I. The American Industrial Revolution
The Textile Industry and British Competition
1. American and British Advantages- Textiles were Americas first industry (First Industrial Revolution) British factory technology a guarded secret until Samuel Slater-father of American Industrial revolution
2. Better Machines, Cheaper Workers
The American Industrial Revolution
B. The Textile Industry and British Competition
American and British Advantages – British feared competition from U.S. manufacturers; prohibited “mechanics” from emigrating for fear they would give away secrets of British industry; 1789 émigré Samuel Slater built a mill in Rhode Island credited with starting the Industrial Revolution; British had the advantage of inexpensive shipping, low interest rates, cheap labor from a large population; Americans got help from tariff bills aimed at driving up the costs of imports.
Better Machines, Cheaper Workers – Americans improved upon British technology and recruited young women from farm families as laborers; cities like Lowell, MA, had boardinghouses for the girls with cultural events, moral instruction, strict rules – the “Waltham Plan”; women had decent living conditions and independence compared to farm life; factories could undersell British competitors with these lower wages. 5

7. I. The American Industrial Revolution
American Mechanics and Technological Innovation
1. Mechanics
2. Tools-Eli Whitney created interchangeable parts and the cotton gin
Wageworkers and the Labor Movement
1. Free Workers Form Unions-early unions based on specific skill fought for better working conditions and higher wages-were illegal until 1842
2. Labor Ideology
The American Industrial Revolution
American Mechanics and Technological Innovation
Mechanics – by 1820s “mechanics” were developing innovative factory technology; not formally educated but skillful; Sellers family in Pennsylvania developed a machine to twist woolen yarn and then later built machines to weave wire sieves, built fire hoses, papermaking equipment, and locomotives; family founded the Franklin Institute for instruction in chemistry, math, and mechanical design.
Tools – “machine tools” made parts for other machines; Eli Whitney studied at Yale and developed the cotton gin from technology he devised from women’s hair pins; later Whitney built machine tools to produce interchangeable musket parts; early 19th century saw inventions such as lathes, planers, boring machines; these inventions helped to increase output beyond the British system.
Wageworkers and the Labor Movement
Free Workers Form Unions – outwork and factory system began to replace craft workers; workers received a wage and direction from an employer; working-class men disliked referring to employers as “master” and instead used Dutch word boss; traditional crafts (carpenters, stonecutters, mason, cabinetmakers) provided a sense of identity that helped men to organize in unions that could then bargain with employers; some artisans left urban areas to set up shops in the country and avoid factory work; both Britain and the U.S. viewed unionization as illegal.
Labor Ideology – 1830 Lynn, MA, shoemakers who were not allowed to organize formed a “mutual benefit society,” others followed bringing workers together on common ground; 1834 National Trade Union formed as first regional union of different trades; 1842 Commonwealth vs. Hunt Supreme Court ruled that unions were not illegal and workers could unionize and strike to enforce a closed-shop agreement; union leaders condemned employers and advocated a “labor theory of value” in which the price reflected the cost of the labor to make a good; 1836 approx. 50 strikes for higher wages in the U.S.; striking women workers in New Hampshire were replaced by poor immigrants.

8. 1. What does this man’s appearance indicate to us about his economic condition?
(Answer: his clothing indicates that he is at least comfortable financially as he not only can afford these clothes but also to have his portrait taken.)
2. How does this woodworker exemplify the artisan-republican ideology of some nineteenth-century laborers?
(Answer: pride in his work, pride in his financial success as a direct result of his skill as a craftsman are components of the value these men put into their goal of owning their own shops and working for themselves, not as dependent wage earners.)
3. In your opinion, how would this man’s life and work be impacted by the increased mechanization of American industries following the Civil War?
(Answer: the growing factory system, scientific management, increased demand for products at lower costs, influx of immigrant labor would together create an environment increasingly hostile to the self-made man.)

9. II. The Market Revolution
The Transportation Revolution Forges Regional Ties
1. Canals and Steamboats Shrink Distance-transportation improvements led to easier more efficient travel and cheaper goods Erie Canal 1825 connected the Hudson River in NY to Lake Erie in the Midwest was a major economic success –paid for by the state of NY after fed govt rejected Clays American System
2. Railroads Foster Regional Ties
The Market Revolution
The Transportation Revolution Forges Regional Ties
Canals and Steamboats Shrink Distance – state governments paid private companies to build toll roads (“turnpikes”); 1806 Congress appropriated money for a National Road built of compacted gravel; began in Maryland in 1811 and reached modern-day West Virginia in 1818, Illinois by 1839; land travel was slow so states turned to increasing water travel; Erie Canal connected the Hudson River to Lake Erie; an enormous project for engineers and mostly Irish workers; changed the ecology of the region as farming communities were built along the waterway and exploited natural resources; huge economic success that encouraged further building of canals in the nation; by 1848 it was possible to travel an all-water route from NYC to New Orleans; steamboats were utilized for travel and transport.
Railroads Foster Regional Ties – NY, Boston, and London capitalists invested in the railroad industry; a boom in the 1850s expanded commerce; Chicago grew as a result of ability to transport goods produced in the Midwest via railroad; mid-western farmers could export their crops to the East and to Europe; factories such as John Deere’s manufacturing of farming equipment grew in the region; Northeast and Midwest had diverse economies while the South was tied to agriculture.

13. II. The Market Revolution
The Growth of Cities and Towns
1. West and Midwest cities grew around factory jobs-Chicago, St Louis, Cincinatti
2. Atlantic Coastal Cities-Philadelphia, NY,Baltimore important port cities as well as financial centers
The Market Revolution
B. The Growth of Cities and Towns
West and Midwest – urban population in U.S. grew substantially; towns grew around factories; those cities that started as locations of commerce eventually grew to be manufacturing centers (Chicago and St. Louis); transit centers (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, New Orleans).
Atlantic Coastal Cities – Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore remained important for import/export but also became financial centers; populations grew as a result of immigration to port cities; New York became the hub for exporting cargo, mail, and people to Liverpool and London, England. 13

15. III. New Social Classes and Cultures
The Business Elite
1. Before Industrialization-more egalitarian as in rich and poor shared common culture mostly through religion
2. The Urban Wealthy-urban merchants,entrepreneurs, and factory owners become wealthy creating distinct social classes and culture gap between rural and urban
The Middle Class
1. Who They Were
2. The Self-Made Man-
New Social Classes and Cultures
The Business Elite
Before Industrialization – Americans considered themselves by rank (“notable families” or those of “lower order”); rural people shared common culture in spite of economic differences, including church affiliation.
The Urban Wealthy – industrialization changed order dramatically; created distinct classes and cultures; differences between rural and urban were increasingly pronounced; small percentage of urban population were becoming extremely wealthy: by 1860 top 10% of wealthy in U.S. owned 70% of the wealth; taxes were mostly paid by consumers as tariffs on products; no tax on individual or corporate income; tried to distinguish themselves from the middle and poor classes through dress and personal property; cities became divided by class, race, ethnicity.
The Middle Class
Who They Were – farmers, mechanics, manufacturers, traders, contractors, lawyers, surveyors, business owners, clerks; mostly in the Northeast, some in the South; per capita income was increasing as the cost of consumer products was declining with industrialization; men worked to supply the family with a comfortable home, transportation, clothing; women had help in the household and time to read books, play piano, decorate their homes; a focus on moral and mental discipline (against carnivals, festivals); stressed schooling and hard work.
The Self-Made Man – notion that one’s work ethic could lead to success/wealth; posthumous publication of Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography (1818) emphasized the importance of being industrious; a central theme of popular culture: the man who works hard and rises from laborer to owner/manager, from poor to middle class or wealthy.

16. III. New Social Classes and Cultures
Urban Workers and the Poor
1. Laborers-low wages in unsafe conditions often included child labor and Irish immigrants in NE cities
2. Alcohol-major social problem among labor class leading to temperance reform movement
The Benevolent Empire
1. Conservative Social Reform-led by churches and middle class women-spoke out against alcohol, prostitution,crime, and domestic abuse and formed organizations to address these
2. Discipline-Cold Water Army among others
New Social Classes and Cultures
Urban Workers and the Poor
Laborers – % of white population worked for someone else; men and women of the lower class worked in dangerous, often temporary jobs; wages often didn’t cover the cost of food/rent; could not afford consumer items that they produced in the factories; children often worked instead of attending school; housing conditions were unsanitary, overcrowded.
Alcohol – solace in alcohol; 1820s-1830s increase in the amount of beer and rum consumed by wage earners; men drank during the workday; resulted in fights, robberies, brawls; not enough police to control resulting problems.
The Benevolent Empire
Conservative Social Reform – Congregational and Presbyterian ministers led benevolence organizations; concerned with alcohol, adultery, prostitution, crime; not simply sermons, but going into the community as organized groups; ex: Prison Discipline Society, American Society for the Promotion of Temperance.
Discipline – benevolent societies encouraged discipline and “regular habits”; wanted to ban drinking alcohol at public events (carnivals); devised institutions to help the need and unruly (homes); argued that working on Sundays was part of society’s decline; boycotts of companies that did business on Sundays (Sabbatarian); opposed by workers and freethinkers; southerners opposed suggestions that slaves be taught Christian religion.

17. III. New Social Classes and Cultures
Charles Grandison Finney: Revivalism and Reform
1. Evangelical Beliefs-emotional tent revivals started in upstate NY preached “free will” to choose salvation
2. Temperance-American Temperance Society was successful
Immigration and Cultural Conflict
1. Irish Poverty-escaped refuge from potato famine with nothing-poorest of all immigrant groups
2. Nativism-anti immigrant and mostly anti Irish because of Religion and perceived job competition
New Social Classes and Cultures
Charles Grandison Finney: Revivalism and Reform
Evangelical Beliefs – intense conversion experience led to his career as a minister; part of the Second Great Awakening; “God has made man a moral free agent” with the ability to choose salvation; “free will”; middle class liked his message; converted people of all classes, especially the wealthy; 1830 moved to Rochester, NY, to preach daily; middle class vowed to change and encourage their workers to change their social habits (drinking, etc.); the Rochester poor and the city’s craft organizations disliked the message because it impeded their freedom outside of the workplace.
Temperance – most successful evangelical social reform effort; 1830s American Temperance Society had more than 200,000 members nationwide; used revivals and group prayer to get their message out; annual consumption was in decline by 1845.
Immigration and Cultural Conflict
Irish Poverty – most immigrants avoided the South because of slavery; poorest migrants because of famine in Ireland; most settle in New England and New York; most lived in squalor in urban areas; Catholics built charitable societies, orphanages, militia companies, parochial schools, political organizations.
Nativism – anti-Catholic sentiment rose as number of Catholics increased in this Protestant nation; Samuel F. B. Morse Foreign Conspiracy Against the Liberties of the United States argued that Catholics would obey the Pope and not the republican government; economic problems worsened anti-Catholic sentiment and increased arguments in favor of immigration restrictions.

18. 1. Who is the intended audience of this 19th-century lithograph?
(Answer: the fine dress of the main character along with the presence of a woman and child near a house indicates that this image was aimed at middle-class, married men.)
2. What message does this illustration endorse?
(Answer: otherwise stable, family men stood to lose everything if they over-indulged in drink, hurting their wives and children, damaging their reputations and health, potentially losing their lives.)
3. How does this lithograph promote the ideology of the Benevolent Empire?
(Answer: encourages the notion of moral discipline promoted by Protestant ministers, including Lyman Beecher, who used persuasion and sometimes law to induce what they perceived as socially-acceptable behaviors.)

19. 1. Examine this image carefully
1. Examine this image carefully. Can you identify the sides in the conflict?
(Answer: Catholics, Protestants, and the Pennsylvania state militia; men in black top hats appear to be of some wealth, representative of Protestants.)
2. What does this image tell us about nativist sentiment in mid-nineteenth-century Philadelphia?
(Answer: northeastern cities experienced population growth as Catholic immigrants entered the country in great numbers; so-called native Americans sought to control the influence of Catholicism in social institutions, including schools; fear and frustrations overflowed into violence.)