1. Toward a National Economy
Chapter 8
Toward a National Economy

2. Gentility and the Consumer Revolution
The democratic revolution was accompanied by widespread emulation of aristocratic behavior
In Europe, gentility was the product of ancestry and cultivated style
In America, gentility was largely defined by possession of material goods
This culture eventually extended even to frontier homes

3. Gentility and the Consumer Revolution
Demand for products resulted in expansion of workshops, increase in numbers of artisans, and desire for labor-saving machines
Need for capital and ways to get raw materials to factories and products to consumers
Market revolution followed by industrial revolution

4. Birth of the Factory Industrial Revolution in Britain by 1770’s
Textiles – cheap and good quality
US wanted British technology – offered bonus
Britain guarded secrets of machinery

5. Birth of the Factory Samuel Slater Left England secretly
Depended on memory to construct machines
Helped establish first American factory in Rhode Island 1790

6. Birth of the Factory First factory Francis Cabot Lowell
Only made cotton thread
Cloth made by cottage industry
Machines worked by nine children
By 1812, 213 factories in existence
Francis Cabot Lowell
Smuggled plans for power loom
Waterpower
Successful factory – changed face of New England

7. An Industrial Proletariat?
Decrease in skilled labor = decrease in ability of workers to influence working conditions
Gap widening between owners/workers and skilled/unskilled workers
Very little class conflict. Why?
Labor – women and children. Good thing?

8. Lowell’s Waltham System
Employed young, unmarried women
Salaries $ $3.25 per week
Company boardinghouses
Strict rules
No cards or alcohol
Developed social life amidst factory
Were not supporting themselves
Established sewing circles
Wrote periodicals and attended lectures

9. Lowell’s Waltham System
Women made up 85 percent of workforce but no women in management
Some “strikes” protested lowered wages and rising boarding costs
By 1840’s, women moving to new jobs as teachers and clerks – mill jobs increasingly going to new Irish immigrants

10. Irish and German Immigrants
US population doubled to 9.6 million between 1790 and 1820 through natural increase
After 1812, immigration increased dramatically
By 1850, US population 23 million – more than 10 percent immigrant
Most came from Germany and Ireland, but also from Britain and Scandinavia

11. Irish and German Immigrants
Push and Pull factors – describe
Poor immigrants had to settle in eastern cities
Immigration stimulated the American economy
Irish caused resentment as they took jobs for lower wages

12. Rise of Corporations
The modern method of organizing large enterprises was through corporations
General opinion that only public infrastructure were entitled to incorporation
Incorporation only possible through act of state legislature
Corporations equated with monopoly and corruption

13. Cotton and the South Demand fueled by Britain’s Industrial Revolution
Introduction of “sea-island” cotton
South needed new commercial crop -hardy “green-seed” cotton not economically viable
Eli Whitney – cotton gin
High profits = more production – spread to other states

14. Revival of Slavery Cotton boom revived slavery
Concept of property rights held back many from demanding manumission
Increased fears of slave revolts – fear led to repression
Increased restrictions on free blacks. Why?

15. Revival of Slavery The Colonization Movement
Black leaders saw colonization as way to escape discrimination – black nationalism
White leaders either saw colonization as way to escape slavery – others did not want free blacks around (deportation)
1817- American Colonization Society founded
Republic of Liberia established
Little enthusiasm by blacks

16. Revival of Slavery Cotton boom put brake on movement – need for labor
Price of slaves doubled – severe decline of manumissions
Clandestine slave trade / increase in domestic trade
Pre-existing state laws barring inter-state slave trade ignored or repealed
Northern blacks experienced segregation

17. Assignment 1 Make a poster that shows
Three problems facing America due to its primitive infrastructure
Solutions introduced to enhance commerce
Outcomes due to these solutions
Use pages

18. Dartmouth College v. Woodward
Assignment 2
How did the following court cases impact America? Use pages
Court Case
Issue Involved
Ruling
Impact
Dartmouth College v. Woodward
McCullough v. Maryland
Gibbons v. Ogden