1. Technology, Culture, and Everyday Life, 1840-1860
Chapter 11

2. Technology & Economic Growth
AGRICULTURAL ADVANCEMENT
TECHNOLOGY AND INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS
THE RAILROAD BOOM
RISING PROSPERITY

3. Agricultural Advancement
In General:
Impact:
Steel Plow: “The Plow That Broke the Plains”
Beginning of large-scale farming in the Midwest
Reduced erosion
Reaper: Fewer people required to harvest
Both: Speeds up farming
Crop: Wheat
Wasteful farming
Some use of fertilizers in the North
Experimentation with specialty farming
McCormick’s Reaper
Reproduction Plow

4. Technology and Industrial Progress
Interchangeable Parts (Eli Whitney) + Machine Tools = Mass Production of goods
Spurs new inventions because they can be mass produced quickly = Profits
Time and Space Change
Morse Code = Faster communication Time Zones =Faster transportation
Transportation spurs development
Urbanization increases
Western settlement increases
Manufacturing increases as areas become more urbanized
Standardization of railway towns

5. The Railroad Boom

6. Rising Prosperity
Stitching by hand-3 hours pair of pants; 7 hours dress
38, 57 – machine
1851 largest factory: machines/yr
,000
,000

7. The Quality of Life DWELLINGS CONVIENIENCES AND INCONVIENENCES
DISEASE AND HEALTH
POPULAR HEALTH MOVEMENTS
PHRENOLOGY

8. Dwellings
Worker’s Row Houses, Farmingdale, NJ

9. Rococo

10. Conveniences & Inconvienences

11. Disease and Health Contagion Theory Miasma Theory
Disease caused by bacteria
Use of quarantine
Miasma Theory
Disease caused by touch
Poisonous gases –drain swamps and clean streets
Medical –Yellow Fever and Cholera Epidemics
Inconclusive debates led individuals to be doubtful of medicine and cynical
toward public health
Medicine did as much harm as good
Professionals do not wash their hands

12. Popular Health Movements
Anesthetics:
Crawford Long & William T.G. Morton
Use of sulfuric ether
Hydropathy Sanatoriums: Middle class women

13. Phrenology Phrenology Response to a need to hire a responsible workers
Analyze character by bumps and depressions in the skull
watch?v=80dZ71Km6_g

14. Democratic Pastimes NEWSPAPERS *NYC-Newspapers and P.T. Barnum
THE THEATER
MINSTREL SHOW
P.T. BARNUM

15. Newspapers
Initially: used as public bulletin boards; used by political parties to get their message to the people
Change: Steam allowed for increased speed of printing presses; result more pages produced in an hour lowered the cost
Result: Rise of the Penny Press; modern concept of news and news reporting; human-interest stories: robberies, murders, raise
Horace Greeley:
Pioneered political and financial analysis rather than recording
Set high standards, least biased reporting
Promoted Whig and Republican ideologies

16. The Theater Disreputable Astor Place Riot
Upperclass vs. Lower class feud
revolved around supporter of actors

17. Minstrel Show Diminish black people by using stereotypes
White men in black face
Result: Reinforced prejudices of working-class whites toward blacks

18. P.T. Barnum Founds museum of curiosities
“There’s A Sucker Born Every Minute”
“You can fool most of the people most of the time”
Founds museum of curiosities
Fabricated discoveries -Hoaxes

20. The Quest for Nationality in Literature & Art
ROOTS OF THE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE
COOPER, EMERSON, THOREAU, FULLER, &WHITMAN
HAWTHORNE, MELVILLE, AND POE
LITERATURE IN THE MARKETPLACE
AMERICAN LANDSCAPE PAINTING

21. Roots of the American Renaissance
Faster transportation led to a national market for literature and art
Literature and art became democratized
Philosophical basis – Romanticism, push from classicism
Reflects the closing of the frontier in the east
Spurs preservation movements
Distinct American voice

22. American Literature Classicism Romanticism
Standard for beauty was universal
Authors are educated & follow a set standard
Works to show off the education of the writer
Works are never written for profit
Essays, poetry
Works are emotionally charged and reflect the creator’s inner feelings
Standards are individualistic
Works can be profitable
Rise of fiction, novels
More interpretation by individual
Focus on nature

23. Literature: Authors Irving Washington James Fenimore Cooper
Walt Whitman
Henry David Thoreau
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Edgar Allan Poe Pessimistic
Herman Melville

24. Literature Themes Nature –vs- Civilization
All people, not just educated and know the truth if they trust their hearts
Nationalism
Transcendentalism
Characters
Frontiersman – farmers destroy nature
Independent thinkers that do not fit into society

25. Literature Philosophies
Questioned the idea that material and moral progress not necessarily linked
Do people turned themselves into machines to acquire wealth without asking why?
Optimism – Conflicts can be resolved by following your goodness
Structures
Free verse
Thirst for learning
Great fiction not possible – American life not that interesting
Individuals were conflicted, may not always be able to resolve conflicts
Concerned with human motivation and its complexities

26. American Landscape Painting
Hudson River School
Thomas Cole Asher Durand Frederick Church
Theme
Landscapes Glorification of nature
Preserve a vanishing America
Result
Preservation Movement established Integration of nature in urban settings – Frederick Law Olmsted and Central Park

27. Central Park

28. Central Park

29. Thomas Cole: Voyage of Life - Childhood

30. Thomas Cole: Voyage of Life - Youth

31. Thomas Cole: Voyage of Life - Manhood