1. Chapter 14: Forging the National Economy (1790-1860)

2. Heading West Hard, filled w/disease and loneliness, DEATH
Frontier people – superstitious & ignorant
Molded the Environment
Kentucky Bluegrass thrived – ideal pasture land
Settlers trapped beaver, sea otters, Bison sent it back East
Nationalism led to appreciation for American Wilderness
Artist George Catlin – national parks (Yellowstone 1872)

3. By 1860 there are 33 states, American Population was 4th in the World
43 cities by 1860 had populations greater than 20,000
W/Growth came:
Poor sanitation – later sewage systems & piped-in water came about
1850’s – millions of Irish and German migrated to the U.S.
WHY: Land, Free Religion, No Aristocracy, 3 Meat meals a day, plus transoceanic steamships cut down time travel

4. Irish Potato Famine – Mid 1840’s killed over 2 million
Known as the “Black Forties” – came to Boston & New York *
They were :
Illiterate, discriminated a/g
Lowest paying jobs
Hated by Protestants
Americans HATED the Irish (NINA) No Irish Need Apply
Ancient Order of Hibernians – estab. To help Irish
Liked: Politics, became Police Officers

7. German 48’s
Millions of Germans came to U.S. B/W ’s – 1860’s BECAUSE; crop failures & revolution/war of 1848
More Money than the Irish bought land West (Wisconsin)
Contributed to U.S. Culture: Christmas Tree & Isolationism
Urged Public Education (Kindergarten) HATED SLAVERY
Americans resented the Germans b/c:
Kept to themselves
Clung to their old ways
Kept speaking German & Kept Religion
Brought BEER? Seriously?

8. Why People Hated Immigrants
Nativists – Older Americans who were prejudiced (HATED) immigrants because they threatened their JOBS, Politics, Religion
Catholicism becomes a major new faith again only after how many years ……… ’s -50’s
Started building Catholic Schools this challenged Protestantism so a group of Racist Bully’s formed a group “Order of the Star Spangled Banner” AKA the “Know-Nothings”
Fought for:
Restrictions on Immigration, naturalization, & deportation
Wrote books about Corruption in Churches
Mass Violence: PA 1844 (burnt churches, schools, people killed)
Eventually time passes and they will be accepted

9. Industrial Revolution
Samuel Slater – Factory System built the 1st cotton thread spinner (Rhode Island)
Eli Whitney – Built Cotton Gin: The South thrived & expanded the cotton westward helped the North w/textiles
Eli Whitney also introduced machine-made inter-changeable parts (MUSKETS) 1850
The assembly line took off in the North-boosted Economy
Elias Howe & Issac Singer 1846 – Sewing Machine
During the 1860’s – 28,000 patents were achieved
Samuel Morse– Invented the telegraph connected the business world

10. Eli Whitney

11. Issac Singer

12. Wage Slaves Factory System – let to impersonal relations
Benefit went to factory owner: long hours, low wages, unsafe conditions & unhealthy WHY (No UNIONS)
1820’s & 1830’s Conditions Improved thanks to the mass vote
10 hr wk day, higher wages, tolerable conditions, public education, ban of imprisonment for debt
1840’s van Buren estab. 10 hr wk day for Federal employees
Many workers went on Strike but it was pointless – they just hired SCABS
Commonwealth v. Hunt = MA Supreme Court ruled (1842) legalized unions for peaceful and honorable protest

15. Women & the Economy
Lowell MA = Model textile mill had young single women
Horrible Working Conditions
Many worked In Nursing, Domestic Services, & Teaching (encouraged by Catherine Beecher)
Wk before marriage after became housewives
Arranged marriages went away & for love marriages tied families closer
Families grew small (6 people) & Fertility rate dropped sharply (Domestic Feminism)
Home changed from a place of labor to a refuge

18. Farmers Reach Revolution
Ohio-Indiana-Illinois Became Nations Bread Basket = planted corn & raised hogs
Inventions Were Born:
John Deere = invented the still plow
Cyrus McCormick = mechanical mower-reaper to harvest grain
These led to lrg-scale production & growth of cash crops
North Begin to grow more food than the South hmm. . .
Products flowed from North to South via sea and river

19. Steel Plow
McCormick Reaper

20. Highways & Steamboats
Lancaster Turnpike – Hard Road from PA to Lancaster PA brought economic expansion westward
Cumberland Road (AKA National Road) = MD to IL w/ state and Federal Money
Robert Fulton Invented 1st Steamboat the Clermont (Common by 1830’s)
Caused an Increase in Trade

21. Gov. Dewitt Clinton’s Big Ditch = The Erie Canal (between Lake Erie & the Hudson River)
Shortened expense and time travel
Cities grew along the canal and food was reduced