population increased rapidly and movement towards cities in the north and northwest
grew more rapidly than Europe because of better public health
low mortality rate and high birth rate, mothers on average had 6.15 kids
many more kids lived to adulthood
-low immigration in first decades but boomed later on due to lower transportation cost and economic opportunities
huge surge of Irish Catholics
agriculture wore out in northeast, causing movement to NE cities or the west
NY grew large from its harbor position
Immigration and Urban Growth, 1840-1860
26% of people in free states lived in cities or towns
in south urban population only grew from 6-14% (1840-1860)
western agriculture supported urban growth
Cincinnati, St. Louis, Pitt, Louisville grew off Mississippi River
shipping lanes in Great Lakes: Detroit, Chicago, Buffalo, and Cleveland
total population grew from 23 to 31 million in 1850s
population larger than Great Britain and rivalling Germany and France
Pgs. 259, 262-263
Surging Immigration and German and Irish Immigrants
Many immigrants from Europe from 1840-1850 made the trip to the American country.
Cities such as New York, St. Louis, Chicago, and Milwaukee received a great deal of immigrants
Few immigrants went to the South
An overwhelming amount of these immigrants came from Germany and Ireland.
People came from Germany because of the “economic dislocations” from the industrial revolution. These issues caused a great deal of poverty in the country.
The collapse of the liberal revolution in 1848 was another reason to emigrate.
Many of the German immigrants settled in the Northwest where they became farmers or went into business.
Many Irish came from their country because of the Irish potato famine from
1845-1849.
The Irish immigrants arrived with almost nothing so they settled in the eastern areas and they made the amount of unskilled laborers go up.
The Rise of Nativism
Some of the native born Americans welcomed the new amount of immigrants because the immigrants provided cheap labor.
Political leaders in the West also wanted to bring in new immigrants to swell their population and increase their influence in the region.
Wisconsin permitted foreign born residents to become voters as soon as they had declared their intention of seeking citizenship and had lived in the state for a year.
Other western states followed its lead.
Other Americans formed the idea of “nativism,” a defense of native born people and a hostility towards the foreign born people. They wished to slow or stop the immigration process.
Many nativists argued that the immigrants were inferior to native born Americans. Some even compared the immigrants to the slaves of the country.
Nativists also believed that foreigners were unable to live next to “older stock” people.
Workers were angered because the immigrants were stealing jobs from hard working Americans natives.
Protestants were wary of the influence of the Irish Catholics in America and warned of the growing influence of the pope in the country.
Whigs were enraged because of the great amount of Democratic votes received from the immigrants. They also feared the immigrants would bring radical ideas to American politics.
Secret Societies began to emerge to combat what they called the “alien menace”. Nativists formed the Native American Party in 1845 and other nativists formed the Supreme Order of the Star Spangled Banner in 1850.
The Supreme Order promoted a list of demands that banned Catholics or foreign-born people from holding public office, more restrictive naturalization laws, and literacy tests for voting.
The “Know Nothings” also emerged in this time and these were people who were part of the Supreme Order and they used the password “I know nothing” to get into the secret lodges.
Know Nothings directed their attention to the elections of 1854 and formed a political party known as the American Party.
They had a great deal of success in the East and took control of the state government in Massachusetts but after 1854 their power declined.
Transportation, Communications, and Technology
Progress in the transportation area would allow the United States to improve communication and trade across the expanding country.
The Canal Age
During the turnpike era (1790-1820s), Americans relied on the newly built roads to commute across the country.
Americans sought a new pathway to travel and trade and they found an answer: canals.
The larger rivers in the region had been important transportation routes for years but they provided problems for flat barges.
The emergence of steamboats allowed for people to travel upstream and trade increased greatly. New Orleans became a very important trade center for the United States.
Pgs. 264-266
The Canal Age
Need for canals because farmers from West paid more to transfer goods and people in East paid more to purchase them.
Canals would allow farmers to send goods cheaper and therefore let Eastern consumers buy them for cheaper.
Although sending goods via highways on the ground worked better, the price was still too high to ship some necessary goods.
Canals
4 horses could haul one and a half tons of goods 18 miles a day on the turnpikes.
Same 4 horses walking along towpaths of canals could draw a boatload of 100 tons 24 miles per day.
This opportunity granted interest in canal building.
Canal building left to the states because it was too expensive for private businesses.
First state to act was New York.
Erie Canal
Approved by governed De Witt Clinton in 1817, digging began on July 4, 1817.
Great success, tolls covered the cost to build in 7 years.
Opened up trade between East and emerging western cities.
Led several other Eastern cities to attempt to build canals to keep up with New York.
The Early Railroads
Railroads emerged even before the height of the canal age.
Result of several inventions
Invention of tracks
Steam powered locomotives
Railroad cars that could hold either passengers or freight.
In 1804, John Stevens ran a locomotive and cars around a circular track at his New Jersey Estate.
In 1825, the Stockton and Darlington Railroad Company in England opened a small track and started to carry general traffic.
Interest grows in the new idea
Interest especially grows in Northeastern cities who desire to communicate with the West.
Baltimore and Ohio ran train through a 13 mile stretch in 1830, the first company to begin operations in America
Mohawk and Hudson ran trains between Schenectady and Albany in 1831
More than 1000 miles of track in 11 states by 1836
Issues with the Railroads
Usually only used to connect two water routes
Different lines often were different widths so cars from one line couldn’t fit into another
Schedules were erratic, so wrecks were frequent
Led to a competition between canals and Railroads
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company blocked the expansion of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad
The state of New York prohibited railroads from hauling freight in completion with the Erie Canal and its branches
The Triumphs of the Rails
After 1840, railroads were dominant modes of transport.
2818 miles of track in 1840; 9021 miles of track in 1840
Northeast had twice the amount of track as west and four times that of the south
Consolidation- Connecting shorter lines to become smaller lines.
Railroads took West’s dependence on the Mississippi River away, wherefore weakening their connection with the south.
Funding of the Railroads
Paid for by private investors, states, counties, cities, and towns, all eager to have railroads serve them
Federal government provided assistance in the form of public land grants
Stephen Douglas convinced Congress to grant federal lands to aid the Illinois Central build a railroad from Chicago the Gulf of Mexico
By 1860, Congress gave over 30 million acres to 11 states to assist railroad construction
Innovations in Communications and Journalism
Telegraph was critical to the railroad
Placed along the tracks, connecting one station to another
The telegraph.
Tied the nation together but also reinforced the schism between the north and south
Telegraph lines far more common in the north than the south
Created by Samuel Morse, who sent a message from Baltimore to DC about the nomination of Polk
More than 50000 miles of wire by 1860
Pacific telegraph between New York and San Francisco
Formed one big company, the Western Union Telegraph Company
New forms of Journalism
In 1846, Richard Hoe invented the steam cylinder rotary press, which allowed newspapers to be mass produced
In 1846, newspapers around the nation formed the Associated Press to promote cooperative news gathering by wire.
Newspaper sprouted in Northeast
Horace Greeley’s Tribune
James Gordon’s Herald
Henry Raymond’s Times
Gave attention to national and international events.
Pgs. 268-270
Commerce and Industry
By the middle years of the 19th century, the U.S. had developed the beginnings of a modern capitalist economy and advanced industrial capacity
economy growing so rapidly rewards of technological innovations were so great
by 1830s: American technology was so advanced (particularly in textiles) that industrialists from Great Britain and Europe traveled to the U.S. to learn new techniques
the manufacturing of machine tools (tools to make machine parts) was an important contribution
research and development was backed by the government and often in connection with the military
ex: Government Armory in Springfield, Mass. developed two important tools
1) turret lathe: used for cutting metal parts
2) universal milling machine: replaced hand chiseling of parts
precision grind machine designed to help Army produce standard rifles in the 1850s
Federal Armories became the breeding ground for technological discovers
magnet for craftsmen/factory owners looking for ideas they could use
By 1840s machine tools in the North East were better than most in Europe
Interchangeable parts: introduced in other industries
created by Eli Whitney and Simeon North to gun factories
would revolutionize watch/clock making, manufacturing of locomotives/steam engines, and making of many farm tools
paved the way for the eventual automobile
new sources of energy introduced
coal replacing wood and water as fuel for factories
mined around Pittsburgh and West Pennsylvania
made it possible to locate mills away from running streams and thus permitted industry to expand more widely
American investors responsible of great technological advances
1830: 544 patented inventions — 1860: 4,778
ex: 1839, Charles Goodyear, a New England hardware merchant, discovered a method of vulcanizing rubber
by 1860 there were over 500 that had helped to create the major American Rubber industry
the Howe-Singer machine was soon being used to manufacture ready to wear clothing
Even with all the advancement, most of the American industry still relied on water power (1820s)
the 1st important factories in New England towns emerged where they did because they were able to harness the power of natural waterfalls that could be channeled
sometimes factories had to close in the winter because the rivers froze
this was one reason factory owners began to look for an alternative source of power
led them (late 1830s) to rely more on steam power and other transportable sources — wood and coal
Men and Women at Work:
manufacturers relied on the support of labor despite the advances in technology
1820s and 30s: factory labor was primarily native born population
1840s: immigrant population became an important source of workers
Recruiting A Native Workforce: not an easy task
90% of Americans in the 1820s still lived/worked on farms
urban residents:
many skilled workers who have good and stable jobs
unskilled workers: not numerous enough
beginnings of an industrial labor supply came from the transformation of agriculture in the 19th century (3 things)
opening of vast and fertile farmlands in the Midwest
improvements in transportation
development of new farm machinery
all combined to increase food production dramatically
new farming methods were less labor intensive and required less workers in the West than in the less fertile North East
no longer did each region have to feed itself entirely from its own farms
as a result farmers in infertile East began to abandon the relatively unprofitable industry
In the North East, especially New England, where poor lands had always placed harsh limits on productivity, rural people began leaving the land to work in the factories
Food production drastically increased due to the opening of fertile new farmlands in the Midwest, the improvement of transportation systems, and the development of new farm machinery
Regions no longer had to feed themselves from their own farms, but could instead import food from other regions.
This allowed farmers in the Northeast to leave their relatively unprofitable farming areas and work in factories
There were 2 systems of recruitment to bring the new labor supply to the expanding textile mills
Bring whole families from the farm to the mill
Enlist young women
This was known as the Lowell or Waltham System
Labor conditions in the early years of the factory system were relatively good
Women who were in the Lowell System lived in clean boardinghouses and dormitories, were well fed and carefully supervised, were paid wages that were generous by the standards of the time, and were given sufficient free time.
Women had enough time to write and publish a monthly magazine: the Lowell Offering
Despite relatively good working conditions, workers found the transition from farm life to factory work difficult
The Lowell System did survive long
Manufacturers found it difficult to maintain the high living standards and the attractive working conditions they started with in the competitive textile market
Wages declined, the work hours increased, and the conditions of boardinghouses deteriorated
The mill workers in Lowell organized a union in 1834 called the Factory Girls Association
This union staged a strike to protest a 25% wage cut
Two years later, this union struck against a rent increase in the boardinghouses
8 years later, the militant Sarah Bagley led the Lowell women and created the Female Labor Reform Association
They demanded a ten-hour day and improvements in conditions in the mills
This organization also turned to the state government and asked for legislative investigation of conditions in the mills
The Immigrant Workforce
The quickly increasing supply of immigrant workers after 1840 was a boom to manufacturers and other entrepreneurs
They now had access to a source of labor that was large and inexpensive
These immigrants typically encountered worse working conditions than women
Construction gangs made up mainly of Irish immigrants performed heavy work on turnpikes, canals and railroads
The wages they received were so low, they couldn’t support their families in minimal comfort
The arrival of Irish workers increased the deterioration of working conditions in New England
There was less social pressure on owners to provide a decent environment for Irish workers than there was for native women
Employers began paying piece rates (wages tied to how much a worker produced) and employed other devices to speed up production and use the labor force more profitably and efficiently
The town of Lowell, which was once a model for foreign visitors of enlightened industrial development, became a slum by the mid 1840’s
Conditions in most American factory towns weren’t as bad as those in England and Europe
Factories were becoming large, noisy, unsanitary, and dangerous places to work
The average workday was extending to 12, sometimes 14 hours
Wages declined; male workers could earn $4-10 a week, unskilled laborers could earn $1-6 a week, and women and children earned less than most men
The Factory System and the Artisan Tradition
Skilled artisans suffered from the transition to the modern factory system
The factory system threatened that world with obsolescence
Some artisans made successful transitions into small-scale industry, but others found themselves unable to compete with the new factory-made goods that sold for much less than the artisans’ prices
To fight competition from industrial capitalists, craftsmen began in the early 19th century to form workingmen’s political parties and the first American labor unions
They formed these organizations to protect their endangered positions and to resist the new economic order
Professions that participated in this included printer, cordwainers, carpenters, joiners, masons, plasterers, hatters, and shipbuilders
In prominent cities such as Philadelphia, Baltimore, Boston, and New York, the skilled works of each craft formed societies for mutual aid
These craft societies began to combine on a citywide basis and set up central organizations known as trade unions in the 1820s and 1830s
With the widening of markets, the economies of cities were interconnected, giving advantages to workers who joined forces
Workers established national unions or federations of local ones
The National Trades’ Union was formed in 1834 by delegates from six cities
In 1836, the printers and cordwainers set up their own national craft unions
The early craft union movement fared poorly
Labor leaders struggled against the handicap of hostile laws and hostile courts
The common law viewed the combination among works as an illegal conspiracy