Chapter 14: Forging the National Economy, 1790-1860

Must Know: Events and People

 Market Economy
o Unlike the completely agriculture based economy of the United States, at the advent of
the 19th century, the economy of the United States began to shift to one where commerce
and manufacturing played an increasing role. Despite this, it was only until after the Civil
War where the United States economy completely transitioned from an agrarian based
economy, as 90% percent of the US economy was dictated by the export of cash crops
such as tobacco and cotton. Focus on exports
 Market Revolution
o This was a “revolution” that transformed a subsistence economy of farms and tiny
workshops into a national network of industry and commerce, with an increasing amount
of normal Americans linking their economic fate to the market economy. As a whole, this
was the linking of northern industries with western and southern farms, which was
created by advances in agriculture, industry, and transportation, and as a result, the
industry of the Untied States was coordinated into a singular economic entity. This
marked America’s transition from an agrarian economy into a firm capitalist society.
 Interchangeable Parts
o This idea was first adopted by Eli Whitney in 1798 and was applied to the manufacturing
of individual parts of muskets, so as to make for easier production and repairs. This was
more widely adopted by 1850.
 Textile Machinery
o The sewing machine was invented by Elias Howe in 1846 but was perfected Isaac
Singer. As a result, the clothing industry of the North was greatly bolstered as a result of
the improved efficiency over hand sewing.
 Steam Engines
o The steam engine, while being around for almost a century, was never really used for
anything of great importance until Robert Fulton in 1807. Fulton installed a powerful
steam engine into a vessel, thus creating the first steamboat, which greatly facilitated
transportation until the advent of railroads, as well as greatly reducing the cost of travel
and transport.
 Internal Improvements
o Note that as a result of the lack of efficient transportation during the War of 1812, when
James Madison, then president, made attempts at mobilizing goods and troops, post-War
of 1812, there was a big push for internal improvements, and was pursued in two distinct
ways throughout the 19th century: The first being federally funded, according to the
American system of Henry Clay, and state/privately funded, like DeWitt Clinton and the
Erie Canal.
 Canals
o With the advent of steamboats, which allowed for travel both upstream and downstream,
canals were made much more efficient and thus, more widely used. Canals and other
methods of transportation led to the widespread movement of peoples westward, creating
new population densities and the spread of new culture and ideas, namely the Second
Great Awakening. Note that canals also decreased the cost of travel.
 Railroads
 o Railroads were the most significant contribution to the development of a market
economy, as it was faster, more reliable, and cheaper than canals, and was not frozen
over during winter. The first appearance of the railroad was in 1828, but the building of
railroads did not really ramp up until the 1850s and 1860s. The early railroads faced
many problems, such as backlash from canal backers, which resulted in New York, a
temporary ban on railroads carrying freight. They also had to face the problem of
faulty/inadequate technologies, such as feeble brakes, and unstandardized gauges. Some
of these problems became fixed though, with the standardization of gauges, better brakes,
safety devices, and an addition of luxury, with the Pullman “sleeping palace” in 1859
 Telegraph
o Samuel F.B. Morse’s telegraph served to more deeply connect an increasingly complex
world, beginning in 1844, as he now connected distantly separated people in almost
instant communication with one another. By the time of the Civil War, a web of wires
spanned the continent, revolutionizing news gathering, diplomacy, and finance.
 Agricultural inventions
o In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, that was fifty times more effective than
the handpicking process of cotton. This allowed for an exponentially more efficient
process of picking cotton, which thus increased the desire for slaves and land, as southern
land owners wished to maximize their profits by increasing volume. This led to the
growth of King Cotton in the South
o Cyrus McCormick’s mechanical mower reaper was introduced in the 1830s, and was
mainly used by the western farmers who grew corn, and had similar effect that the cotton
gin had in the South, increasing production greatly and giving way to larger-scale
agriculture
o John Deere’s steel plow was developed in 1837, and allowed for more efficient planting,
as the contraption was light enough to be pulled by horses, rather than oxen
 Nativist movement
o Nativist sentiments during this time were focused on the influx of immigrants into the
United States, namely the Irish and Roman Catholic immigrants. The Irish, unlike the
Germans, came to the United States to flee great famine (Potato Famine), and thus
arrived at the United States with little to no money to purchase land and move west, as
many German immigrants did. For the same reason, they generally settled on the
Northeastern seaboard, as the South was already occupied by what was the equivalent of
landed aristocracy (cotton planters), and thus were left with the option of factory labor.
As a result of the competition they posed to native citizens of the United States, many
Nativist sentiments regarding competition with jobs arose, which was epitomized through
the “No Irish Need Apply” posters. This also affected the Roman Catholics, as a result of
their affiliation to the pope. This was interpreted by WASPs (White Anglo Saxon
Protestants) as a relinquishment of democracy, as they though that the Roman Catholics’
blind following of the pope’s wishes would make them undermine the procedures of
democracy and the peaceful transfer of power.
Learning Objectives:
1. How fast was the population of America increasing and what were the sources of this population
growth?
 a. By midcentury, the population was still doubling approximately every twenty-five years,
totaling around 31.5 million by 1860, with 33 states being part of the union. The main
reasons for this population growth was a continually high birthrate, and more majorly, the
large influx of immigration, which ramped up significantly during the 1840s.
2. What were important developments in American manufacturing?
a. As a result of the large amount of coal deposits and comparatively greater wealth of
Britain at the outset of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution, and factory mass
production began in that place. America was largely left behind until Samuel Slater,
dubbed the “Father of the Factory System,” brought over plans for a cotton spinner to
the United States in 1791. This sparked an era of American manufacturing.
3. How did the developing factory system affect women and children?
a. Initially, as labor was comparatively scarce (lack of immigrant wage laborers), factory
labor was done by women (“mill girls” of the Lowell system) and children, who both
worked long hours, in unsafe and unsanitary conditions, no prospect of unionized labor,
and low pay. During the 1820s and 1830s though, this began to improve, as the laboring
man became enfranchised during the stint of Jacksonian democracy, who acted as a
pushback against the burgeoning capitalist economy.
4. `What transportation innovations developed and how did they change sectional relationships?
a. During this time, the main transportation innovations that were developed were the
steamboat and canal, the building of highways and national roads, and most importantly,
the railroads. Naturally, these internal improvements led to sectionalism, as most of this
infrastructure was concentrated in the North, much of the economic development and
growth was also in that area, as a multitude of people were travelling along those routes,
bringing culture, and populations to new cities, creating new population densities along
canals and highways. This largely contributed to the regional specialization of the
economy, with the North focusing on commerce and manufacturing, and thus having a
great number of roads and waterways to transport such goods. The south on the other
hand, had comparatively much less transportation methods, as the large-landed planters,
who, as a result of the 3/5 compromise, acted as landed aristocrats, and thus having much
more political power than their northern counterparts per person.

Chapter 15: The Ferment of Reform and Culture, 1790-1860

Must Know: Events and People

 Second Great Awakening

o This was essentially a widespread feeling of religious revivals among American
Protestant Christians that emphasized righteous living, personal restraint, and a strong
moral rectitude that would lead a person and society to salvation. A large contributor to
the spread of this awakening was camp meetings, in which fiery Methodist and Baptist
preachers would speak daily regarding the new ideals of religion. Another major
contributor to this awakening was new forms of transportation, which allowed for people
to spread ideas quicker. This was emphasized in the “Burned-Over District” of Western
New York. As a result of the Erie Canal, population densities were moving increasingly
westward, causing the movement of sermonizers preaching and great intolerance to that
region.
 Romantic beliefs on human perfectibility
 o Romanticism was a movement that emphasized emotion and human perfectibility, which
beliefs culminated in the philosophy of transcendentalism, which emphasized
individualism and self-reliance. This philosophy gained much traction, of which
philosophy Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were the best known.
 Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasized individualism and self-reliance
 Henry David Thoreau was adamantly anti-slavery, emphasizing civil
disobedience, and a seeking of human perfection
 Women’s rights
o During this time was the rise of the idea of “the cult of domesticity,” which basically
denoted the home and all other domestic activities as in the sphere of women. Some
women though were not interested in this life, and began to make strides that would
eventually tear down the bars separating the gendered spheres of men and women.
 Some women found opportunity for reform not only in first-wave feminism, but
also the general reform movements of the age, like temperance, and most
prominently, the abolition of slavery.
o The culmination of the women’s rights movement during this time period was the
Woman’s Rights Convention (1848) at Seneca Falls, New York, in which Elizabeth
Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott produced the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions,
in which sentiments of female disenfranchisement from society were expressed
 Abolition
o As a result of the reforming spirit of the times, which was brought about by the fiery
nature of the Second Great Awakening, a wide variety of abolition was brought about,
from those who supported gradual emancipation, to those who wised for an immediate
end to slavery, no matter the cost to the slave owners. During this time, there was also an
added religious component, as the Second Great Awakening had instilled the idea in
some that slavery was a sinful institution.
 Art, architecture, and literature
o During this time, there was a shift from a more borrowed, European style of culture,
which encompassed art, architecture, and literature, to a distinct American style of such
things, which was helped by the Romantic movement. During this time, there was a
classic (Greco-Roman) revivalism in the arts and architecture, and the creation of an
original American literary tradition.
Learning Objectives:
1. How did Deism, the Second Great Awakening, continued denominational fragmentation, and
Mormons shape American religious life?
a. Note that Deists
2. What educational developments occurred in the first half of the nineteenth century?
3. Who led the various reform movements in the early half of the nineteenth century?
4. How did Americans contribute to the advance of science during this time?
5. Who were America’s foremost artistic and literary figures in the first half of the nineteenth
century?
6. What were the significant changes in American art and literature in the first half of the nineteenth
century?
Chapter 16: The South and the Slavery Controversy, 1793-1860
Must Know: Events of People

 Institution of slavery
 Demands of cultivating southern cotton
 Internal slave trade
 Free African Americans
 Abolitionist Movement
 Anti-black sentiment in popular and political culture
 Southern defense of slavery as a positive good

Learning Objectives:
1. What were the rungs on the social ladder of the South?
2. Where and how did slaves live in the South?
3. What did slaves do to resist the “peculiar institution?”
4. Who were prominent abolitionists, and what distinguished one from another?
5. How did the South react to the growing agitation of abolitionists?