TOWARD A NATIONAL ECONOMY

1. TOWARD A NATIONAL ECONOMY • Gentility and the Consumer Revolution • new attitudes toward material goods and new ways of producing them brought a major economic readjustment; the industrial revolution would change America • ironically, widespread emulation of aristocratic behavior followed America’s democratic revolution

2. in Europe, gentility was the product of ancestry and cultivated style; in America, possession of material goods largely defined gentility • Americans were demanding more goods than traditional craftsmen could produce • producers expanded their workshops, trained more artisans, laid in large stocks of materials, and acquire labor-saving machines • these developments constituted the market revolution of the early 19th century • the industrial revolution came on its heels

3. America’s Industrial Revolution • technology fueled the revolution in manufacturing; spinning machines, cotton gin, and the steamboat wrought profound changes • artisans still produced vast bulk of goods used by Americans • skilled craftsmen performed every stage of fabrication • virtually all of these producers supplied only local needs

4. Birth of the Factory • Britain began mechanizing in 1770s, bringing workers together in buildings called factories and using power from water and later steam • America depended on Britain for manufactured goods until Revolution • first American factory began production in 1790

5. not long after, Boston Associates, a group of merchants headed by Francis Cabot Lowell, established Boston Manufacturing Company at Waltham • Lowell revolutionized textile production • his operation combined machine production, large-scale operation, efficient management, and centralized marketing

6. An Industrial Proletariat? • the changing structure of work widened gap between owners and workers and blurred distinctions between skilled and unskilled workers • as the importance of skilled labor declined, so did the ability of workers to influence working conditions • some historians argue that the frontier siphoned off displaced or dissatisfied workers

7. America’s expanding economy provided opportunities for workers to rise out of working class and therefore prevented the formation of strong working class identities • conditions in early shops and factories represented an improvement for people who worked in them • Most factory workers were drawn from outside regular labor market • textile mills in particular relied on the employment of women and children

8. Lowell’s Waltham System: Women as Factory Workers • the Boston Associates developed the “Waltham System” of employing young, unmarried women in their new textile mills • women came from farms all over New England to work for a year or two in mills and lived in strictly supervised company boardinghouses • discontent manifested in two strikes in 1830s • declining prices in 1840s led to the introduction of new rules to increase production

9. by then young women had begun to find work as schoolteachers and clerks • Millowners turned to Irish immigrants to operate the machines

10. Irish and German Immigrants • population of U.S. more than doubled in the period from 1790 to 1820; growth resulted almost entirely from natural increase • 1815, immigration began to pick up; most immigrants came from Germany, Ireland, Britain, and Scandinavia • immigrants were drawn by the prospect of abundant land, good wages, and economic opportunity

11. others sought religious or political freedom • immigration stimulated the American economy • however, the influx of the 1830s and 1840s depressed living standards • native-born workers resented immigrants for their willingness to accept low wages and, in the case of the Irish, for their Catholicism

12. The Persistence of the Household System • technological advances alone did not mean the immediate advance of the industrial system • seemingly minor advances in water wheels, transmission belts and metal gears enabled larger technological advances • After the War of 1812, imporovements in paper, glass and pottery manufactureing slowly changed the American household

13. Rise of Corporations • corporations provided a means to gather capital • in early days of nation, states chartered only a few corporations, and very few of these engaged in manufacturing • most people believed only quasi-public projects deserved privilege of incorporation • during the War of 1812, considerable capital was transferred from commerce to industry • manufacturing gave rise to more and larger cities, which provided markets for farmers

14. Cotton Revolutionizes the South • South began to produce cotton to supply textile factories of New England • a high quality, long staple “sea island” cotton could be grown only in limited areas, and the lint of heartier “green seed,” or upland, cotton could not easily be separated from the seed • Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gin led to an enormous expansion of cotton production • Cotton stimulated economy of the entire nation • most of it was exported, which paid for European products and Northern merchants transported, insured, and traded in cotton

15. Revival of Slavery • slavery declined in decade of Revolution, but racial prejudice blunted logic of Revolution’s libertarian beliefs • revolutionary generation had a great respect for property rights • forced abolition therefore had few proponents • the bloody uprising in Saint Domingue led many whites to reconsider ending slavery • the Revolution had led to manumission of many slaves; as number of free blacks rose, tighter restrictions were imposed on them

16. some opponents of slavery hoped to solve the “problem” of free blacks by establishing colonies of freed slaves (usually in Africa) • colonization movement did establish a settlement in Liberia; few American blacks had any desire to migrate to an alien land • cotton boom of early 19th century virtually halted colonization movement • boom also gave rise to an interstate slave trade • in the northern states, blacks faced legal liabilities, denial of suffrage, and segregation or exclusion

17. Roads to Market • advances in transportation played a crucial role in settlement of West • barges could bring goods downstream, but transportation upstream was prohibitive; importance of roads linking Mississippi Valley to eastern seaboard

18. Transportation and the Government • most of improved highways and bridges were built by private developers, who charged tolls for the use of their roads • local, state, and national governments contributed heavily to internal improvements • the obvious need for roads linking the trans-Appalachian west with eastern seaboard called for action by national government, but sectional rivalries in Congress prevented such action • until the coming of railroads, overland shipping remained uneconomical, so inventors concentrated on improving water transport

19. Development of Steamboats • rafts and flatboats could move downstream only; the steamboat answered the problem of moving upstream • with advent of the steamboat, freight charges plummeted, and Northwest became part of the national market

20. The Canal Boom • Canals improved the network of transportation • although canals cost more to build than roads, they were more efficient for moving goods than overland transportation until advent of railroad

21. New York City: Emporium of the Western World • New York had already become the nation’s largest city • Erie Canal solidified its position as the national metropolis • Pennsylvania, desperate to keep up with New York, began constructing canals at a feverish pace • States beyond the mountains displayed an even greater zeal for the construction of canals; this proved excessive and many states overextended themselves resulting in financial disaster

22. The Marshall Court • Chief Justice John Marshall believed in a powerful central government • he also regarded business community as an agent of progress • in a series of cases between 1819 and 1824, Marshall upheld the “sanctity” of contracts and the supremacy of the federal government • Dartmouth College v. Woodward gave a wide interpretation to the “contract” clause of the Constitution

23. in McCulloch v. Maryland, Marshall endorsed the constitutionality of Second Bank of the U.S. and struck down attempts by states to tax it • the decision adopted the Hamiltonian, or “loose,” interpretation of the Constitution and strengthened the implied powers of Congress • Gibbons v. Ogden established federal supremacy by broadly construing the “commerce” clause