Technology, Culture and Everyday Life

1. Technology, Culture and Everyday Life Technology: word created in 1829 to describe the application of science to tasks of everyday life

2. Agricultural Advances Farmers began using fertilizers when it was clear that “virgin” lands out west were producing higher yields (plaster, guano) 1837--John Deere invented a steel-tipped plow that cut in half the hours needed to clear an acre.

3. Agricultural Advances • In 1834 Cyrus McCormick patented the mechanical reaper • It cut the wheat down, then separated the chaff (waste) from the grain • It harvested grain seven times faster than previous methods • McCormick marketed aggressively and sold 80,000 by 1860.

4. Other technological advances Samuel Morse Telegraph Machine--1840

5. Singer Sewing Machine • Perfected by Isaac Singer • Gave boost to northern industry • Became foundation for ready-made clothing industry • Led many women into factories

6. ELI WHITNEY The invention which changed the South, cotton and slavery. • Eli Whitney’s cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry. • He is also noted for the concept of mass production and interchangeable parts by creating dyes for pistols and rifles. • Very important early pioneer in America’s industrial revolution. Cotton Production

7. From left to right: Eli Whitney (cotton gin, interchangeable parts), Robert Fulton (steam boat), Thomas Edison (light bulb), Cyrus McCormick (reaper), Richard Hoe (automatic printing press)

8. “Iron Horse” Wins! • Early railcars were

9. Railroad Growth • 183013 miles of track built by B & O Railroad • By 1850 9000 miles of RR track • By 1860 31,000 miles of RR track • Northern tracks built by immigrant labor • Southern tracks builty by slave labor

10. Effects of Technological Advances • Products once only available to the wealthy become commonplace • Purchasing power of average person rose 25% between 1840-1860 • Women and children had opportunities for paid work(in cities and towns,fueling migration)

11. Standard of living • Defined: Level of material comfort available to an individual or group • Changed much more for middle class than for poor • Middle class people were able to live in ways only the wealthy could earlier

12. Architecture Examples of row houses from the 1800s

13. Medical Advances • There was nothing in the area of medical advance that rivaled the change in industry • People concentrated their energies on new diets rather than procedures and medications • Discovery of ether as anesthesia in 1840 by Crawford Long led to surgical advances

14. Public Health • Lack of understanding of how diseases were spread and importance of disinfectants hindered progress in medicine • Cholera epidemic in 1832 killed 3500 in NYC and more worldwide

15. Health Movements • Sylvester Graham advocated good nutrition, whole grains, abstinence from alcohol and later sex, fruits, vegetables and very little meat • Inspired by cholera outbreak

16. Pastimes • Entertainment became a business • Plays and minstrel shows became popular • Penny newspapers, subsidized by politicians or businesses, became popular • PT Barnum—newspapers could create as well as report news

17. Antebellum American Art Ms. Susan M. PojerHorace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

18. TheHudson RiverSchool: 1820s-1870

19. Background • These artists captured the undiluted power of nature • Paint the nation’s most spectacular and undeveloped areas [the new Garden of Eden]. • Nature was the best source of wisdom &fulfillment. • They created visual embodiments of the ideals ofthe Transcendentalists.*Painting is the vehicle through which the universal mind could reach the mind of mankind.* Art is the agent of moral & spiritual transformation.

20. Characteristics of the Hudson River School A new art for a new land. Paint grand, scenic vistas. Humans are an insignificant [even non-existent] part of the picture. Experiment with effects of light on waterand sky. Symbol of the school  a broken tree stump

21. Issues/Themes Addressed by the Antebellum Artists • Transcendentalist thinking. • Westward expansion. • American nationalism --> What is America?* Creation of a national mythology • Racism and Native Americans. • Concern for political extremism. • The price paid for progress and the advances of civilization.

22. In Nature’s WonderlandThomas Doughty, 1835

23. NiagaraFrederic Church, 1857

24. View of the Catskills, Early AutumnThomas Cole, 1837

25. View from Mt. Holyoke: The OxbowThomas Cole, 1836

26. The Course of Empire: The Savage StateThomas Cole, 1834

27. The Course of Empire: The Arcadian or The Pastoral State - Thomas Cole, 1836

28. The Course of Empire: ConsummationThomas Cole, 1836

29. The Course of Empire: DestructionThomas Cole, 1836

30. The Course of Empire: DesolationThomas Cole, 1836

31. Kindred Spirits – Asher Durand, 1849

32. Watercolors by John Audubon Stanley Hawk Barred Owl

33. The Luminists

34. Boston Harbor from Constitution WharfRobert Salmon, 1833

35. The Constitution in Boston HarborFitz Hugh Lane, 1848-49

36. Fur Trappers Descending the MissouriGeorge Caleb Bingham, 1845

37. TheClassical Styles of Greece & Rome

38. Neo-Classical Architecture: U. S. Customs House, 1836

39. Jefferson Rotunda(Univ. of VA), 1819-26

40. The Capitol Rotunda

41. Patriotic Art

42. The Landing of the PilgrimsUnknown Artist, 1830s

43. Washington Crossing the DelawareEmmanuel Gottlieb Leutze,1851

44. George Washington Horatio Greenough, 1841 The “New Cincinnatus”?

45. Our Banner in the Sky - Frederic Church, 1861

46. The“Frontier”Artists

47. Young Omahaw, War Eagle, Little Missouri, and Pawnees - Charles Bird King, 1821 1. The “Noble Savage” Image

48. Buffalo Bull’s Back Fat, Head Chief, Blood Tribe - George Caitlin, 1832 2. The “Stoic” Indian

49. Mato-Tope – Karl Bodmer, 1830s 3. The “Demonic” Indian

50. Osage Scalp DanceJohn Mix Stanley, 1845