AP US: Growth Of America (c. 1800 - 1860)
Immigration
- from 1790-1820, the population of the US doubles to 10 million people
- this is a result of an increase in reproduction, as immigration had slowed
- there were only about 250,000 immigrants during this period
- many couldn't come because of wars and other hardships
- others weren't sure that America would last
- immigration increases after the defeat of Napoleon in 1815
- immigration rates:
- 1820s: 150,000
- 1830s: 600,000
- 1840s: 1,700,000
- 1850s: 2,600,000
- by 1860, the number of states had doubled to 33, and 40 cities had over 20,000 people
- shift in source of immigrants
- Irish
- the 1840s Irish Potato Famine caused 2 million deaths and sent tens of thousands of immigrants to the US
- by the end of the century, more Irish lived in America than in Ireland
- 2 million come from 1830-1860
- too poor to move west, so they stay on the East coast
- they will make up half the population of Boston and New York City
- hated for several reasons:
- they will accept any wage, taking jobs from others
- they are Catholic
- lived in crowded, dirty tenant buildings, with high rates of crime, alcoholism, etc.
- stereotyped as lazy, ignorant, and dirty
- will eventually control the police department of NYC, and will later gain control of most of the political apparatus there and in Boston
- it was said that their votes enabled Jackson's 1820 victory
- created and ran the political machines, such as NYC's Tammany Hall
- Irish
- Germans
- highly educated, solid work ethic, largely farmers
- considered to be cultured and educated
- had modest personal possessions on arrival - weren't too poor
- many German enclaves were already built up, so they had support on arrival and could preserve their traditions (these traditions include Christmas trees and Kindergarten
- immigration rates:
- 1849: Reaction to Immigration
- Order of the Star-Spangled Banner becomes a political party called the American Party
- based out of New York
- when asked about what they do, they would reply with "I know nothing", so they became known as the "Know-Nothing Party"
- anti-Catholic, hence anti-Irish
- won numerous elections up to the 1850s
- "immigrants tried to keep out the immigrants"
- over the years, groups develop to keep out specific immigrants; the Chinese will be the first groups targeted with specific legislation
- Order of the Star-Spangled Banner becomes a political party called the American Party
Industry and Manufacturing
- 18th Century advances
- British inventors make machines that can replace workers
- allows mass production of textiles
- kept the designs and machines secret, in order to control the industry
- stopped those who made the machines from leaving
- 1789 - Samuel Slater left Britain, disguised, bringing knowledge of the plans to build a textile machine
- he was contracted in Rhode Island to build the machine
- 1791 - built the first US machine for spinning cotton
- 1815 - 130,000 spindles are in the US, 213 factories
- he is known as the "father of the factory system in America"
- 1793 - Eli Whitney built the cotton gin, a machine which took the seeds out of cotton fibres; many copies were made before he could patent the device
- the Embargo Act and the War of 1812 had allowed manufacturing to shift from small, home-run enterprises to grow and expand; the Industrial Revolution created a shift to the factory system
- preservation of food by canning
- first adopted in Europe, and moves to the US
- 1820 - several major canneries have been established in Boston, NYC, etc.
- 1828 - Eli Whitney invents interchangeable parts
- machine tools can create parts of a musket that are identical and can be interchanged
- factories are built in the North for mass production of firearms
- the idea spreads to other industries, as well
- however, handmade products are better than machine-made ones, even though they're more expensive, and people complain about the cheap machined products and their poor quality
- Eli Whitney can be said to have started and ended the Civil War - cotton gin created more demand for slaves, but mass-produced muskets allowed North to win
- Charles Goodyear patents vulcanised rubber in the 1840s
- Morse invents the telegraph, sending a message from Baltimore to Washington, D.C.; this allows instant communication throughout the nation
- Howe invents the sewing machine in 1846, creating a new line of employment for women and lowering prices on goods
- in Massachusetts, Francis Cabot Lowell combined spinning and weaving machines to create the Lowell Manufacturing Company
- "factory towns" are created by him, it becomes known as the "Lowell System"
- 2000 people live in a town owned by the Lowell Co.
- Lowell owns everything - houses, stores, etc.
- everything revolves around the factory and its production
- later, the South will argue that there's little difference between Southern slaves and Northern "wage slaves"
- South's slaves get food, room, etc. - but they're not free
- North's "slaves" get little money, can barely pay for room and board - but they are free
- "factory towns" are created by him, it becomes known as the "Lowell System"
- labour unions begin to develop
- more like trade unions, groups in specific industries get together
- Mass. Supreme Court, in 1842 (Commonwealth v. Hunt), had one of the first rulings in favour of workers up to this time
- however, this is a mild victory, and nothing is really gained
- 1850 - the factory system is fine-tuned and going strong
- New England and the Middle states are centres of manufacturing
- textiles, lumber, machinery, clothing, and woollen goods are all produced
- shift in American power - they start to become larger than European rivals
Southern Agriculture: Cotton as King
- by 1860, the leading export of the US is cotton
- leads to the creation of a Southern way of life
- cotton is very labour-intensive, so more slaves are needed
- will cause argument about slavery to grow
- the South will become absolutely reliant on slavery
- Eli Whitney's cotton gin allowed a marked increased in the cotton industry
- he built the first in 1793, and made a larger, water or horse-powered, version later
- cotton will surpass tobacco, rice, and sugar as primary Southern crop, increasing by 800%
- this brings the South unprecedented prosperity
- some argue that it is also the death of the South: because of the focus on cotton, nothing else is grown, leading to dependence on the North and West
- leads to rise of large-scale commercial agriculture and a rise in slaves
- will cause the removal of any impediments (such as Indians) to cotton growth and production
- leads to an economic boom in the North
- 80% of Southern cotton is sent to England by Northern shippers
- 75% of cotton used in English production comes from the South
- notable during Civil War
- most people ignored indications that the one-crop economy could not be sustained
- cotton was very hard on the soil, destroying nutrients
- cotton's money is so good that they ignore the impact on the soil
- they will have to move west and farther southwest to gain more land
- promotes an unequal social/economic structure
- there is an excess of poor whites and slaves during a time in which there's more democracy in the North and West
- the majority of the South is under the control of a minority - the prosperous plantation owners
- by the mid-19th century, the South had developed its own aristocracy
- wealthy plantation owners are at the top
- a small number of families own almost all the land and slaves, and have significant political power
- leads to the development of a unique culture in the South, different from the rest of the nation
- Southern aristocrats send their children to the finest schools - Northern or foreign; for others, education isn't important in the South
- the South produces a high proportion of statesmen
- Southern women run households, manage slaves for household chores
- while some men talked about abolition, most women were strongly opposed
- the rich have control, but small plantations represent the majority's Southern lifestyle
- only about 1/4 of the South owned slaves
- many small farms had less than 10 slaves
- over 6 million residents of the South had no slaves
- there are large groups of poor whites
- not educated
- tradesmen or other occupations
- worked on plantations
- suffer from malnutrition and other diseases
- portrayed as slow-moving, laid back, and lazy
- the ultimate goal for many was to, at some time, own a slave
- by 1860, about 250,000 free blacks are in the South
- freed during the Revolution, or the offspring of plantation owners and slaves
- laws restrict their freedom
- often captured and sold back into slavery - whether they were escaped slaves or not
- about 250,000 free blacks in North
- denied basic rights, including the right to vote - in some cases, they can't even receive a public education
- compete with the Irish for jobs
- by 1860, there are 4 million slaves in the South; importation was made illegal in 1808, but slaves were still smuggled in
Corporations
- in the 1860s, one begins to see the organisation of corporations
- corporations become legal individuals
- allow people to invest in part of a company - if the company fails, all you lose is the initial investment
- also, there's no liability - you can only lose money for the corporation's errors, not be jailed, etc.
- movement into cities
- people move to cities as factory system grows
- more time for leisure activities, such as dog fights, horse/foot/boat races (ex. 1845 horse race with 100,000 in attendance)
Western Agriculture
- small-scale farming matures into a wide-reaching capitalistic market
- by 1860, more than 1/2 of the population is west of the Appalachians
- poorly fed and clothed, live in houses of sod
- as more move, conditions improve
- land speculators buy large tracts of cheap land
- in 1830, Chicago was a trading village, but it became one of the largest and richest cities in the nation
- 1820 land law drops price of land from $1.64 to $1.25 per acre
- Pre-Emption Act of 1830 decreed that squatters could mark out land and get it for $1.25 per acre
- the 1862 Homestead Act stated that settlers could claim land by staying there for 5 years
- squatter's rights will later be threatened by large cattle corporations, whose move to expand into large pasture lands is hindered by the small farmers in their way; these "sodbusters" will be in the way of pasture land
- these three areas become economically tied
- the West quickly becomes the granary of America, sending grain down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to the South
- the South focusses on cotton, as they don't need to grow food
- the North focusses on manufacturing
Transportation
- turnpikes (broad, paved toll roads) are built for about 20 years
- the Cumberland (National) Road
- begun in 1811 and completed in 1852
- stretches 591 miles from Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois
- used federal and state funds
- in 1807, Fulton's steamboat goes up the Hudson River
- the steamboat becomes the most popular way of moving goods over water
- there will be more than 200 on the Mississippi River by 1820
- in 1817, the New York legislature endorsed Governor DeWitt Clinton's plan to connect the Hudson River with Lake Erie
- the Erie Canal stretches 363 miles from Albany to Buffalo
- reduces the cost of moving freight and lowers travel time
- provides a water route from New York to Chicago, via the Great Lakes
- this route enables migration to the West
- combined with Britain's repeal of the Corn Law, it opened new markets for Midwestern farmers on the East Coast and in Europe
- paid for itself in 7 years
- the "Big Ditch" sparks a canal craze, with 3000 miles of waterways by 1840
- Railroads
- hold many advantages over water, as they're faster, cheaper to build, and don't freeze in winter
- put together by private business, as states had overextended in building canals and didn't have sufficient funds
- completed in 1828, the B and O Railroad runs from Baltimore to Ohio (63 miles)
- by 1840, 3000 miles of railroad track had been built, which is double the mileage of all of Europe
- by 1860, there were 30,000 miles of railroad
- 3/4 of the railroads were located in the North, which will haunt the South during the Civil War
- Clipper Ships - 1845
- long, narrow ships that were built for speed
- carried tea from China to America
- transport goods to California from the East coast
- a US "claim to fame" - a purely American invention
- last for about 2 decades
- not much room for cargo; they make up for this with speed
- they will be superseded by ocean-going steamboats that, while slower, are more deluxe and carry larger cargoes
- Pony Express (1860s)
- located in the far West during the 1860s
- can travel from Missouri to California in 10 days using system of changing horses every 10 miles
- they were the established form of mail transport, riding in all weathers and through all dangers
- only last for less than 10 years
- replaced by the telegraph
- transportation helps to form a continental economy
- cuts in time and cost lead to larger profits