Transformation and Growth

1
Transformation and Growth

• The Market Revolution and the Modernization of
  the American Republic, 1815-1850

2
So what was the Market Revolution

• The transformation from production for
  subsistence to production for sale in an ever
  growing market.
• Change entailed different work habits, location
  of work, gender roles, socialization and
  child-rearing practices
• Change entailed huge inter-related processes in
  building the markets and the network and tools to
  get goods to market. (Depersonalized
  transactions/ cash)

3
Railroad Routes-1860 (30,626 miles)
4
Flying Cloud
5
Canals
6
Robert Fultons Clermont
7
Steamboats on the Western Rivers
8
Market Revolution embraced agriculture

• Extensive and intensive development
• Eli Whitneys Cotton Gin
• Cyrus McCormicks Mechanical Reaper
• Westward Settlement
• Ties to changes in Textile Production (Lowell
  Mills) (Lowell Girls)

9
Changes in the Way We Lived

• More goods were purchased rather than fashioned
• The home became place to manufacture children
  work for wages centered outside home
• Managerial class begins to emerge
• Changing expectations for women
• Urban Recreationblood sports--minstrelsy

10
Changes in Way Men Worked

• Eli Whitney and American System of
  Manufacturing
• Skill in Machinedecline of craftsmenElias
  Howes sewing Machine
• Emergence of Proletariatneed for collective
  bargaining
• New Jobs for Immigrants

11
Changes in the Way We Heard
Samuel F. B. Morse what hath God Wrought
Richard HoeRotary Printing Press
12
Immigration

• 1820-1845 44,607 immigrants per annum average
• 1846-1855 303,106 immigrants per annum average
• Almost 50 from 1846-1855 from Ireland
• German ImmigrationLevi Strauss
• Nativist OrganizationsNo Nothing Party
• Irish provide low-skill labor

13
So Whats the Point?

• Good vs. Bad (problem of definition and attendant
  values)
• Magnitude of Change
• Tensions Immigrant v. Native Born Gender
  Roles Sectional Apparent Winners v. Apparent
  Losers (Jacksonian Inequality)