apush brinkley chapter 10
patterns of industrial society
- US got wealthier each year - more inequality in society - transformed social relations and everyday life
the triumph of the rails
- after 1840, they became the dominant mode of transportation - most efficient system in the northeast, they had the most rails - no region was untouched - consolidation: important change in railroad development, short lines consolidated into longer lines (known as "trunk lines"), created major large railroads - chicago became the rail center of the west - dependence of the west on mississippi decreased - railroads helped weaken further the connection between the northwest and the south (why?) - funding for the railroad: private american investors paid for most of it, railroad companies borrowed large sums from abroad, local and state governments also contributed bc they wanted railroads to serve them, also assistance from the federal government of public land grants (30 million acres by 1860)
the early railroads
- became the primary transportation system in the US and remained so until the construction of the interstate highway system - technological basis of the railroad: invention of tracks, steam-powered locomotives, railroad cars that could serve as public carriers for passengers and frieght - american entrepreneurs (especially those in the northeast) were interested, they wanted better communication with the west - still not a true railroad system until later - competition between railroads and canals: they blocked the advance of each other, but railroads had more advantages and prevailed over other forms of competition
the emergence of the factory
- before the war, most manufacturing happened in homes and by hand or with simple machines - technology improved and demand rose - new england textile industry first - shoe industry: MA, specialized tasks - most factories were in the northeast, produced 2/3 of the nation's manufactured goods
the expansion of business, 1820-1840
- business grew rapidly, partly bc of population growth and the transportation revolution, also cause of entrepreneurs - retail distribution of goods, specialized stores - changes in the organization of business, individuals and limited partnerships, great merchant capitalists had sole ownership of their enterprises, development of the corporation - advantages of the corporation: new law made charters easier to obtain (only had to pay a fee) - limited liability, individual stockholders risked losing only the value of their own investment if a corporation should fail, and that they weren't liable (as they had been in the past) for the corporation's larger losses - made possible the accumulation of much greater amounts of capital and larger manufacturing and business enterprises - inadequate credit: investment alone provided too little capital to meet the demands of businesses, many businesses relied on credit - government could issue official currency, but it consisted only of gold and silver and there was too little of it to support the growing demand for credit - many banks issues lots of bank notes, unofficial currency, notes had little value - banks failures were frequent and bank deposits were insecure, difficulty of obtaining credit for business investment remained an impediment to economic growth
the rich and the poor
- commercial and industrial growth elevated the average income of the american people - increasing wealth distributed unequally - those with hardly any economic growth: slaves, native americans, landless farmers, unskilled workers - 5% of families possessed over 50% of the wealth - merchants and industrialists got very wealthy - many rich people living in cities, distinct culture of wealth emerged in large cities, wealthy people gathered together and developed an elaborate high society - central park was built cause NYC wanted to be as important as london and paris, fredrick law olmsted, began as a place for the wealthy but then everyone used it - urban poor: very very very extreme poverty, often homeless, called "paupers", some were recent immigrants who had failed to find work or adjust to life, some were widows or orphans, some were suffering from alocholism or mental illness and couldn't work, others were victim of prejudice bc of race or ethnicity (ex. irish and african americans) - african american poverty (free blacks): menial jobs that didn't pay well, little or no education, no voting, couldn't use publc services available to whites, life was not much better than slavery (in material terms!), most blacks lived in the north
northeastern agriculture
- declined bc farmers couldn't compete with the new and richer soil of the northwest. centers of production gradually shifted westward. - some eastern farmers moved west, others moved to mill towns and became laborers, some stayed. - many farmers turned to the task of supplying food to nearby cities...truck farming! - rise of cities stimulated the rise of profitable dairy farming - agriculture was steadily becoming less important than the industrial growth of the northeast itself, rural population in many parts of the northeast continued to decline
women and the "cult of domesticity"
- distinction between the public and private worlds, between the workplace and the home, led to increasingly sharp distinctions between the social roles of men and women - affected not only factory workers and farmers but also the middle class - women still inferior to men though - most women had less access to education than men, discouraged from pursuing a higher education. oberlin in ohio became the first college in america to accept female students, 1837. - no longer income producers, middle class women became guardians of the "domestic virtues." role as mothers was more central to the family than in the past. also their role as wives grew. middle class women were more important as consumers. value on keeping a nice house, entertaining, and dressing nice. - "separate sphere": distinctive female culture, more developed friendships among women, social networks, feminine literature, women's magazines - increasing isolation of women from the public world - "cult of domesticity": brought benefits and costs. women were isolated but expressed special qualities in their own world. morality and benevolence, religious and moral instruction to children. allowed them to live lives of greater material comfort than in the past. higher value on "female virtues" - costs of the detachment more clear among unmarried middle class women. by the 1840s the ideology of domesticity grew very powerful. few unmarried women would consider working and few would be hired, but needed some income-producing activity. relied on relatives or became governesses, teachers, or nurses. - middle class people came to consider work by women outside the household to be unseemly, something characteristic of the lower classes. working-class women couldn't afford to stay home and cultivate the "domestic virtues". they worked in factories but in much worse conditions. also found employment in middle class homes. now that production had moved outside the household, women who needed to earn money had to move outside their own households to do so
middle-class life
- expansion of the middle class economy partly a result of the growth of the industrial economy and the increasing commercial life that acocmpanied it - social classes used to be rigidly divided based on land - middle classers lived in solid and substantial homes, workers and artisans were increasingly renters - middle class women tended to be stay at home moms, but could even hire servants - new houeshold inventions: cast-iron stove replaced fireplaces for cooking and heat, less dangerous and more luxurious, gave cooks control over the preparation of food and allowed them to cook several things at once - diets changing bc of the expansion and diversification of american agriculture and the ability of farmers to ship goods to urban markets by rail from distant regions, increased variety. diets had more starch! - middle class homes elaborately decorated and furnished, homes became larger, each member of the family got their own bedroom, parlors and dining rooms were separate from the kitchen, some houses had indoor plumbing
commerce and industry
- impact of market economy: US developed the beginnings of a modern capitalist economy and an advanced industrial capacity - economy created enormous wealth, but didn't affect everyone equally
rural life
- in more densely populated farm areas in the eastern northwest (east of the appalachians), farmers were part of vibrant communities and built kinda like small towns with public institutions like churches and schools - as white settlement moved farther west, farmers became more isolated and came into few contact with others - religion drew farm communities together significantly. many farm areas were populated by people of common ethnic (and therefore religious) backgrounds. - farm people joined together frequently to share tasks that a single family would have difficulty performing on its own. like barn raisings. they were like festivals. - farm families lived in a world with much less contact with popular culture and public social life than people who lived in towns and cities - rural people, often even more than urban ones, treasured their links to the outside world - many also valued their separation from urban culture and cherished the relative autonomy that farm life gave them, they had more control
men and women at work
- in the 1820s and 1830s, factory labor came mostly from the native-born population - after 1840, immigrants became the primary laborers - beginning of an industrial labor supply came from the transformation of american agriculture - opening of farmlands, improvement of transportation systems, development of new farm machinery - new farming methods less labor-intensive, number of workers required in the west was smaller than in the less fertile northeast - systems of recruitment: 1: brought whole families from the farm to the mill, mid-atlantic, 2: lowell or waltham system, enlisted young women, MA - factory conditions not as bad as in europe, working children remained under some supervision of their parents - lowell system: women worked in terrible conditions, kept in clean boardinghouses, strict curfews and supervision, generous wages - women workers: loneliness, disorientation, long working hours, unchanging tasks, but they had few other options - decline of the lowell system: too paternalistic, manufacturers found it difficult to maintain the high living stanrdards and the attractive working conditions, wages declined, hours of work lengthened, conditions deteriorated, bulidings decayed, overcrowding - 1834, union organized (factory girls association), strike protesting a 25% wage cut, lowell system basically destroyed by 1837 - female labor reform association, demanded a shorter work day, turned to state governments - at this point the young women who worked in mills were gradually moving into other occupations (like teaching or domestic service) or they got married, also textile manufacturers were turning to immigrants
the immigrant workforce
- large and inexpensive laborers - less leverage than women and more happy bc they were unfamiliar with the US - far worse working conditions - irish immigrants performed the heavy, unskilled work on turnpikes, canals, and railroads - very low wages - poverty, flimsy shanties as homes (became known as "shanty irish") - arrival of irish workers accelerated the deterioration of working conditions in new england - less social pressure on owners to provide a decent environment for irish workers than native women - employers paid piece rates (wages for how much a worker produced) rather than a daily wage - workdays very high, often 12-14 hours
social mobility
- living standard of most laborers was improving - mobility within the working class - many people moved one notch up the ladder (ex unskilled --> skilled laborer) - mobility across generations - geographic mobility (ex. buying land to settle on), western lands were a "safety valve" for discontent, few urban workers could afford this though - opportunity to participate in politics expanded, access to the ballot made people feel important
advances in technology
- machine technology advanced more rapidly in the US than any other country (particularly in textile manufacturing) - machine tools like the turret lathe and universal milling machine, also the precision grinding machine - government supported research and development of machine tools, often in connection with supplying the military - the federal armories became the breeding ground for many technological discoveries and a magnet for craftsmen and factory owners - eli whitney introduced interchangeable parts - new sources of energy...coal was replacing wood and water power for many factories - technological innovations: more patents, charles goodyear found a way to vulcanize rubber, elias howe made the sewing machine (which isaac singer improved) - water power still the most important source of power for manufacturing
innovations in communications and journalism
- magnetic telegraphs critical to railroads - telegraph lines extended along railroad tracks - telegraphs allowed instant communication between distant cities - telegraphs tied the nation together but also reinforced the schism between the north and the south - more telegraphs in the north, helped like the north to the northwest (which separated the northwest from the south) - telegraph: samuel f b morse - western union telegraph company - richard hoe: steam cylinder rotary press, making it possible to print newspapers rapidly and cheaply, made possible a speedier collection and distribution of news - associated press: 1846, promoted cooperative news gathering by wire, didn't have to depend on the exchange of newspapers otherwies - journalism an important unifying factor in american life, helped feed sectional discord - most major magazines and newspapers were in the north
the agricultural north
- most people remained tied to the agricultural world, even with the rapidly urbanizing and industrializing north - agriculture was becoming increasingly a part of the new capitalist economy, linked to the national and international market
the factory system and the artisan tradition
- not only mill workers suffered from the transition to the modern factory system, also skilled artisans whose trades the factories were displacing - artisan tradition part of republican ideal from early america, different from capitalist class, valued independence and stability and equality - artisans can't compete with factory-made goods - artisans formed national trade unions for mutual aid in the 1820s and 1830s, at the beginning they didn't have much success, seen as an illegal conspiracy, panic of 1837 (dramatic financial collapse, produced a recession) weakened the movement even more
"free labor"
- nothing more important than the idea of personal freedom - only a few men (and no women) were allowed to vote - workers were sometimes bound to their employers for years - wives subordinate to husbands - african americans had almost no freedom - personal liberty growing particularly in the north - philosophers thought free people should escape the market economy and find freedom in solitude and the wonders of nature, this was slim though - for most northern workers, freedom meant the absence of slavery. that ppl could leave jobs they didn't want, move to new areas of the country, and seek opportunities to change their lives. - debate over slavery - slaves couldn't vote and weren't legal citizens - most free blacks worked in menial jobs and as domestic servants
the american population, 1820-1840
- population increasing rapidly - rapid population bc of improvements in public health (less epidemics), high birth rate and survival to adulthood, increased immigration throughout the 1830s (immigration influenced by reduced transportation costs and increasing economic opportunities as well as deteriorating european conditions) (more irish catholics) - rural/countryside --> urban/industrial/city life - people moved to cities in the northeast - rise of NYC, largest city in the US, superior natural harbor, result of the erie canal which gave the city access to the interior, liberal state laws that made the city attractive for both foreign and domestic commerce - westward migration
immigration and urban growth, 1840-1860
- rapid urbanization - growth of new york, philadelphia, boston - by 1860, 26% of the population was living in towns (up from 14% in 1840), percentage higher in the northeast - booming agricultural economy of the western regions - st louis, pittsburgh, cincinnati, lousiville had strategic positions on the mississippi river and were centers of the growing carrying trade - shipping from mississippi river to the great lakes, cities of buffalo, detriot, milwaukee, cleveland, and chicago - sources of immigration 1820-1840: 43% irish, 27% german, 18% english, 11% other northern european, 1% others - national population rose by more than a third in the 1850s alone - by 1860, the american population was larger than britain's - almost half the residents of NYC in the 1850s were immigrants - in st louis, chicago, and milwaukee, the immigrants outnumbered the native-born US citizens - few immigrants settled in the south - german immigration bc of the economic dislocations of the industrial revolution had caused poverty in germany, and the collapse of the liberal revolution there - irish immigration bc oppressiveness of english and also the potato famine (1845-49) - irish in eastern cities, unskilled labor - german in northwest, farmers or businessmen - one reason for this difference was wealth: germans arrived with some money and irish had practically none. also gender, most german immigrants were of family groups or single men, many irish immigrants were young, single women
the changing family
- rural --> urban - jobs, not land, were the most valued commodities - patriarchal societies couldn't survive city life - sons and daughters more likely to leave the family in search of work - shift of income-earning work out of the home and into the shop, mill, or factory, so family wasn't the principal unit of economic activity anymore - men, women, and children worked together - agricultural work became more commercialized - farm owners relied less on their families for labor and instead hired male workers who performed tasks previously given to women and children - farm women tended to work at more domestic tasks now - significant decline in the traditional economic function of the family - distinction between the public world and the private world - world of the family more dominated by domestic concerns instead of production, also dominated by women!! - decline in the birth rate (rise in abortions and increased abstinence)
leisure activities
- scarce - holidays were important - fourth of july, holiday from work available to everyone, expressions of patriotism - taverns for men - women gathered together in people's homes - reading (women were avid readers and created a new genre of fiction specifically for females called the "sentimental novel", which often offered idealized visions of women's lives and romances) - theaters - minstrel shows (actors mimicked and ridiculed african american culture) - public sporting events (boxing, horse racing, cockfighting) - baseball - circus (traveling entertainment, roots in the middle ages, entertained both children and adults) - people liked the bizarre and fantastic bc everything around them was familiar - PT barnum, opened the american museum in NYC in 1842, freak show, barnum was a genius in publicizing, didn't open his circus until the 1870s, good at exploiting public tastes for the wild and exotic - barnum drew people in by engaging lecturers, the lecture was one of the most popular forms of entertainment, men and women both flocked to hear lectures about anything and everything
the rise of nativism
- some people liked immigrants bc of cheap labor, economic growth, population growth, political influence for americans. others didn't like immigrants - nativism: defense of native born people and a hostility to the foreign-born, usually combined with a desire to stop or slow immigration - prejudice and sometimes racism - immigrants seen as inferior - thought immigrants were socially unfit to live among native-borns - evidence for this were where immigrants lived (urban slums), many nativists assumed this was something immigrants chose instead of a result of their extreme poverty - people thought immigrants were taking jobs - protestants felt threatened by iris catholics - whig politicians were outraged bc many of the immigrants voted democratic - nativist secret societies: many originated in the northeast, first was called the native american association, which fought against immigration, formed the native american party, then formed the supreme order of the star-spangled banner, endorsed a list of demands that included banning catholics or foreign-borns from holding public office and literacy tests for voting, they had a strict code of secrecy, became known as the "Know-Nothings - the know-nothings created a political organization called the american party after the election of 1852, had political power in PA, NY, and MA but declined after 1854
the old northwest
- steady industrial growth - lake erie (cleveland at center for industrial and commercial stuff) - ohio river (cincinnati at center for meatpacking!) - chicago was the national cener of the agricultural machinery and meatpacking industries - most of the major industrial activities of the west either served agriculture (ex. farm machinery) or relied on agricultural products (ex. flour milling, etc.) - industry was much less important in the northwest than farming - native americans were the most numerous inhabitants of much of the upper third of the great lakes, weren't integrated into the commercialized economy - for white settlers, the northwest was primarily agricultural - rich and plentiful lands, good for farming - typical northwestern citizen wasn't poor, but was reasonably prosperous (average size of farm was 200 acres, majority) - rising farm prices provided a strong incentive for western farmers to engage in commercial agriculture (concentrating on a single crop) - in the early years of white settlement in the northwest, farm prices rose bc of the debilitation of european agriculture in the aftermath of the napoleonic wars and the growing urban population. northwest, with their good water routes on the mississippi river, profited from this international trade. - industrialization was the greatest boost to agriculture. national and worldwide demand for farm products resulted in steadily rising farm prices. prosperity from 1840 to the early 1850s - land clearing - new agricultural technologies: greatly reduced the labor necessary for producing a crop and slowed the exhaustion of the region's rich soil, new breeds of plants and animals that had better profits, improved tools and farm machines which were produced in rapidly increasing numbers, cast-iron plow, john deere's steel plow - automatic reaper (cyrus mccormick), harvesting more wheat - threshers separated the grain from wheat stalks - the northwest considered itself the most democratic section of the country. but its democracy was based on a defense of economic freedom and the rights of property, a white middle class vision of democracy that was becoming common in many other parts of the country as well
transportation, communications, and technology
- transportations and communications system essential in creating regional, national, and international markets - progress required investment and technological advancements
the canal age
- turnpike era: 1790-1820s, americans relied largely on roads for internal transportation - river transportation at the time: flat barges (like rafts) for transporting cargo - steamboats and riverboats now carried products - high costs to transport goods across highways, so people thought of canals - economic advantages of canals: states in charge of production bc building was too expensive for private enterprise - erie canal: first canal, in NY, greatest construction project the US had ever undertaken, financial success, tolls, heavy traffic, gave NYC direct access to chicago and the growing markets of the west, NYC could now compete with (and replace) new orleans as a destination for agricultural goods (mostly wheat) and other products of the west, and as a source for manufactured goods to be sold in the regions - ohio and indiana built canals connecting lake erie and the ohio river - one of the immediate results of the new transportation routes was increased white settlement in the northwest bc canals made it easier for migrants to make the westward journey and to ship their goods back to eastern markets - boston, philadelphia, baltimore failed in making canals - canals didn't provide a satisfactory route to the west for any of new york's rivals
fighting for control
- workers tried to persuade state legislatures to pass laws setting a maximum workday, didn't work - commonwealth v hunt: MA said unions were lawful organizations and that the strike was a lawful weapon - artisans and skilled workers had more success than factory workers, but their unions had more in common with preindustrial guilds than with modern labor organizations, in most cases their primary purpose was the protect the position of their members in the labor force by restricing admission to the skilled trades - national typographical union, stone cutters, hat finishers, machinists - virtually all the early craft unions excluded women - american working class had relatively modest power. in england, workers were becoming powerful, united, and violent economic and political force and transforming the nature. this didn't happen in america!!! - america's divided working class: immigrants willing to work for lower wages than native workers, manufacturers had difficulty replacing immigrants - ethnic divisions and tensions among natives and immigrants and also within the various immigrant groups themselves created conflict
the changing american population
things needed for the american industrial revolution: - population large enough to grow food and work in factories needed - transportation and communications system - manufacturing technology - systems of business organization