Industry and Agriculture 5:Nationalism and Sectionalism Part 2

Congress Protects Industries

Congress could have let those industries wither from the competition. Instead, Congress imposed the Tariff of 1816, a tariff on imports designed to protect American industry. This tariff increased the price of imported manufactured goods by an average of 20 to 25 percent. The inflated price for imports encouraged Americans to buy products made in the United States. The tariff helped industry, but it hurt farmers, who had to pay higher prices for consumer goods.

Why did slavery flourish between 1820 and 1860?

Cotton plantation owners needed a large labor force.

Which is the best description of the southern economy in the mid-1850s?

an agricultural economy overly dependent on cotton and slave labor

What professions made up the emerging middle class in the 1850s?

bankers, lawyers, accountants, and clerks

Southern Agricultural Economy and Society

During the 1780s, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington hoped that slavery would gradually fade away. They thought that a shift from tobacco to wheat cultivation would slowly undermine the slave system, making it less profitable. Indeed, they saw some evidence of such a trend in Virginia and Maryland, where many slaves were freed during the 1780s. That trend, however, did not affect the Deep South—the region to the south and southwest of Virginia. In fact, the trend did not last even in Virginia. Slavery became more profitable as cotton became the South's leading crop.

Now, in the Independent Practice, test your understanding of southern agriculture, economy, and society. Which of the following resulted from the South's dependence on cotton?

Limited consumer demand discouraged commercial development.

Why the Northeast?

Most of the new factories emerged in the Northeast. There were several reasons for this. One reason was greater access to capital, or the money needed to build factories or other productive assets. In the South, the land and the climate favored agriculture. Thus, people there invested capital in land and slave labor. The Northeast had more cheap labor to work in the factories. In addition, the Northeast had many swiftly flowing rivers to provide water power for the new factories.

The abundance of jobs attracted millions of immigrants to the United States during the Industrial Revolution. Industrialization changed how people worked, and as a result, a growing middle class emerged. How were skilled craftsmen affected by industrialization?

They saw a decline in wages.

Cultural Consequences

A dispersed population and the burden of slavery affected the culture of the South. Planters opposed education for slaves and cared little about providing it to poor whites. The rate of southern white illiteracy was 15 percent—three times higher than what it was in the North and West. Although slavery was central to life in the South, slaveholders were a minority. No more than one-fourth of white men had slaves in 1860. Three-fourths of these held fewer than 10 slaves, and only about 3,000 white men owned 100 or more slaves. The typical slaveholder lived in a farmhouse and owned only four or five slaves.

Economic Consequences

Although many plantation owners became rich, cotton production limited regional development. Most of the South became too dependent on one crop. That dependence paid off in most years, when cotton prices were high. But prices sometimes plummeted, forcing many planters into bankruptcy. Another problem was that plantations dispersed the population. The South lost out on the urban growth needed for an industrial economy. Only one southern city, New Orleans, ranked among America's top fifteen cities in 1860. The South also lacked the commercial towns so common in the Northeast and Midwest. In 1860, a traveler in Alabama noted, "In fact the more fertile the land, the more destitute is the country of villages and towns."

Nativsts

Catholic immigrants also suffered contempt from the American-born Protestant majority. Protestants distrusted the Catholic Church, thinking it to be hostile to republican government. Protestant workers also resented the competition from newcomers who depressed wages offered by employers. Riots between Protestants and Catholics occurred in Philadelphia in 1844 and in Baltimore in 1854. Some politicians, particularly in the Whig Party, exploited ethnic tensions. Called nativists, they campaigned for laws to discourage immigration or to deny political rights to newcomers. To defend their interests, many immigrants became active in the Democratic Party.

Expectations of the middle class

For the middle class, work became separated from family life. These families expected wives and mothers to stay at home, tending those spaces as havens from the bustle of the working world, while the men went off to work and returned with the money to support the household. Working-class and farm families could not afford such an arrangement. In those families, women and children also had to work.

Why did the cotton trade lead to a rise in slavery?

Growing cotton required many workers.

Cotton Boom Spreads Slavery

Growing cotton required workers as well as land. Southern planters met this need with enslaved African Americans. After federal law abolished the overseas slave trade in 1808, illegal trade and interstate trade filled the gap. Many slaves came from the fading tobacco plantations of Virginia and Maryland, where planters who once grew crops now acquired their income from trading slaves. Because cotton was so profitable, the demand for slaves soared. Slaves became more valuable to their owners. In 1802, a slave could sell for $600. By 1860, that price had tripled to $1,800. The total number of slaves increased from 1.5 million in 1820 to 4 million in 1860. Far from withering, slavery flourished and became more deeply entrenched in the southern economy.

Immigration's effect on the northeast

Immigration boosted the Northeast's share of the nation's population. It also promoted urban growth. In 1860, immigrants comprised more than 40 percent of the population of New York City. Some working-class immigrants moved on to new cities in the Midwest, including Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit. Very few went to the South, which lacked factory jobs for wage workers. The rapid influx of so many newcomers produced social and political strains. Poverty forced many immigrants to cluster in shabby neighborhoods. The newcomers competed for jobs and housing with free African Americans. Rioters attacked African Americans, killing some and burning others' homes.

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Reasons For Cotton Production Surges and The Effect of it's Increased Production.

In part, that surge came as planters in older states—Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina—switched to growing cotton. But mostly it came as planters moved west or south to make new plantations in Florida, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and East Texas. These areas offered fertile soil and a warm climate well suited for growing cotton. The increase in the cotton supply filled a growing demand from textile factories in the Northeast and in Europe. By 1840, southern plantations produced 60 percent of the cotton used by American and European factories. Cotton and cotton textiles accounted for over half the value of all American exports. With good reason, Americans spoke of "King Cotton" as the ruler of their economy.

Emigration From Ireland and Germany

In the 1840s, the new middle class and most of the nation's farmers had been born in the United States. Increasingly, however, the working class was comprised of immigrants. Prior to 1840, immigration consisted mainly of Protestants from England or Scotland. During the 1830s, about 600,000 immigrants arrived. That number more than doubled to 1,500,000 during the 1840s and nearly doubled again to 2,800,000 in the 1850s.

Cotton Production Surges

In the Deep South, three developments worked together to boost cotton production: the cotton gin, western expansion, and industrialization. In 1793, Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin while working in Georgia. This machine reduced the amount of time and the cost of separating the cotton seeds from the valuable white fiber. The cotton gin made cotton cultivation much more profitable. Previously a minor crop, cotton became the South's leading product. From 5 million pounds in 1793, cotton production surged to 170 million pounds in 1820.

How did industrialization change the experience of working people?

Industrialization affected job opportunities, wages, and social classes. Industrialization created new job opportunities, but it also reduced the wages previously earned by artisans, and it created a more rigid division of social classes.

The culture of the South was affected by a boom in agriculture during this time. Increasingly, the South depended on slave labor for its economic success. What was the main impact of Eli Whitney's cotton gin on the South?

It improved the profitability of plantations, which made cotton the South's main crop.

How did nativists respond to increased immigration from Ireland and Germany?

They pushed for laws to discourage immigration or deny political rights to immigrants.

As slavery became entrenched in the South, what effect did agriculture have on southerners?

Slavery was defended as a positive good.

Which is not a reason why growth of American industry occurred primarily in the Northeast?

The Northeast had a larger population of enslaved people for a workforce.

What is one way in which southern and northern societies differed in the 1800s?

The South had fewer large cities than the North.

Social Change in the North

The arrival of industry changed the way many Americans worked by reducing the skill required for many jobs. This trend hurt highly skilled artisans, such as blacksmiths, shoemakers, and tailors, who could not compete with manufacturers working with many low-cost laborers. Most artisans suffered declining wages.

In the early 1800s, the North became more industrialized, while the South became mostly agricultural. How did the embargo of 1807 and the War of 1812 affect industry in America?

The embargo cut off access to British goods, so more factories were built in the United States.

Why Industrialization Spread

The embargo of 1807 and the War of 1812 cut off access to British manufactured goods. Eager for substitutes, Americans built their own factories in the Northeast. After the war, however, British goods once again flowed into the United States, threatening to overwhelm fledgling American manufacturers.

Failures of The South

The stunted commercial development in the South did not attract the immigrants who needed wage work. Consequently, the northern population grew much faster than the southern population. In 1850, the North had twice as many free people as did the South. That trend increased the political power of the North, especially in the House of Representatives. And that political trend alarmed southern whites who did not trust northerners to protect slavery. The South also paid an economic price for keeping two-fifths of its people in slavery. For lack of wages, most slaves were desperately poor and consumed very little. The South's limited consumer demand discouraged southern entrepreneurs from building factories. It was more profitable to buy a plantation.

The Reason for Emigration From Ireland and Germany

This surge primarily came from Ireland and Germany, regions suffering from political upheavals, economic depressions, and rural famines. In Ireland, mass starvation occurred in the 1840s as a result of a fungus that destroyed the potato crop. The potato had been the primary food source for the Irish poor. A few historians suggest that the famine was an act of genocide. As hundreds of thousands of Irish were starving to death, huge amounts of livestock, corn, and other foods were being exported from Ireland to England. However, most historians dismiss this idea because there was no deliberate British policy to exterminate the Irish. In fact, the British government provided some relief with soup kitchens for the starving and work projects for the jobless. Even so, it is estimated that more than a million Irish people died of starvation or famine-related diseases. Another million or more left Ireland, immigrating to Australia or North America. Those who came to America joined many other Irish and German immigrants. Germans had fled their homeland during the same period when their political revolution failed.

The North Embraces Industry

Thomas Jefferson had hoped to preserve the United States as a nation of farmers. Instead, between 1815 and 1860, the United States developed an industrial sector, or a distinct part of the economy or society dedicated to industry. Without intending to do so, Democratic-Republican policies contributed to that industrial development.

Workers Organize

Troubled workers responded by seeking political change. During the 1820s, some artisans organized the Workingmen's Party to compete in local and state elections. They sought free public education and laws to limit the working day to ten hours versus the standard twelve. The party also supported the right of workers to organize labor unions—groups of workers who unite to seek better pay and conditions. Most early labor unions focused on helping skilled tradesmen, such as carpenters or printers.

Unions go on strik

Unions went on strike to force employers to pay higher wages, reduce hours, or improve conditions. In 1834 and 1836, for example, the Lowell mill girls held strikes when employers cut their wages and increased their charges for boarding. Singing "Oh! I cannot be a slave!" they left their jobs and temporarily shut down the factory. The Lowell strikes failed to achieve their goals, however. The women eventually returned to work and accepted the reduced pay. Factory owners sometimes turned to the courts for protection. In 1835, a New York City court convicted 20 tailors of conspiracy for forming a union. Such convictions angered workers. But, neither the union movement nor the Workingmen's Party prospered in the early 1800s.

Religion of Irish and Germans

Unlike most of their predecessors, the new immigrants tended to be Catholic or Jewish. In search of work, they arrived in the seaports of the Northeast. A small minority, mostly German, could afford to set up shops or move to the West to buy farmland. But most immigrants had to find work on the docks, in factories, at construction sites, or in middle-class homes as domestic servants.

A Middle Class Emerges

While hurting some working Americans, industrialization helped others. A middle class emerged, in which men helped manage businesses as bankers, lawyers, accountants, clerks, auctioneers, brokers, and retailers. The middle class stood above the working class of common laborers but below the upper class of wealthy business owners. Most middle-class men worked in offices outside of their homes. They also began to move their homes away from the crowds, noise, and smells of the workshops and factories. Factory workers, however, could not afford that move. Neighborhoods, therefore, became segregated by class as well as by race. This contrasted with colonial cities and towns, where people of all social classes had to live close to one another.

Poor Reasons for Slavery

Why, then, did southern whites so vigorously defend the slave system? Part of the answer lies in the aspirations of common farmers. They hoped someday to acquire their own slaves and plantations. Common whites also dreaded freeing the slaves for fear they would seek bloody revenge. All classes of whites also believed that they shared a racial bond. Even the poorest whites felt a sense of racial superiority. They also reasoned that southern whites enjoyed an equality of rights impossible in the North, where poor men depended on wage labor from rich mill owners. Southern farmers took pride in their independence. They credited that independence to a social structure that kept slaves at the bottom. By the 1850s, proslavery forces rejected the criticism of slavery once expressed by Jefferson, Madison, and Washington. They no longer defended slavery as a necessary evil but touted the institution as a positive good. They also insisted that slavery was kinder to African Americans than industrial life was too white workers: Despite these claims, no northern workers fled to the South to become slaves, while hundreds of slaves ran away to seek wage work in the North.

What factors contributed to industrialization in the early 1800s?

labor supply, water power, and capital In the Northeast, immigrants were looking for jobs, swiftly flowing rivers could power factories, and financiers had money to invest in industry.

What is the name of the group that exploited ethnic tensions?

nativists Nativists campaigned for laws to discourage immigration or to deny political rights to newcomers. To defend their interests, many immigrants became active in the Democratic Party.

Why did Congress pass the Tariff of 1816?

to protect American factory owners against competition from British manufacturers