Industrial Transformation (1800-1850)
specie
"hard" money, usually in the form of gold and silver coins
When formulating an argument for an essay it is important to consider any potential counterarguments to your argument. Why is it necessary to consider the possibility of counterarguments?
Counterarguments can help strengthen your argument.
Daniel is an artisan who used to train apprentices but since the industrial revolution, he has begun hiring unskilled wage workers to help increase production. How is Daniel's relationship with his wage laborers different than it was with his apprentices?
Daniel had a paternalistic, mentoring relationship with his apprentices. He has a far less personal attachment to his wage workers.
What is the most important reason for adding details to a broad argument?
Details add context which strengthens your argument.
James lives in New England during the 1830s. He comes from a working class family and achieves the sought after goal of moving from factory laborer to factory owner. What values does he likely hold?
He believes in hard work and industriousness.
Eli Whitney invented new machines and new methods of production. What was one of his contributions?
He developed interchangeable pieces so things like guns could be manufactured and repaired by anyone.
The opening of the Northwest Territory to American settlers in 1795 was a key factor in the Panic of 1819 because it caused an increase in land speculation and jump-started the "boom-and-bust" economy in America.
Historical Event/Figure Argument
What effect did the initial immigration waves of the 1840s and 50s have on the early organized labor movement?
Immigration hurt the organized labor movement.
social mobility:
: a distinctly American theory which posits that any poor or working-class person can move up the economic ladder and gain financial stability if they only work hard enough and maintain a sober, frugal lifestyle. The theory of social mobility conveniently ignores concepts such as the cycle of poverty, which keeps certain people trapped at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder for generations at a time.
Louisiana Purchase
A piece of land stretching from Southern Canada and Montana down to New Orleans, and from Denver to St. Louis, encompassing around 828,000 square miles. In 1803 the United States paid France $15 million for the territory ($342 million in today's money), which was mostly occupied by Native American tribes. The purchase of this territory allowed more American settlers to move West, but also brought them into often deadly conflicts with the tribes living there.
The year is 1815. Abigail and her family are moving to Ohio Country. What ideas most likely motivated her family to move?
Abigail and her family wanted to escape the urban sprawl and the poor health conditions of the big city.
Northwest Indian War (1785-1795)
After the American Revolution, the US gained the Northwest Territory from the British. However, Native tribes such as the Iroquois, Cherokee, Shawnee, and many others also claimed the area. The tribes formed the Northwestern Confederacy and, with support from the British, fought against the U.S. and their Chickasaw and Choctaw tribal allies for control of the Ohio Valley. The tribes were defeated and forced to cede the territory, resulting in their forced removal from the land.
A strong argument is part of an essay's foundation. What is the best example of an argumentative statement for a research paper?
American industrialization in the early 19th century was beneficial to laborers because it gave them the freedom to work when and where they wanted.
How did industrialization in the North affect slavery in the South?
As cotton surpassed tobacco production many enslaved persons were sold to the Lower South to work in the cotton fields.
How did improved infrastructure in the form of roads, canals and railroads change the daily life of Americans?
As the cost of overland transportation decreased the diversity of goods available for purchase increased allowing for people in the west to buy goods made in the east.
Bessie works in a Boston Association mill and must adhere to a strict set of rules. These rules were instituted by the mill owners to help ensure the moral upkeep of the young women working in the mills. What were some of the rules Bessie had to follow?
Bessie woke up early and could not talk during her long shifts but she got to live in the company owned boarding houses.
Evaluating different perspectives of a historical event can help one understand the event better. How can evaluating different perspectives also help develop a stronger argument about that event?
Researching different perspectives can help you understand an opposing viewpoint.
Kellen will be writing a historical essay on the effects of industrialization throughout the United States. What sources should Kellen use to create a strong argument with good supporting evidence?
Sources from people of different classes and regions.
In what ways did the southern economy transform due to the changes taking place in the North?
Southern slave owners experienced a boom in demand for cotton resulting in higher profits.
What prompted the development of an improved transportation system?
The Federal Government recognized economic growth in the U.S. was being held back by the price of overland transportation.
When Margaret moved west from Connecticut to Ohio Territory in the early 1800s she arrived in a very isolated area where her family practiced subsistence farming. Less than 20 years later her family was selling their surplus crops and even attended a performance by a traveling circus. How did the transportation revolution facilitate these changes?
The construction of roads, canals and railroads improved travel so people could now move from region to region with relative ease.
The United States government encouraged the industrial growth seen in the early 1800's. Why did they support the increase in manufacturing?
The government wanted to reduce reliance on British imports.
What effect did the emerging middle-class mentality have on labor laws, particularly as they related to women and children?
The middle-class preferred that women and children did not work.
During the early to mid 1800s, self made entrepreneurs began to rival those with "old money"—people who came from generations of wealth. How did self-made entrepreneurs become a successful wealthy class on their own terms?
They created separate schools and organizations where admission was merit-based, not pedigree-based.
As the 19th century progressed factory workers began working longer hours in unsafe conditions for less pay. How did the factory workers respond to the increasingly bad working conditions?
They formed labor unions and went on strike to demand safer conditions, better hours, and higher wages.
How did native born citizens respond to the influx of Irish and German immigrants in the mid 1800s?
They were fearful of the immigrants' influence on American society, especially due to the growth of the Catholic population.
How did the established economic elite of America view and treat the new class of "self-made" inventors and entrepreneurs who entered their social sphere in the 19th century?
They looked down on the "self-made" elite.
What laws did Congress pass in an effort to stimulate the economy following the Panic of 1819?
They passed the Land Law of 1820 making it possible to buy smaller tracts of land.
How did the "putting-out system" allow manufacturers to increase the number of goods produced?
They reduced production costs through the specialization of workers.
Thomas was a subsistence farmer but now he grows a surplus and sells it at market. What developments in transportation allowed Thomas to change the way he farmed?
Thomas could now ship his crops to market using the canal system, avoiding expensive overland routes.
How did the Napoleonic Wars in Europe affect the prices of U.S. domestic goods in 1815?
U.S.-made goods could not compete with post-war European surplus import prices.
Consider the following position: People who supported the free labor ideology during the industrial revolution argued workers would benefit from the changes by being able to work when and where they wanted. What would a counterargument to this position sound like?
Under industrialization, workers would suffer because they are no longer specialized in a skill and could be easily replaced.
Mary and her family live in rural New England. To help earn extra money, members of the family began taking extra work. How did Mary's work life change as labor evolved from the "putting-out system" to unskilled wage labor?
Under the "putting-out system" Mary cut soles of shoes to standard size from home, now she works at a factory where she works on an assembly line performing a task for a wage.
Which demographic/social shift in the U.S. was the primary driver behind inventions like the steamboat and the telegraph?
Westward expansion
How could married women earn and spend money under the policy of coverture?
Wives shopped on their husband's credit but it could be revoked at any time.
The free labor ideology was celebrated for allowing workers more freedom and room for social mobility. What is one way the workers benefited from the industrial revolution?
Workers were now able to work when and where they wanted without long term obligations like apprenticeships.
Erie Canal:
a canal that connected the Hudson River to Lake Erie and markets in the West
coverture
a common law doctrine that held that a married couple was a single legal unit represented by the husband. Wives could not legally own property or make contracts in their own name and were legally required to surrender any income to their husbands. In some cases, however, a wife was also not considered legally liable for debts or crimes, since it was assumed that she acted with the approval of her husband.
McCormick reaper
a horse-drawn mechanical scythe that replaced the much slower handheld tool, vastly increasing agricultural production
putting-out system
a labor system whereby a merchant hired different families to perform specific tasks in a production process
turnpike
a main road that collects tolls from drivers for its use
integrated textile mill
a manufacturing operation wherein all steps, from processing raw cotton to the finished textile product, are completed under one roof
Cumberland Road
a national highway that provided thousands with a route from Maryland to Illinois
self-made men
a new class of wealthy manufacturing businessmen who came from the working-class and rose through the socioeconomic ranks by creating new technologies or methods of production which became popular and relied on by other companies. These men usually shared more middle-class values like education and a strong work ethic and were often excluded by "old-money" colonial families who had inherited their wealth and status.
Working Men's Party
a political group that radically opposed what they viewed as the exploitation of workers
House of Refuge
a school for working-class children in New York, which educated young people on the condition that they enter into an indenture contract with a family or a business so they could work off the cost of their own education
separate spheres
a social idea of gender roles that can trace its origins back to Classical Greece. The idea of separate spheres held that men should inhabit the world of business, politics, and public life, while women should maintain the "domestic sphere" of child-rearing, housekeeping, social engagements with other women, and general household management, including finances and supervising any servants that they family employed.
temperance
abstinence from alcohol
American System
an economic plan consisting of trade tariffs to protect American manufacturing, a national bank, and federal money for transportation infrastructure improvements like roads, canals, and bridges
labor theory of value:
an economic theory holding that profits from the sale of the goods produced by workers should be equitably distributed to those workers
deskilling
breaking an artisanal production process into smaller steps that unskilled workers can perform
The free-labor ideology touted its flexibility for workers, allowing them to "go where the jobs are" to find work, but what would have been the immediate result of this worker movement in terms of the free-labor market?
competition for jobs
labor unions:
early on, these were simply an agreement between workers to strike or "turn-out" simultaneously in order to shut down production and force their employer to capitulate to their demands. Later into the 19th and 20th centuries, labor unions became formal organizations with member dues and bylaws.
debtors' prisons:
institutions specifically for individuals who could not pay off their debt and defaulted on loans or mortgages. Inmates in these prisons worked to pay off their debt, but also to pay the costs of their own incarceration.
machine tools:
machines that cut and shaped metal to produce standardized, interchangeable parts for mechanical devices such as clocks or guns
incorporation
originally, incorporation was for the formation of towns or governments, but in the nineteenth century it extended to a new type of business model. Corporations were formed to allow business debts to fall on the company instead of on the individual investors or owners.
When formulating a historical argument, you must be able to support your inquiry with facts. From what sources can you gather facts to provide this foundation?
primary and secondary sources
land offices
sites where prospective landowners could buy public land from the government
artisans
skilled, experienced craft workers—produced goods by hand
Agriculture became a major driver of inventions like the cotton gin and mechanical reaper. What East Coast manufacturing industry was the primary beneficiary of the increased agricultural production which these inventions allowed?
textiles
interchangeable parts
the advent of these standardized parts meant different things for different economic sectors. On one hand, gun-sellers could now market their firearms as being easier for owners to repair and clean. On the other hand, someone in the gun repair business might have to close up shop if gun owners were suddenly able to make their own repairs.
Mohawk and Hudson Railroad:
the first steam-powered locomotive railroad in the United States
With the explosion of Midwestern agriculture in the 19th century, America was finally exporting goods at a higher rate than importing. Which major agricultural production problem was solved by the increase in transportation infrastructure during this time (railroads, canals, roads, etc)?
the high cost of overland transportation
What was the primary difference between Irish immigration and German immigration in the early-mid 19th century United States?
the locations that they chose to settle in
In order to create a strong argument, one must support an argument with valid sources. What sources can be used to make an argument more valid?
those that show different perspectives
What was the end goal of the United States government when it came to supporting the growth of industrial manufacturing in the 19th century?
to end American reliance on foreign imports
Which conditions of industrial laborers most directly contributed to the beginnings of Westward Expansion in America?
urban overcrowding and lack of personal freedom
James is a middle class factory owner who does not understand why his workers feel like they are not treated well. What argument does James use to defend the low pay, long hours and dangerous conditions to which he exposes his workers?
James argues that through social mobility any worker with good morals can climb the social ladder towards management and ownership.
What incentives did the U.S. Government offer to people willing to settle in the Northwest Territory?
Land was offered at affordable prices with the option to make payments.
Based on what you have learned in this Historical Hack, after you have chosen basics like your general topic and type of argument, what is the most important step in the process of building a historical argument?
Making sure that the argument is valid.
Thomas has worked in a factory for many years. He is now considering leading a strike for better working conditions. What changes inspired Thomas and others to join in the early labor movements?
Many factory workers are being hurt or killed in factory and machine accidents.
How did the labor movement change the rights of workers in the mid 1800s?
Closed shops hired only union members in an effort to increase the union's power.
The working class often sought to emulate the middle class and shared some of the same values. What values and ideals were common between working and middle class families during the early to mid 1800s?
Both types of families adhered to gender roles and had separate spheres, meaning that men worked outside the home while women worked inside the home.
Counterarguments can strengthen your argument when used correctly. How can incorporating an analysis of counterarguments into your essay strengthen your own argument?
By showing how challenges to your argument can be refuted with evidence.
Elizabeth is a middle class woman who lives in Boston in the year 1835. Sarah lives in Georgia on a small plantation. How did the daily life of White women in the South compare to the middle class women of the North?
Both Elizabeth and Sarah were expected to raise well behaved, good mannered successful children.
How did middle and working class parents view education during the early to mid 1800s?
Both classes believed it was important and tried to educate their children.
In what specific way did Southern enslavers use the Northern manufacturing boom to try and increase their own agricultural operations?
They applied for speculative loans.
