Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Forging the national Economy (1790-1860)

I. The Westward Movement

a. USn marched quickly toward west( very hard w/ disease & loneliness)

b. Frontier people were individualistic, superstitious & ill-informed

II. Shaping the Western Landscape

a. westward movement molded environment

-tobacco exhausted land *& moved on, but "Kentucky blue grass" thrived

b. ecological imperialism

-trapped beavers, sea otters, and Bison to manufacture for East

c. spirit of nationalism led to appreciation of American wilderness

-Catlin pushed for national park & achieved it w/ Yellowstone in 1872

III. The March of the Millions

a. mid-1800s, pop cont'd to double every 25 years

b. 1860-orginial 13 states now has 33 states; pop 4th in the world(Russ, Fra, Austria)

c. urban growth cont'd explosively

-1790-only New York & Philadelphia had >20,000 people, but 1860, 43 had

-brought bad sanitation Ðo sewage system & pipe-in water

d. high birthrate had accounted for pop growth, but near 1850s, millions of Irish, German came

-bec. surplus pop. in Euro but not all came to US 25/60 million

-appealing of US(land, freedom from church, aristocracy, 3 meat meals a day)

-intro of transoceanic steamship(reduce traveling to 12 days, death rate high not as bad)

IV. The Emerald Isle Moves West(1830s-1960s-2 million)

a. Irish potato famine in mid-1840s led to death of 2million & many flee to US

-"Black Forties"--mainly came to big city-Boston, esp New York(biggest Irish city)

-illiterate, discriminated by Old USn, received lowest of job(railroad building)

-hated by Protestants bec. catholic

-USn hated Irish(NINA); Irish hated competition w/ blacks for job

-Ancient Order of Hibernians(serve to aid Irish)

-gradual property owning (grand success), children edu. Cut short to buy land

-attracted to politics, filled police dept.

-politician tried to appeal to Irish by yelling at London

V. The German Forty-Eighters

a. 1 million poured in bet 1830s-1860s bec. crop failures & loose of rev of 1848 toward liberalism

-liberals such as Carl Schurz contributed to elevation of US politic

-had more $ than Irish so bought land in west esp. in Wisconsin

-votes crucial so wooed by US politicians but not as potent bec. spread out

-contributed to US culture (Christmas tree); isolationism

-urged public education & freedom(enemies of slavery)

-resentment from Old bec. group & aloof; brought beers to US

VI. Flare-ups of Antiforeignism

a. "nativists" prejudiced newcomers in jobs, poli, religion

b. catholic became major relig group bec. immigration of 1840s, 50s & set out to build catholic school

c. nativist feared that Catholicism build on Protestantism (popish idols) so formed "Order of star-spangled Banner"

-met in secrecy-"Know-Nothing" party

-fought for restriction on immigration, naturalization & deportation of alien paupers

-wrote fiction books about corruption of churches

-mass violence, ex. Philadelphia 1844-burned churches, schools, people killed

-made America pluralistic society w/ diversity

-no longer hated bec. crucial to eco expansion & more availability of jobs

VII. The March of Mechanization

a. Industrial revolution spread to US & US destined to be an industrial giant bec.

-land was cheap, labor scare, $ for investment plentiful, raw materials not discovered

-lacked consumer for factory-scale manufacturing

-British long-estab. factory was competition

-kept textile to own monopoly(forbade travel of crafts men & export of machine)

b. US remained very rural to farming

VIII. Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine

a. Samuel Slater - "Father of the Factory System"

-learned machinery when working in British FactoryÐo escaped to US, aided by Moses BrownÐo build 1st cotton thread spinner in US (1791)

b. Eli Whitney build a cotton gin (50 times more effective than hand picking cotton)

-cotton eco now profitable, saved the South to King Cotton

-south flourished & expanded cotton kingdom toward west

-north factories manufactured, esp. New England (w/ poor soil, dense labor, access to sea, river for water power)

IX. Marvels in Manufacturing

a. embargo of war of 1812 encouraged home manufacture

b. w/ peace of Ghent, British poured in surplus in cheap $, forcing close of American factory

c. congress passed Tariff of 1816 to protect US eco

d. Eli Whitney introduce machine made replaceable parts (on muskets)-1850

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