Post on 14-Apr-2016
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The Market RevolutionChapter 8:i
In a very basic way
water transformed the young
economy of the U.S.
The power harnessed from these moving waters ran the new
machines in factories that sprang up in the early 1800s.
After the War of 1812, the U.S. economy soared although most were
farmers.
The way Americans made, bought, and sold goods is
known as the Market Revolution.
The market Revolution was fueled by the American genius for
inventions.
Samuel Colt patented his revolving pistol in 1836.
Manufacturing-the making of products by machinery.
In 1813 group of businessmen led by a Boston merchant
named Francis Cabot Lowell built a factory in Waltham,
Mass. to manufacture
textiles.
Lowell’s was the world’s first truly centralized textile factory. All the tasks involved in making a product
were carried out in one place.
From the 1820s to 1840s, manufacturing industries arose in
New England and become the backbone of the North’s economy.
In 1817 New England’s textile mills produced 4 million yards of cotton
cloth. 1840 it was 323 million.
Free enterprise system--an economic system in which
companies compete for profits. This system, also is called
capitalism.
In 1771, Adam Smith outlined the free
enterprise system. He argued that businesses
should follow the market forces of supply and demand rather that government regulation.
Free enterprise expanded greatly in the
United States during the early 1800s.
• Today’s concept of capitalism> The federal gov. and state gov. now play important roles in the economy, such as regulating business to protect workers and consumers. Yet free
enterprise remains the heart of the American
economy and the foundation of American
prosperity.
For most Americans,
“going to work” in the 1700s
generally meant working in the home or around
the farm.
In the 1800s the building of new factories sharply increased the
demand for people to work outside the home.
Banks provided capital-wealth that can be invested to produce goods
and make money.
The first banks appeared in the U.S. in the 1780-90s. By the 1830s
hundreds of new banks were built.
In the 1800s, states did not restrict bank’s runaway lending. The new
banks often made bad loans to people who could not repay them.
The gov. did not issue paper money. Most preferred coins, gold, or silver.
The most common form of money was the bank note-a piece of paper
that banks issued to their customers.