Market Revolution & the Growing National Economy

Mr. Owens

Crash Course: Market Revolution

Essential Questions

• What were the causes and effects of the rise of the Market Revolution including the role of entrepreneurs?

• What new technological innovations increased both factory and agricultural production and efficiency?

• How did the growth of manufacturing both foster the growth of wealthy business elites and a middle class, but also lead to a widening maldistribution of wealth and a growing population of laboring poor?

Population Growth• 1800-1825 U.S. population doubled, & doubled again by 1850

due to high birth rate & rising immigration (from Great Britain & Germany by 1830)

• By 1830s 1/3 of population lived west of Appalachians

Transportation• Roads – success of Lancaster Turnpike in PA sparked

expansion of roads & turnpikes, mostly funded by states except National (Cumberland) Road from Maryland to Illinois 1811-1850s

• Canals: Erie Canal completed in NY by 1825, Gov. De Witt Clinton, greatest construction project so far

• Steamboats: Robert Fulton’s Clermont up Hudson River in 1807

• Railroads – by 1830s competing with canals led to rise of western cities: Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, & Chicago

Growth of Industry• Industry limited by 1800, but manufactures surpass value

of agriculture by 1850s• Mechanical Inventions: Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, & rifle

factory used interchangeable parts to supply War of 1812• Corporations: 1811 NY 1st incorporation law, early NY

stock exchange- idea of “limited liability”• Factory System: Samuel Slater established first true textile

factory in 1791, more expanded due to Embargo esp. in New England such as Lowell, MA

• Labor: textile mills hired young poor farm women – Lowell System – regimented & lived in dorms, rise of child labor & poor immigrants by 1840s

• Unions: Trade (craft) unions began in 1790s due to low pay, long hours & unsafe conditions, BUT weak due to– Cheap immigrant labor esp. Irish – state laws limit unions, – depressions caused high unemployment &

desperation

Agriculture• Rise of commercial agriculture –

cash crops for market instead of subsistence due to cheap land, easy credit & expanded markets due to transportation

• Cotton & South: Eli Whitney’s Cotton gin 1793 – cotton replaced indigo & tobacco & expanded west – high demand for British textile industry

Effects of Market Revolution

1. End of individual self-sufficiency – led to specialization

2. Increased standard of living3. Single women moved to cities to work in

factories & as domestic servants– More independence, but few legal gains

4. More social mobility, but increased gap between rich & poor

5. Increase in slavery despite ban on international slave trade in 1808, due to demand for cotton from Britain & northern textile industry– Slave Population: 893,000 in 1800, 2 million

in 1830, to nearly 4 million by 1860