Unit V Part III 1820-1861. The Hudson River Group American landscape painters American landscape...
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Transcript of Unit V Part III 1820-1861. The Hudson River Group American landscape painters American landscape...
The Hudson River Group
American landscape painters Like Romantic writers and
transcendentalists, they celebrated nature in its “natural” form (unspoiled by civilization)
Grand vistas like Niagara Falls Most paintings have a broken tree stump
somewhere in the painting Humans in the pictures are small,
insignificant Cole, Church, Durand and others
The Labor Movement
Problems caused by the Industrial Revolution: Jobs were lost to automation Lost pride in hand-crafted goods Rigid and long factory hours (13-16 a
day) Poor pay ($2.00 a week) Poor (unsafe) working conditions Big social division between workers and
employers
Unskilled (factory) Workers
Had little success in unionizing They were easy and cheap to replace
The success of industry was partially due to the cheap labor that was available and to the government’s support of business rather than labor
The Workingman’s Party
An early attempt at unionizing unskilled labor
Did not last long Torn apart by radicals representing
different unions AND state courts ruled against
unions: they were combinations of working men forcing employers to raise wages (considered a criminal act)
The Panic of 1837
Ended the hopes of most unions and organizers
BUT by 1840 most government workers had a 10-hour day
Industrial Revolution
Worked WITH the Commercial Revolution
The Price revolution was a part of the Commercial Revolution
Inflation and Cost of living
Unskilled Labor
Will not successfully unionize until the 1930’s
And only then with government help
Attempts at unionizing will continue after the Civil War
By the 1850’s
Singer and Howe made improvements in the sewing machine
Many women did “putting out” work: got materials, patterns from the factory, worked from home and were paid when finished goods were delivered
The Lowell System
New England Textile factories were always on the lookout for cheap labor
Women were paid less than men
The Lowell factories (and others) advertized for young women workers to come to the city from the countryside to make a little $ for themselves between their school years and their weddings
The Lowell System
Was, AT FIRST, not a bad deal Women lived in boarding houses
owned by the mills Rigid rules, hours, church
attendance, “visitors”
They DID make an effort to watch out for their employees (paternalistic) and women WERE able to save a little extra
Yellow Dog Contracts
Contracts signed by workers in which they agreed not to form or join a union as long as they were employed by the company
The American Dream To be one’s own boss Still: the American Farmer
1840’s Tocqueville: A French writer who wrote vignettes about American life
Noted that Americans loved associations: political, religious, educational, charitable, etc.
Much American volunteerism Much organized, cooperative activities:
sewing bees, barn-raisings, sewing circles and the like.
Entertainment
Sports: boxing, wrestling, baseball (1850’s), hunting and fishing
Community plays and musical performances
1850’s Farm Machinery John Deere’s Steel Plow McCormick’s reaper
Will help farmers produce more Will cause a surplus in agricultural
products causing farmers to be harmed by lower prices
Just like the machinery used for the Industrial Revolution did the same with manufactured goods
Politics
Panic 1837 and Depression Unemployment State governments had over-extended in
internal improvements and had defaulted on loans
Discouraged all investors Farmers survived Soup kitchens (private, church charity…
not gov’t)
Van Buren…Laissez-faire
Ignored crisis Did not want government
interference Refused to accept any responsibility
for suffering Was afraid of beginning a deficit
Whigs suggested public works but were ignored
Pet Banks Began to Collapse!
What to do? Van Buren had to find a substitute
for Pet Banks
Suggested Independent Treasury System:
Construction of government-owned vaults in various parts of the country
Government would store federal revenue there until needed
Independent Treasury System
Seemed to work (but did not) Economy improved due to:
1849 Gold found in California Lots of European investment:
Railroads, etc. Big Battle: Banks and businesses
objected to the government withholding so much $ from circulation
Election 1840
Was driven by the poor economy Van Buren did not have a chance
Democrats: Van Buren (60) Whigs: Wm. Henry Harrison (234)
War Hero and Tippecanoe and Tyler too
Liberty Party: Birney (0) Abolish Slavery
William Henry Harrison
First Whig President Whigs had learned lesson from
Jackson’s times Whigs portrayed Harrison as a log
cabin type (was not)
Harrison was not interested in policy or real work. Just wanted to party and have people stand when he entered a room
Harrison
Harrison as figurehead was perfect!
Secretary of State: Webster Speaker of the House: Clay Would do the work Everybody happy Then disaster struck!
Harrison died after one month in office…
Gave his inaugural address in the chilly rain, caught pneumonia and died
Webster and Clay did not expect problem with VP…Tyler…but
Tyler was a Jackson-Hater Whig (not a real one)
Tyler
Was the first to become a President as the result of the death of a President
Was called, “His Accidency”
Whigs had not yet passed a Bank Bill (providing for a new BUS…did not expect problems
BUT Tyler vetoed Bank Bill twice!
Remember
The Whig Party Platform was Clay’s American System
Tyler was not on board His cabinet resigned except for
Webster Webster was busy working on
treaties so he stayed BUT Tyler will not get Whig support
in 1844 and the Democrats thought him a traitor
In the Meantime..
Henry Clay (Speaker of the House) made a deal with westerners in the House
Clay wanted the Distribution Act: to distribute money from recent land sales to bail out states and then to raise tariff to make sure the U.S. would have money coming in
The South was screaming but there was little they could do
The Westerners
Agreed to support the Distribution Act if New England would support their bill:
The Pre-emption Act: said that squatters would have first chance to purchase the land that they already inhabited
Both Bills passed in Congress
The South could not stop a combined effort of the North and the West
BUT THEN…
Tyler signed the Pre-emption Act but vetoed the Distribution Act
Whigs were really mad at Tyler (he was not a true Whig)
Manifest Destiny
In the 1840’s the U.S. will acquire vast amounts of land
Was driven by intense patriotism The habit of pushing through
frontiers
The Northern Boundary of Maine
Was not settled since the Treaty of Paris
The Aroostook War: Fighting between Maine settlers and Canadian lumber jacks!
Van Buren had sent 50,000 troops to the border (just in case)
Under Harrison and Tyler Webster (Sec of State) worked it out with a treaty
The Webster-Ashburton Treaty
Settled the Northern Boundary of Maine
Also defined the boundary between Lake Superior and Lake-in-the-Woods
Election 1844
Democrats: Polk (The Expansionist) 170
Whigs: Clay (105) Liberty Party: Birney took enough
popular votes from the Whigs to give Polk the victory
Why did the Liberty Party steal votes from the Whigs and not from the Democrats?
Polk…the expansionist
Campaigned on:
Annexing Texas Adding Oregon An Independent Treasury System A lower Tariff No federal spending on internal
improvements
Polk
Made it clear he wanted to serve only one term
He got everything he wanted and more within 2 years
After the election but before the inauguration, Tyler asked Congress to annex Texas (1844)
1846: A new Independent Treasury System
1846: Oregon Treaty 1846: The Walker Tariff (really
lower)
The Oregon Treaty
Oregon USED to be occupied by Russia, Spain, Brits, U.S.
Was valuable for Beaver Pelts
Russia backed out after Monroe Doctrine
Spain gave up claims with 1819 Adams-Onis Treaty
Brits and U.S. had a Treaty of Joint Occupation
Oregon
The Brits did not want to leave Americans, “54-40 or Fight!” (54th
parallel and 40 minutes)
We settled on the 49th parallel