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The Industrial Revolution. Northern industry took full advantage of communication, technological, and transportation developments Eventually created even more of regional divide between North and South. Immigration & Population Growth.
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The Industrial Revolution Northern industry took full advantage of communication, technological, and transportation developments Eventually created even more of regional divide between North and South.
Immigration & Population Growth • Wars and economic uncertainty had limited the number of immigrants for the first 30 to 40 years. • increasing economic opportunities, decline in European economic conditions, and cheaper transportation rates caused sudden shift. • As immigrants arrived they generally settled in urban industrial centers, most native born Americans began to flow westward to frontier. • Predominantly immigrants from southern Ireland and Germany • Increases in health measures and life expectancy meant more Americans lived to maturity. • While most American women had fewer children, more actually lived longer.
Transportation • Development of turnpikes improved economic trade, but were inadequate for massive interstate commerce. • Steamboats • Network of cities like Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Kansas City, and New Orleans were interconnected by Mississippi R. and tributaries. • Steamboats were effective, but slow and thus cost more
Canal System • Could develop a more direct route and horse pulled boats could transport much larger amounts of cargo faster. • Erie Canal • Ambitious states were expected to fund and develop such canals, and New York had the most advantages. • Created a direct route from New York to Chicago and enabled the city to surpass New Orleans as a port.
Railroads • Multiple American innovators and English developments led to industrialist inquiries. • Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad was the first company to develop rail lines. • Competition with canals: many states charged tolls to use their canals and tried to protect them. • 1830 – 1840: 3,00 miles of rail was laid, predominantly in Northeast • 2 times more than Northwest, 4 times more than the south. • Ambitious entrepreneurs and local gov’ts seeking services often funded the longest lines.
Communication • Telegraph: Developed by Samuel Morse • Telegraph lines were run along railroads to connect cities and town throughout the northeast and northwest. • Associated Press (AP): developed after the invention of the Rotary Press that sped the printing of newspapers. • The AP was a collection of writers nationwide that collaborated to gather news through the telegraph wires. • The largest newspapers were all in the north, most southern newspapers had considerably smaller budgets • This would become a problem closer to the Civil War.
Development of Corporations and Factories • Corporations: • Developed more rapidly in the 1830s because legal obstacles were suddenly removed. • In many states a corporate charter could now be obtained by simply paying a fee. • Also changed liability laws, now stockholders would lose only the value of stocks, not be held liable for corporation’s total losses.
The Factory System • Began in New England in 1820’s where they developed technology to use waterpower to create textile mills. • Replaced home shops and handmade operations to create products. • By 1860 the amount of manufactured goods in factories was equal to agricultural production. • Of the more than 1,300,000 mill workers in the U.S., more than 900,000 were in New England and Mid-Atlantic states.
Technological Developments • Development of machine tools like turret lathe (cutting screws and metal parts) created rapid increase of inventions and innovations. • Interchangeable parts – initially developed by Eli Whitney for rifle making. • Incorporated into clock making, locomotives, steam engines, farm tools, sewing machines, and bicycles. • New found uses of Coal for energy allowed factories to be located away from rivers.
Wealthy Corporate Class • Merchants of the northeast eventually focused more on domestic production than foreign trade. • Since most wealth was located in the north industry easily excelled there rather than south. • Industrial capitalists of the northeast became the ruling class with the most political influence.
Work forces • Advances in farming machinery meant western farmers could grow larger crops with less help. • Allowed people to import food from other regions rather than having to grow it locally. • Northeastern farmers began to leave unprofitable land to either go west or move to cities for work in factories. • Mid-Atlantic cities recruited entire families to move to cities and work in mills. • Lowell System of Massachusetts recruited young women to work in textile mills, mainly farmers’ daughters.
Working Conditions • Initially the conditions were good • Example: Lowell girls were viewed as a model of conditions for women, clean boarding houses and conditions. • As economy experienced series of boom and bust cycles beginning in 1837, working conditions gradually deteriorated. • Most attempts at unionizing and strikes were met with stiff resistance and usually failed.
