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Chapter 9. Transformation of American Society 1815-1840. Quick Review of Dates. French and Indian War? 1756-1763 American Revolution? 1776-1783 War of 1812? 1812-1814. Change was happening. Most were farmers, rode horses, didn’t live in cities
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Chapter 9 Transformation of American Society 1815-1840
Quick Review of Dates • French and Indian War? • 1756-1763 • American Revolution? • 1776-1783 • War of 1812? • 1812-1814
Change was happening Most were farmers, rode horses, didn’t live in cities • Yet, life was changing: by 1840, many farmers moved west • Westward migration happened after the war of 1812 • No longer subsistence farming: transportation now available meant distant markets available • Alternatives to farming meant that families and social relationships were changing
Life in the West • Successive economic and social changes • Improvements in transportation • 1825: Erie Canal completed • Consequently the development of towns and cities
Innovations: • 1790: Samuel Slater opened his first Rhode Island mill for the production of cotton yarn • 1793: Eli Whitney: Cotton Gin • 1807: Robert Fulton introduced the steamboat Clermont on the Hudson River • 1811: Construction of the National Road • 1817: Erie Canal started • 1834: First Strike at Lowell
Market Economy • In 1790: most lived on East coast • Now in 1840: 1/3rd lived between Appalachians and Mississippi River • Fur traders worked along the Missouri River • The west was advertised as “all east, tranquility, comfort” when it was really harsh • Pioneers migrated as families, clustered near rivers, were sociable
Federal Government and West • Northwest Ordinance of 1787 allowed for the creation of states • Louisiana Purchase 1803 brought Mississippi River • Transcontinental Treaty of 1819 took out Spanish control of area
Land Grants by Government • War of 1812 soldiers repaid with land • National Road authorized 1816 • Misery for the Native Americans
Removal of Indians • 5 civilized tribes: Cherokees, Choctaws, Creeks, Chickasaws, and Seminoles • Monroe and Adams asked for their “voluntary” removal • 1830’s Jackson passed Indian Removal act which took 100 million acres of Native American land • Bitter war ensued with Seminoles, cost $20 million • “Trail of Tears”
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831) • Andrew Jackson had forced them to leave • But Cherokee nation took their case to the Supreme Court • Cherokee Nation v. Georgia 1831 • Worcester v. Georgia: Indians are distinct political community with rights.
This was Federalism tested • John Marshall had sided with the Native Americans • Jackson sneered: “John Marshall has made his decision,now let him enforce it.”
The Faces of Industrialization • Waltham and Lowell mills turned out finished products, where before it had been cottage manufacturing: carding and spinning into yarn by Slater • 80% of workforce: were young unmarried women who were “wage slaves” • Strict rules: housing, church, food restricted
Equality and Inequality • Antebellum America: gap between rich and poor widened • Small fraction of people in cities owned 59% of wealth • “Rags-to-Riches” story: John Jacob Astor: built a fur-trading empire
The Poor • The Irish were “expiring from the want of sustenance”, fleeing the Famine • They were Catholics, despised by Protestant majority
The Poor • Free Blacks in the North: prejudice deeply engrained • Slavery had largely disappeared by 1820 due to Missouri Compromise • Yet, right to vote restricted in various ways: • Needed to own property 2. Segregated facilities