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TOPIC 7 – SOCIETY AND CULTURE BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR (1820-1860)

Lesson 7.1 – The Industrial Revolution and Life in the North

(Vocabulary & Notes)

Key Terms (Vocabulary):

1. Industrial Revolution - the change from manual production to

machine-powered factory production that started in England in the late 18th century ad spread to other places and brought a transformation in economy, society, and technology

2. spinning jenny - a machine developed in 1764 that could

spin several threads at once

3. capital - money invested in a business venture

4. capitalist - a person who invests in a business to make

a profit

5. factory system - the method of producing goods that

brought workers and machinery together in one place

6. interchangeable parts - identical machine-made parts for a tool or

an instrument

7. Lowell girls - young women who worked in the Lowell

Mills in Massachusetts during the Industrial Revolution

8. urbanization - the movement of population from farms to

cities

9. locomotive - an engine that pulls a railroad train

10. clipper ship - a fast-sailing ship of the mid 1800s

11. trade union - an association of trade workers formed to

gain higher wages and better working conditions

12. strike - the refusal by workers to do their jobs until

their demands are met

13. nativist - a person opposed to immigration

14. Know-Nothing party - a political party of the 1850s that was anti-

Catholic and anti-immigrant

15. demand - the desire or readiness and ability of people

to purchase goods or services at a specific price

16. supply - the amount of goods or resources in stock

or on hand or available in the market to sell

17. scarcity - a shortage, lack, or insufficient supply

18. credit - an agreement or contract in which a

borrower receives money or goods now, with an agreement to repay a greater amount later

19. profit - the difference between the cost of a good

and its selling price

Lesson 7.1 - The Industrial Revolution and Life in the North

Obj: to identify the Industrial Revolution and explain its effects; to explain the impact of the Industrial Revolution on cities; to describe how technological change affected the economy of the North; to identify the impact of the Industrial Revolution on working conditions, social class, and daily life

In the early 1800s, busy factories and whirring machinery wee part of a revolution that was reaching the United States.

Unlike the American Revolution, this o ne had no battles or fixed dates. The new revolution – the Industrial Revolution – was a long, slow process that completely changed the way goods were produced and where many people worked and lived

THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION BEGINS

Before the 1800s, most Americans were farmers and most goods were produced by hand.

As a result of the Industrial Revolution, this situation slowly changed.

Machines replaced hand tools. New sources of power such as steam, replaced human and animal power

While most Americans continued to farm for a living, the economy began a gradual shift toward manufacturing.

New Ways of Making Products

Industrial Revolution:

• mid-1700s

• started in Britain

• British inventors

o Developed new machines

▪ Transformed the textile industry

The spinning wheel –

• Could spin only one thread at a time

1764 – the spinning jenny

• Developed by James Hargreaves

• Could spin several threads at once

1780 –

• Edmund Cartwright

• Built a loom powered by water

o Allowed a worker to produce a great deal more cloth in a day than was possible before

These technological innovations would change how goods were made not only in Britain, but also in America and around the world.

The Factory System

New inventions led to a new system of producing goods

• Before the Industrial Revolution

o Most spinning and weaving happened in the home

• Industrial production

o Involved large machines

o Had to be housed in large mills near rivers

▪ Water flowing downstream or over a waterfall turned a wheel that captured the power to run the machines

• To set up and operate these mills required large amounts of capital

o Capitalists supplied this money

o Capitalists built factories and hired workers to run the machines

• The new factory system –

o Brought workers and machinery together in one place to produce goods

o Factory workers earned daily or weekly wages

▪ They had to work a set number of hours each day

In Britain:

• Investors an opportunity

o A single worker can produce more with a machine than by hand

o The cost of goods made by machinery was much lower

o Result:

▪ More goods can be sold

Building a factory that could produce cloth more cheaply, an investor could make a profit.

• This desire brought about rapid industrialization

During the Industrial Revolution –

• demand for factory-made products grew

• in economics –

o supply and demand

▪ demand

• the readiness of people to purchase goods or services

▪ supply

• amount of goods available to sell

• depends in part on the natural resources factories could get

o to make products, factories needed raw materials, power, and laborers to run machinery

• some resources (cotton and iron) were in short supply

o scarcity results in high prices

▪ in response to high prices –

• farmers began to grow more cotton to supply spinning mills

• miners and others searched for new sources of iron and other materials used in machinery

• the growing demand for products and for the supplies needed to make them led to a great change in standards of living.

FACTORIES COME TO AMERICA

Britain wanted to keep its technological innovations secret.

It did not want rival nation to copy the new machines

• British Parliament passed a law forbidding anyone to take plans of the new machinery out of the country

Slater Emigrates to the United States

That law would soon be proven unable to enforce.

• Samuel Slater

o Skilled mechanic

o Worked in a British textile mill

o Knew his knowledge and skills would be in demand in the US

o 1789 –

▪ He boarded a ship bound for New York City

▪ British officials would search the bags of passengers sailing to the US to make sure they were not carrying any plans for machinery with them

o Slater did not carry any plans

▪ He had worked in the textile mills from an early age

▪ He know how to build and operate machinery by memory

o He carried the plans with him to the US, but not on paper, instead, in his memory

▪ British officials could not search there

The First American Mill

Slater visited Moses Brown

• His mill was in Pawtucket, RI

• A Quaker capitalist

• The machinery in his mill kept breaking down

• Slater was set to work on improving that

1793 –

• Slater built the first successful textile mill in the US, in Pawtucket

o Powered by water

• He wife, Hannah, discovered how to make thread stronger

o It did not snap in the spindles

Slater’s factory was a huge success and before long, other American manufacturers began using his ideas.

Interchangeable Parts

Eli Whitney –

• An American pioneer

• he wanted to seed up the making of guns

o machines would manufacture each part

o all machine-made parts would be alike

o for example:

▪ gunsmiths would not have to build each gun from scratch

▪ an interchangeable part would save time and money

• before gunsmiths would take days making the barrel, stock, and trigger for a single musket

• because parts were handmade, each musket differed a bit from every other musket

• if a part broke, a gunsmith had to make a new part to fit that particular gun

Because the government bought many guns –

• Whitney went to Washington, DC to try to sell his idea

• At first –

o Officials laughed at his plan

• Then –

o Whitney showed them the process of what interchangeable parts can do

• The idea of interchangeable parts spread rapidly

• Inventors designed machines to produce interchangeable parts for:

o Clocks

o Locks

o Many other goods

• With such machines, small workshops grew into factories

The Spread of Factories

The War of 1812 provided a boost to American industries.

• The British blockade:

o Cut Americans off from their supply of foreign goods

o Americans had to produce more goods themselves

• American bankers and merchants:

o Looked for new ways to meet the increased demand

o They built more factories

▪ As American investors took advantage of new technologies

• The American economy grew

Where Factories Were Built

The first factories were built where physical features favored them.

Pennsylvania –

• Factories used charcoal

o Could be made from local timber for power

• Turned iron ore into machines, tools and guns

o By mining and smelting

New England –

• Textile factories were built alongside the hilly region’s many falling streams

o Provided power to mills

o Investors modified this by:

▪ Building dams and canals for power

▪ These spurred economic growth

The South –

• Local wool and cotton provided raw material for thread, yarn and fabric

Lynn, Massachusetts –

• Businesses systemized shoemaking

o These shoemaking factories attracted new workers to the town

• the economy grew rapidly

New England became he first region in the US to develop manufacturing on a wide scale.

The Market Economy and the Industrial Revolution

In the US –

• the Industrial Revolution took place in a period marked by the growth of a laissez-faire market economy

• British trade restrictions had been lifted

• Hamilton’s reforms strengthened the banking system

• Banks were able to lend more money

o New access to credit

▪ Allowed people to start mills and factories in cities

▪ Allowed factories in rural places where swift streams provided power

• These, and other businesses, operated without much government control

• Nor did the government own factories or intervene heavily in the market

• The government protected contracts and property

o People could buy, sell, or use property as they saw fit

• Most Americans wanted the freedom to try new things

• They believed in competition

o This encouraged new inventions

• 1792 –

o 24 investors started the New York Stock Exchange

▪ This stock market raised private capital to pay for new ventures

▪ Success meant profits and brought new wealth to investors

▪ Profits led to new investment and further economic growth

• Low taxes allowed businesses to hold onto large amounts of capital and use it to expand and create even more wealth.

o this sparked new ventures under new investors

The Role of Market Forces

Investors –

• looked to the market to:

o decide where to invest

o decide what businesses to start

In a market economy –

• goods are bought and sold

• wages are determined by the market

o if a product is in high demand and the supply is limited, the price will be high.

▪ Entrepreneurs started business to supply high-priced or high-demand products.

• They abandoned businesses where the demand and price were low.

Workers faced the same market forces –

• People with skills that were in demand

o Got higher wages than those whose skills had less value in the market

DAILY LIFE IN FACTORY TOWNS

Slater and Whitney’s innovations were just the first steps in America’s Industrial Revolution.

During the 1800s, entire cities began to emerge around factories.

The Lowell Mills

During the War of 1812 –

• Frances Cabot Lowell

o Boston merchant

o Improved on British textile mills

▪ In Britain –

• One factory spun thread

• A second factory wove it into cloth

o He built new a new mill in Waltham, Massachusetts

▪ All the machines turned raw cotton into finished cloth

o After his death:

▪ His partners built an entire factory town and named it after him

o 1821 – Lowell, Massachusetts

▪ A village of five farm families

▪ By 1836 –

• 10,000 people

▪ It was a model community

• Small wooden houses

• Painted white with green blinds

• Very neat, very snug, very nicely carpeted

“Lowell Girls”

To work in their new mills the company hired young women from nearby farms.

• The Lowell Girls

o Usually worked in the mills for a few years then returned home to marry

o These girls made important contributions to American Society by providing labor for the Industrial Revolution

▪ As did other young women in other mill towns

o Most sent their wages home to their families

o The company made rules to protect the young women

▪ To reassure their parents

▪ They built boardinghouses

o Factory work was often tedious, hard, and dangerous

▪ Many women valued the economic freedom they got from working in the mills

In Lowell, and elsewhere, mill owners hired mostly women and children.

They did this because they could pay them half of what they would have had to pay men.

Child Labor

Boys and girls as young as seven worked in factories.

• Small children especially useful in textile mills

o They could squeeze around the large machines to change spindles

• In the 1800s, farm children also worked hard

• Most people did not see a difference in a child working in a factory or on a farm

• Often, a child’s wages were needed to help support the family

• Today, most Americans look upon child labor as cruel

Long Hours

Working hours in the mills were long –

• 12 hours a day

• 6 days a week

Farmers worked hard, but in the winter, they worked shorted hours a day

Mill workers worked nearly the same hours all year round

In the early 1800s –

• Conditions in American mills were generally much better than most factories in Europe

• As industries grew –

o Competition increased

o Employers took les interest in the welfare of their workers

o Eventually leading to worse working conditions

Changes in Home Life

The Industrial Revolution had a great impact on home life.

As the factory system spread –

• More family members left the home to earn a living

• Changing the ideas about the role of women

• In poorer families –

o Women often had to go out to work

• In wealthier families –

o Husbands supported the family and wives stayed at home

▪ For husbands having a wife who stayed at home was a sign of success

CITIES EXPAND

1800 –

• The majority of Americans lie in rural areas

During the Industrial Revolution –

• Many people left farms for cities

o Job opportunities in factories

• Profits from factories resulted in building more factories

• more factories attracted still more workers from farms

o older cities expanded

o new cities sprang up

• this urbanization caused industry to grow in the cities

o 1800 –

▪ Only 6% of the nation’s population lived in urban areas

o 1850 –

▪ 15% lived in urban areas

o 1920 –

▪ More Americans lived in cities than in rural areas

Hazards of Urbanization

Growing cities had many problems

Many were negative consequences of human modification of the environment:

• Dirt and gravel streets turned into mud-holes when it rained

• Cities had no sewers

• People threw garbage into the streets

• Untreated sewage and garbage often seeped into wells or flowed into streams and rivers

o Polluting the water

o The contaminated water spread disease

▪ Epidemics of influenza and cholera raged throughout cities

• Killing thousands

• Coal –

o An important source of industrial and home heating power

▪ Smoke and soot from burning coal seriously modified the environment

• Polluting the air

• Dirtying cities

• Causing health problems

Attractions

Besides job opportunities, cities had more to attract people:

• Theaters

• Museums

• Circuses

• Fine stores to shop

o While some women continued to sew their own clothes, many enjoyed visiting:

▪ Hat shops

▪ China shops

▪ Shoe stores

▪ “fancy-goods” stores

NEW TECHNOLOGIES

Mid 1800s –

• Northern industry grew steadily

• Most northerners still lived on farms

o But more and more of the north’s economy began to depend on manufacturing and trade

• New inventions

o Americans were practical

o Looked to science for new and useful applications

o New technology would change the way people lived and worked

▪ 1834 –

▪ Philo Stewart

• Cast-iron, wood-burning stove

o Small enough for use in the average kitchen

o About 9,000 were sold

▪ Joseph Henry

• The door bell

o Showed how an electric current could be sent through a wire over long distances

▪ Thomas Davenport

• Electric motor

o Competition among inventors brought about more innovation

▪ 1846 -

▪ Elias Howe

• Patented a sewing machine

o A few years later Isaac Singer would improve on Howe’s machine

▪ Clothing makers bought hundreds of the new sewing machines

▪ Workers could now make dozens of shirts in the time it took ta tailor to sew one by hand

Farm Machines

New inventions made work easier for farmers as well

• Jethro Wood

o The iron plow with replacement parts

• John Deere

o Lightweight steel plow

▪ Earlier plows of iron and wood had to be pulled by slow-moving oxen

▪ A horse could pull a steel plow through a field more quickly

• Cyrus McCormick

o 1842 –

o Opened a factory in Chicago that produced mechanical reapers

▪ Did the work of five people who would reap with hand tools

• Other farm tools –

o The mechanical drill to plant grain

o A threshing machine to beat grain from its husk

o A horse-drawn hay rake

These machines helped farmers rise more grain with fewer hands

Result:

• Thousands of farmworkers left the countryside

• Some went west to start farms of their ow

• Others found jobs in new factories in northern cities

A New Communications System, the Telegraph

1844 –

• Samuel F.B. Morse received a patent for a “talking wire”

o The telegraph

▪ A device that sent electrical signals along a wire

▪ The signals were based on a code of dots, dashes, and spaces

• Dots = short tones

• Dashes = long tones

o This system would later be known as “Morse code”

o Congress gave Morse funds to run a wire from Washington DC, to Baltimore.

o May 24, 1844 –

▪ Morse set up his telegraph in the Supreme Court chamber in Washington

▪ Many onlookers came

▪ Morse typed out his message

▪ A few seconds later:

• The operator in Baltimore typed back the same message

▪ The telegraph worked

▪ It was an instant success

o Telegraph companies sprang up everywhere

o Thousands of miles of wire soon stretched across the country

o Now news could travel long distances in a matter of minutes

o It helped businesses

▪ Merchants and farmers could have quick access to information about supply, demand, and prices of goods

o The availability of instant information about markets changed the way goods were marketed across the country and contributed to the development of a nationwide market.

o Eventually, almost every American town across the nation had a telegraph

▪ Providing nearly instant communication from coast to coast

o By the late 1850s -

▪ Telegraph cable connected the US with Europe

• This helped the way goods were marketed internationally

• Not only commerce and businesses benefited from the telegraph

o Ordinary people could communicate quickly with distant family and friends

• The telegraph is an example of how scientific discoveries influenced daily life during the 1800s.

THE AGE OF STEAM POWER

At first, railroads were used to provide transportation to canals.

In time, the railroad became a more practical means of transportation than canals

Early 1800s –

• The first railroads were built

o Horses or mules pulled cars along wooden rails covered with strips of iron

1829 –

• An English family developed a steam-powered locomotive engine to pull rail cars

o The engine, called “The Rocket” barreled along at 30 miles per hour

Early Difficulties

Not all Americans welcomed the railroads.

• Workers who worked on horse-drawn wagons feared they would lose their jobs

• People who invested in canals worried it might cause them to lose their investments

There were problems with the railroads:

• Not always safe or reliable.

• soft roadbeds and weak bridges often led to accidents

• locomotives often broke down

• smokestacks belched thick black smoke and hot embers

o embers would sometimes burn holes in passengers’ clothing

o embers would sometime set nearby buildings on fire

• there was only one track

o one track for both directions

o signals to control traffic on a single track did not yet exist

o this increased the likelihood of a collision

• there was no standard gauge between the rails

o different railroads often used different gauges

▪ people and goods had to be moved off one train and then loaded onto another if they needed to transfer from one railroad line to another

A Railroad Boom

Gradually, railroad builders overcame problems and removed obstacles

• engineers built sturdier bridges and solid roadbeds

• wooden rails were replaced with iron rails

• signaling systems were developed

• a standard gauge was agreed on

o these improvements made railroad travel safer and faster

by 1850s –

• railroads crisscrossed the nation

o majority of the lines were in the North and West

▪ New York

▪ Chicago

▪ Cincinnati

• All became major trading centers

o The South had much less track than the North

• Cities with good rail lines attracted factories and other business

• Railroads made it possible for people to migrate more easily to new cities

o Increasing urban population

[pic]

Yankee Clippers

Railroads increased commerce within the US

At the same time, trade also increased between the US and other nations

• Northeast seaports

o Ships were loaded with

▪ Cotton

▪ Fur

▪ Wheat

▪ Lumber

▪ Tobacco

o Then sailed to other parts of the world

Speed was key to the sea.

1845 –

• John Griffiths

o Launched the Rainbow

▪ The first of the clipper ships

▪ Sleek vessels

▪ Tall masts

▪ Huge sails

▪ It caught every gust of wind

▪ Narrow hulls allowed it to clip swiftly through the water

▪ They did give up cargo space for speed

• Gave American merchants an advantage

1840s –

• American clipper ships broke every speed record

o One sped from New York to Hong Kong in 81 days

o Old ships would take months to reach China

o These ships helped the US win a large share of the world’s sea trade in the 1840s and 1850s.

The golden age of clipper ships was brief.

1850s –

• Britain launched the first oceangoing iron steamships

o Sturdy vessels that carried more cargo and traveled even faster than clippers.

The Effects of New Technologies

Late 1700s and early 1800s –

• Scientists and inventors had found ways to harness heat, in the form of steam, to power machines.

By the 1830s –

• Factories began using steam power instead of water power

o Machines driven by steam were powerful and cheap to run

o Factories using steam power could be built almost anywhere, not just along banks of swift-flowing rivers.

• Again, American industry expanded rapidly.

• New machines made it possible to produce more goods at a lower cost

o More affordable goods attracted eager buyers

o Everyone could buy factory-made products

The Impact of Railroads

Railroads allowed factory owners:

• To transport large amounts of raw material and finished goods

• Cheaply and quickly

Railroads stretched across the nation:

• Linked distant towns with cities and factories

o Towns became new markets for factory goods

Railroads:

• Increased the size of the American marketplace

• Fueled even more factory production

• Affected northern farming

o Brought cheap grain and other foods from the West to New England

o New England farmers could not compete with this new source of cheap food.

o Many left famers to find new jobs in towns and cities as:

▪ Factory workers

▪ Store clerks

▪ Sailors

Rising Standards of Living

The rise of industrialization under a market economy brought striking economic and social benefits to the US.

• Mass production

o Lowered prices

o Raised Americans’ purchasing power

o Raised Americans’ standard of living

▪ Wages increased for average workers

▪ Foot canned in factories improved peoples’ year-round diets

▪ Stoves improved meals and home heating

▪ Factory-made clothing was cheaper than homemade

▪ Newspapers and magazines reported regularly about the new inventions and advertised new products

o Along with these changes, there were also challenges

WORKERS RESPOND TO CHALLENGES

Factories of the 1840s and 1850s were very different from the mills of the early 1800s.

As industrialization grew, life changed for workers-

▪ Factories were larger

▪ Steam-powered machines were used

▪ Laborers worked longer hours for lower wages

▪ Workers lived in dark, dingy houses in the shadow of the factory

Changing Roles

Mass production changed the way workers felt about their jobs.

▪ Before the growth of factories:

o Skilled workers (artisans) were proud of good they made

▪ Factory owners:

o More interested in how much could be produced than in how well it was made

▪ Sacrificing quantity for quality

o Workers could not be creative

▪ Cookie-cutter products

o No room for growth within the company

Families in Factories

As the need for workers increased, entire families labored in factories

In some cases:

▪ A family agreed to work for one year

o If even one family member broke the contract, the entire family might be fired

▪ A factory day began at 4 am

o The entire family headed off to work

▪ Many factories at that time employed young children

▪ The day ended at 7:30 pm

Hazards at Work

Factory workers faced discomfort and danger

▪ Few factories had:

o Windows

o Heating systems

▪ In the summer:

▪ Heat and humidity were stifling

o In the winter:

▪ Extreme cold contributed to frequent sickness

▪ Factory machines:

o Had no safety devices

o Accidents were common

o There were no laws regulating factory conditions

o Injured workers often lost their jobs

Trade Unions and Strikes

Poor working conditions and low wages led workers to organize

▪ The first workers to organize were the artisans

o 1820 and 1830s –

▪ Artisans in each trade united to form trade unions

▪ Trade unions were part of a labor reform movement

▪ Their trade unions called for:

• A shorter workday

• Higher wages

• Better working condition

▪ Sometimes union went on strike to gain their demand

• Strikes:

o Union workers refuse to do their jobs until managers agree to address their concerns

• Early 1800s:

o Strikes were illegal in many parts of the US

o Strikers faced fines or jail sentences

o Employers often fired strike leaders

o Employers were politically opposed to workers organizing

Progress for Artisans

Slowly the labor reform movement made progress

1840 –

▪ President Van Buren

o Approved a 10-hour workday for government employees

1842 –

▪ Massachusetts court declared workers had a right to strike

Artisans won better pay because owners needed their skills

Unskilled workers were unable to bargain for better wages

▪ Their jobs required little or no training

▪ Because they were easy to replace, employers did not listen to their demands

During the Industrial Revolution a new awareness of class differences began to emerge

▪ Americans had long viewed labor with deep respect

▪ The changing conditions of factory labor and the gaps between the wages of unskilled workers, managers, and business owners led to a sense of people grouped in classes with shared interests.

o Interests of these classes were often different

o This led to a rise in conflicts resulting from differences in social class

Women Workers Organize

The success of trade unions encouraged other workers to organize.

New England:

▪ Workers in textile mills were eager to protest cuts in wages and unfair work rules

o Many of these workers were women

o They faced special problems

▪ They always earned less money than men did

▪ Most union leaders did not want them in their ranks

• Many of that time believed that women should not work outside of the home

▪ The goal of many unions was to raise men’s wages so that their wives could leave their factory jobs

Despite this, women workers organized.

▪ 1830s –

o Staged several strikes at Lowell, Massachusetts

▪ 1840s –

o Sarah Bagley organized the Lowell Female Labor Reform Association

▪ The group petitioned the state legislature for a 10-hour workday

ETHNIC MINORITIES IN THE NORTH

By the late 1840s –

▪ Many factory workers in the North were immigrants

1840s and 1850s –

▪ About 4 million immigrants arrived in the US

▪ Attracted by the opportunities for farming the land or working in the cities

▪ Among them were immigrants from Britain

o Came to earn higher wages

o In the US the demand for skilled machinists, carpenters, and miners attracted the British

From Ireland to Germany

1840s –

▪ Ireland

o A disease destroyed the potato crop

▪ Potatoes were the main food of the poor people

• Potato famine

• A fungus-like organism

▪ Other crops were not affected

• Wheat

• Oats

o Under British rule at the time

▪ Most Irish crops were exported to England

▪ So because much of the crop was destroyed, little was left for the Irish to eat

▪ This situation caused a famine

• Thousands of people died of starvation

• Nearly as many died from disease

o Between 1845 and 1860 –

▪ Over 1.5 million Irish fled to the US seeking freedom from hunger and British rule

1820-1830 –

▪ Germany

o Harsh weather conditions resulted in server food shortages

o By 1832 –

▪ More than 10,000 Germans were coming to the US seeking fertile land to farm and a better life.

o 1840s –

▪ Revolutionaries had broken out in several parts of Germany

▪ The rebels fought for democratic reforms

▪ When revolts failed:

• Thousands had to flee

▪ Attracted by the US democracy, many came here

o Many others came simply to make a better life for themselves.

o Between 1848 and 1860 –

▪ Nearly one million Germans arrived in the US

Enriching the Nation

Immigrants supplied much of the labor that helped the nation’s economy grow.

Although most Irish immigrants had been farmers

o Few had money to buy farmland

▪ Many settled in the northern cities, low paying jobs were available

▪ Others worked to help transform the environment

o Building new canals and railroads

▪ Women

o Often worked as servants in private homes

Immigrants from Germany often:

▪ Used money to move west and buy good farmland

▪ These transformed the environment by turning prairie into farmland

▪ Others were artisan and merchants

▪ Cities of the Midwest had German grocers, butchers and bakers

o St. Louis

o Milwaukee

o Cincinnati

A small number of immigrants from Germany were Jewish

▪ 1820s –

o Jews began immigrating to the US

o By the early 1860s

▪ 150 Jewish communities in the US

Most Irish and German immigrants were Catholic

▪ These new immigrants increased ethnicity and religious diversity through urbanization

By contrast, most Americans in the early 1800s were Protestant

A Reaction Against Immigrants

Not everyone welcomed the flood of immigrants

▪ Nativists

o Wanted to preserve the country for native-born, white citizens

o They called for laws to limit immigration

o They also anted to keep immigrants from voting until they a had lived in the US for 21 years

▪ At the time the law stated 5 years

o Protested that “newcomers” stole their jobs

o When workers went on strike, factory owners often hired immigrant workers to replace them

o Many distrusted the different language, customs, ad dress

o Others blamed immigrants for the rise in crime in growing cities

o Still others mistrusted any Catholic immigrants.

▪ A majority of immigrants from Europe had been Protestants

o Since cities attracted these immigrants, they became the centers of conflicts over religion

By the 1850s –

▪ Hostility to immigrants was so strong

o Nativists formed a new political party

▪ The Know-Nothing Party

• Anti-Catholic

• Anti-immigrant

• Would answer “I know nothing” when questioned about the party.

▪ The party would soon die out

In time, conflicts between ethnic groups were resolved as they became part of American society.

Also, different ethnic groups became incorporated into the nation’s political fabric as political parties, particularly the Democratic Party, began to speak for their interests.

African Americans Face Discrimination

During the nation’s early years –

▪ Slavery was legal in the North

By the early 1800s –

▪ All of the northern states had passed laws to bring an end to slavery

▪ In some states:

o Only the children of some slaves gained their freedom

▪ Many did not completely abolish slavery until the mid-1800s

▪ Thousands of free African Americans lived in the North and their number grew steadily

Free African Americans in the North faced discrimination.

They were denied:

▪ The right to vote

▪ The jury box

▪ The army

▪ The public lands

▪ School

▪ Church

Even skilled African Americans had trouble finding good jobs

In addition, African Americans faced competition from immigrants who settled in northern cities.

Yet Some Find Success

Despite such obstacles, free blacks in the North had some choice over where they lived and worked, unlike enslaved blacks in the South.

In fact:

▪ Some northern African Americans achieved notable success in business

o William Whipper

▪ Grew wealthy

▪ Owner of a lumberyard in Pennsylvania

▪ Spent time and money on fighting slavery

o Henry Boyd

▪ Operated a profitable furniture company in Cincinnati

o Henry Blair

▪ Invented a corn planter and a cottonseed planter

o 1845 –

▪ Marcus Allen

• The first African American licensed to practice law in the US

• Graduated from Bowdoin College in Maine

▪ John Russwurm

• Became one of the editors of the first African American newspaper

o Freedom’s Journal

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