Chapter 14-Forging the National Economy (1790-1860)
Summary: The new nation went into the nineteenth century in a burst of movement.Frontier life was very crude and hard on the pioneers, especially women.Pioneers moving westward often exploited the environment, exhausting the soil, and exterminating the wildlife. Eventually environmentalists would create a national park system to preserve the wildlife.Old cities expanded, new cities started to form in the wilderness, Irish and German immigrants grew in the 1830s and 1840s.Businesses and inventions urged economic growth and women and children were the most subjugated in factories.There were some gains in wages but failed attempts in unions by men.Railroads started to spread across the country and changing technology helped to create economic links to Europe.By the early 1860s the telegraph, railroad, and steamship replaced the older means of travel and communication.These new means of transportation laid foundations for a continental market economy.
10 facts:
1. By 1860 the original thirteen states had more then doubled in number and the United States was the fourth most populous nation in the western world.
2. In the mid 1840s Ireland was swept by disease and hunger when a terrible rot attacked the potato crop, which caused tens of thousands to come to America.
3. Between the 1830s and 1840s over a million and a half Germans came to America.
4. The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney which helped both the North and South to prosper.
5. Samuel F. B. Morse invented the telegraph.
6. The principle of interchangeable parts was widely adopted by 1850 and became the basis of modern mass-production.
7. President Van Buren establishes ten-hour day for federal employees.
8. Massachusetts declares labor unions legal in Commonwealth v. Hunt.
9. American, or Know-Nothing, party was formed.
10. Samuel Slater built the first U.S. textile factory.
You said that Samuel Slater built the first factory here in America, but Im just wondering...where did he build it and how did it affect the surrounding areas? Because there were a few major textile cities that started up around the same time. Just wondering which one got started first :]
When you said before that people in Ireland were swept by disease and hunger, I was like, what does that have to do with America?? But then I saw that you put that thousands of people came to America, and that's crazy to think how much can be changed in your country due to something that's happening in another. Everything is kind of unexpectable.
The Know-Nothing Party (or American Party) grew because of a fear of the major cities being overwhelmed by Irish immigrants.The Know-Nothing term comes from the fact that it was a semi-secret organization of the party. When a member was asked about their activities they were suppose to reply with I know nothing.
Their main points were to :
Severe limits on immigration especially from Catholic countries.
Restricting political office to native-born Americans
Mandating a wait of 21 years before an immigrant could gain citizenship
Restricting public school teachers to Protestants
Restricting the sale of liquor
Mandating daily Bible readings in public schools (Protestant version)
So basically, they were against immigration, and any being anything other than Protestant.Oh, and they threw liquor in there too. =]
What was the impact of the textile industry and what were the benefits and consequences of the cotton gin?
The textile idustry was huge because it produced material for clothes or the clothes themselves. this was very popular becuase now people didn't have to wear homespun stuff. Also the benefits of the cotton gin was HUGE economic growth for the South and the ability to plant and sell MUCH more cotton. The consequences was that many more slaves were "needed" to do this, thus the slave trade sprung into greatness again.
