American+Labor,+Technology,+and+Immigration+(1820-1860)

__ The American Population, 1820-1840 __ __ Immigration and Urban Growth, 1840-1860 __ __ The Rise of Nativism __ __ The Canal Age __ __ The Early Railroads __ __ The Triumph of the Rails __ __ Innovations in Communications and Journalism __ __ The Expansion of Business __ __ The Emergence of the Factory __ __ Advances in Technology __ __ Innovations in Corporate Organization __
 * The population was increasing rapidly
 * Reasons for population growth
 * Improvements in public health
 * High birth rate
 * Immigration increased (economic opportunities)
 * Increase of people that lived in cities (New York City)
 * This was more in northern industrial places than in the south
 * The agricultural places of the west became large cities as well
 * Because of shipping from the Mississippi River, more cities in the west began to pop up
 * Immigrants began to make up significant percentages of big cities
 * Immigration was bigger in the North than in the south
 * A lot of Irish and German born immigrants came to America
 * Germany had economic dislocations
 * Ireland didn’t like the idea of English rule
 * "Potato Famine"
 * The immigration boom allowed for native born Americans to sell lots of land, have cheap labor, and influence the immigrants politically
 * "Nativism"
 * A defense of native born Americans against immigrants
 * Racism
 * Native born Americans believed that the immigrants were inferior to older stock Americans
 * Feared that the new immigrants would bring new, radical ideas into national life
 * The Native American Association (a group against immigrants)
 * Native American Party
 * Supreme Order of the Star Spangled Banner (combination of nativist groups)
 * Banning Catholics of the foreign born from holding public office
 * Literacy tests for voting
 * A strict code of secrecy (became the "Know-Nothings")
 * The Know Nothings turned their attention to political parties (became the American Party)-->1852
 * After 1854, the power of the "Know Nothings" decreased
 * They were mostly known for collapsing the existing party system (Whigs and Democrats)
 * The roads were not adequate transportation for the growing industrial America
 * The barges on the river were not good enough for transportation, so steamboats were introduced
 * The answer for better transportation lied with canals
 * Northeast took lead
 * The Erie Canal was the greatest contruction project taken up during this time
 * Opened in 1825 (had financial success)
 * Gave New York direct access to Chicago and the West
 * Increased white settlement in the Northwest (made it easier for people to ship their goods to the east from the west)
 * Canals only were good for New York because it wasn’t any obstacles in the way of New York's canal
 * Railroads emerged out of technological innovations
 * Invention of tracks
 * Steam powered locomotives
 * Railroad cars
 * Eastern states were more interested in railroads because they wanted communication with the west (Baltimore and Ohio company)
 * Often railroads connected water ways to each other (not railroads to each other)
 * In the 1830's and 1840's railroads became more powerful and flexible
 * Canals and railroads were often in competition with each other
 * Railroads began to be the primary source of transportation starting in the 1840's
 * The northeast had the most efficient railroad system
 * All regions had some type of railroad system
 * "trunk lines" were beginning to emerge in the country
 * Longer lines that connected more places
 * The railroads began to weaken connections between the south and Northwest
 * Chicago was the railroad center in the west
 * Money to finance the railroads came from a lot of different sources
 * American investors
 * Loans
 * State governments
 * Federal government (land grants)
 * By 1860, the government had given over 30 million acres of land to eleven states
 * Telegraph lines (instant communication between distant places)
 * Far more in the north
 * Linked the northwest more to the north
 * Samuel F.B. Morse (1844)
 * Western Union Telegraph Company
 * In 1846, Richard Hoe invented the steam cylinder rotary press (print newspapers fast and cheap)
 * Helped spread news much faster
 * Major Metropolitan news began
 * Most of the major magazines and newspapers were in the north
 * Sothern newspapers didn’t have as much money behind them
 * Businesses in America did really well in the 1820's and 30's because of the population growth and innovations in transportation
 * Individual merchants decreased while corporations were on the rise
 * Before this corporations could only be formed by state legislature charter, but people could now start doing this by just paying a fee
 * Stockholding laws also changed
 * If a company fails, they were only responsible for what they put into the company (not the company's total losses)
 * However, the stockholder's money was not enough to support the businesses
 * Businesses relied on credit that was backed by gold and silver (so it was not that much)
 * Forced the banks to issue a large amount of bank notes (not stable)
 * This caused for a lot of bank failures (a hiccup in economic growth)
 * The factories first appeared in the New England textile region
 * Larger machines
 * The factory system spread rapidly in the 1820's
 * Factory system affected shoe production considerably
 * Every decade the factory system started producing more goods that people used (profitable)
 * More than half of the factories (manufacturers) were located in the Northeast
 * Change in American machinery was rapid (had to catch up with Europe)
 * Machine tools
 * Most of these advances came from armories throughout the north
 * Interchangeable parts
 * Coal began to replace wood to power factories
 * A lot of Americans also were making patents on inventions (helped industrial manufactures--> some of these inventions could help factories)
 * Ex. Charles Good year
 * Ex. Howe-Singer machine
 * Most factories were still powered by water (this limited the factories to be in places close to water)
 * Most factories were beginning to switch to alternative energy
 * Turret lathe (used to cut screws and other metal parts)
 * Milling machine (replaced hand chiseling)
 * Merchants began to realize that money was in manufacturing not trading
 * The industrial capitalist of the northeast became the ruling class over most manufacturing and industrialization during this period