TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE, AND EVERYDAY LIFE,

1840-1860

CHAPTER 11

Introduction to Ch. 11

Stitching by handPants – 3 hrs.Dress – 7 hrs.

Stitching by machinePants – 38 mins.Dress – 57 mins.

700-800 machines per year (1851) to 21,000 (1859) to 174,000 (1872)

Installment plans were adopted by Singer Most machines were sold to factories There was an upbeat response to

technological change (God’s chosen instrument of progress)

Yet there was a darker sideRevolvers killSweatshops formed The urban decay

Hailed as democratic, the benefits of technology drew praise from all sides

Antebellum life was transformedSteam engine, cotton gin, reaper, sewing

machine, telegraph Transportation and production increases

= lower commodity prices

Agricultural Advancement Westward expansion = opportunity for

innovation and increase in production John Deere’s steel-tipped plow busts up

Midwestern soil, opening it up to wheat Available timber builds homes and

fences Wheat is the Midwestern cotton

Agriculture innovations meet business enterpriseCyrus McCormick’s offers deferred

payments and money back guarantees The Reaper harvested grain 7X faster

with ½ the labor force He sells 80,000 in 1860; 250,000 during

the Civil War

InterestingWhitney (Conn. Yankee) helped the South

○ Solidified Cotton as King and made it more profitable

McCormick (Virginia Confederate) helped the North○ North was the main market for the wheat and

freed up workers to join the army

West was not conscientious of farming innovation yet

The East was much better – in an effort to compete with the amount coming out of the WestPlaster in VirginiaQuano in southern cotton

Technology and Industrial Progress

American System Interchangeable parts made American

manufacture distinct○ Replacement parts available○ Enabled entrepreneurs to push inventions

swiftly into mass productionExamples: Smith and Wesson from Colt; telegraph

lines put up quickly to tackle fire communication

The Railroad Boom

Americans were travelling first class (those allowed to ride)

Problems thoughNo brakes or lights, problems in scheduling

and delays, and different gauges gradually give way to better conditions

Important: RR connects the East to the MidwestChicago replaces New Orleans as the

interiors commercial hub They also propels the growth of small

towns on their route Example: Illinois CentralRoads going E-W trees; N-S numbersLand speculation along the lines was big

time

Important to understand about the RRGovernment financing

contributes to private investmentRailroad financing and investing

helps make the NYSE and New York what it becomes

Rising Prosperity From 1800 to 1850 prices drop and

worker’s real income increases 25% More work available all year lone Women and children contribute more (they

have to) Despite some of the problems in quality of

life in the cities, most in rural areas did not own farmland, etc.The cities were better

Quality of Life; Dwellings, Con/Incon. Patent offices flooded Machine-made furniture provide taste; stoves

provide heat; RR provide fresh food The middle class may be a bit closer to the

upper, but they both separate from the lower Rowhouses and tenements vs. “Place” and

“Square” Running water and burning coal

Baths, sewage, and hogs

Disease, Health, and Movements Transportation increased spreading Public calls for municipal health boards

Little confidence in conclusions of medical professionals

Contagion vs. miasma theories Anesthesia helps improve image Phrenology – example of invented

science that improves simple “understanding”

Newspapers 1830 – newspapers were 4 pages long with a circulation

of 1,000-2,000 Journalists were loyal to some clique Steam-driven cylindrical presses change everything (10X

increase) Newspaper now relied on circulation, not political

subsidies 1833- the Penny Press So common newsboys sell on the streets Topics become human-interest stories with actual

reporters New York Tribune and New York Herald

The Theater All classes went to the shows They were notoriously rowdy (prostitutes,

etc.) Most of the shows were Shakespearean,

dumbed down for understanding and maybe even altered a bit

Short performances took up the interludes

Minstrel Shows Plays much into the American sense of racial

superiority by diminishing blacksEspecially that of working-class whites

Blacks were docile, dancing around, stumbling over words, etc.

Songs such as “Dixie”, “Camptown Races”, “Oh Susannah”, “Old Folks Home” and “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” started out as songs in minstrel shows.

P.T. Barnum Recognized the opportunity to make

money off of entertainment He was a hustler He bought an old museum, called it

the American Museum, and created popular entertainmentMain goal was to prick public curiosity

Strong lecturer on the temperance circuit

He helped break down barriers that divided the pastimes of husbands and wives

Roots of American Renaissance

What helped create this development?Transportation innovations created a national

market for booksThe rise of philosophical movement known as

Romanticism ○ it challenged the classical view of “standards of

beauty being universal”○ Also, it focused on the emotionally charged

The democratization of literature had begun

Writing fiction was the new genreIt did not require knowledge of Latin or

GreekThe novel allowed for interpretation

James Fenimore CooperCreated the distinctively American character,

Natty Bumppo (Leatherstocking)

Ralph Waldo EmersonMost influential spokesman for American

Literary NationalismTranscendentalism – our ideas of God and

freedom are inborn; knowledge resembles sight- an instantaneous and direct perception of truth

The American Scholar

Walt WhitmanInfluenced by journalism and politics – kept

him in touch with ordinary AmericansLeaves of Grass (shattered poetic

conventions) Henry David Thoreau

Rep. of the younger EmersoniansMore action orientedCivil Disobedience; Walden