The Transformation of American Society 1815-1840

Essential Question: How did American society change socially, culturally, physically and technologically in the period between

1815 and 1840?

Western Expansion

• Americans marched quickly toward west– very hard w/ disease & loneliness

• Frontier people were individualistic, superstitious & ill-informed

• “Mountain man” persona • Westward movement molded environment

– tobacco exhausted land – “Kentucky blue grass” thrived

Population Growth 1620-1860

What allowed the US to expand westward?

The removal of the Indians

Indian Removal• Five major Native American groups lived in the southeastern

United States: the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek.

• White Americans called them the “five civilized tribes” because many of them had adopted aspects of European and American culture.

• Many white Americans viewed them as inferior. • Farmland was becoming scarce in the East, and white settlers

coveted the Indians’ lands.• Indian Removal Act (1830): called for the relocation of the five

nations to an area west of the Mississippi River called Indian Territory, now present-day Oklahoma.

• The U.S. Army marched the Choctaw, the Creek, and the Chickasaw west, hundreds of miles, to Indian Territory.

• Many died on the long trek due to exposure, malnutrition, and disease.

Removal of Native Americans

President Andrew Jackson, 1829, in letter to Indians:

“Where you now are, you and my white children are too near to each other to live in harmony and peace. Your game is gone, and many of your people will not work and till the earth. . . The land beyond the Mississippi belongs to the President and no one else, and he will give it to you forever.”

Indians Fight Removal

1. Adopted farming life style2. Began to receive formal education3. Had own written language4. Established their own newspaper (Cherokee

Phoenix) 5. Adopted white man’s idea of black slavery &

established plantations6. Used court system to argue legality of removal

Removal moves forwardSeminoles

• The Seminole women and children hid from the soldiers in the dense Florida swamps while Seminole men conducted hit-and-run attacks on the American soldiers.

• About 3,000 Seminole were forced to move to Indian Territory, but many more continued to resist, their descendants still live in Florida today.

Cherokee Removal• The Cherokee fought their removal in the American court

system. They sued the federal government, claiming that they had the right to be respected as a foreign country.

• The Supreme Court in 1831 ruled against the Cherokee. • To get around the Court’s ruling, government officials signed

a treaty with Cherokee leaders who favored relocation. • The state of Georgia, carrying out the Indian Removal Act,

ordered Samuel Austin Worcester, a white man and a friend to the Cherokee, to leave Cherokee land.

• Worcester brought suit on behalf of himself and the Cherokee.

• Worcester v. Georgia (1832): The Supreme Court ruled against Georgia, denying it the right to take Cherokee lands.

Government decisionsSupreme Court

(Chief Justice John Marshall)

• Indians may keep their land because of earlier federal treaties

• Earlier treaties were agreements between nations and cannot be overruled by the state of Georgia

President Andrew Jackson

• “Well, John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it”.

• Jackson refused to enforce the decision and ordered federal troops to remove the Cherokees to the west.

• This removal was known as the Trail of Tears.

The Cherokee were herded by the U.S. Army on a long and deadly march west. Of the 18,000 Cherokee forced to leave their homes, about 4,500 died on the march, which became known as the Trail of Tears.

The Growth of the Market Economy

Trade with Britain and France fueled market for corn and wheat, driving up prices and leading to demand for agricultural land.

Cotton became the king of exports: In the early 1800s it was less than 25% of exports; by 1836 it was nearly two-thirds of all US exports.

The invention of the cotton gin (cotton engine) by Eli Whitney in 1793 sparked this growth.

Eli Whitney’s Cotton Gin

The Growth of the Market Economy

This strong export market opened the US to risks, especially fluctuating prices and temptation for debt.

The need for slaves increased as the value of cotton increased.

Cotton production is hard on the land, so land cannot produce consistently year after year.

Land Claims & Land Speculation

Federal Land Policy

• Federal laws after 1800 were intended to transfer public land to the people to promote an agrarian society.

• Initial rules required citizens to buy 640 acres, but this favored land speculators.

• Speculators bought large tracts of land, divided it, and resold the smaller tracts at a huge profit.

Federal Land Policy

• Farmers preferred small plots because they needed to clear it before farming it

• The 2nd Bank of the US allowed more borrowing for land and other purposes

• Land speculation skyrocketed as banks were founded in order for personal investment in land

• Land values up by 1000% between 1814-1819

Squatters

• Squatters are people who start living on and/or farming land that does not belong to them

• Speculators had already bought up land, making squatting the only option for people heading west

Panic of 1819

• High value of crops led US farmers to overproduce• In 1817 Britain had a bumper (big) crop and a

recession at the same time, meaning they did not buy much from the US.

• State banks had issued too much money in the land boom and now needed it back to repay the Bank of the US

• Farmers and land speculators who owed banks money were forced to repay, causing a huge drop in land prices as they sold off land to pay debts

Effects of the Panic of 1819

• People began to distrust banks• It was apparent how much the US was relying

on foreign markets for selling agricultural goods

• Cutting costs of transportation might make these crops profitable again, encouraging technological innovation

Transportation RevolutionRivers, Roads and Canals 1825-1860

Robert Fulton and The Steamboat

The Clermont Robert Fulton

Fulton’s invention led to a monopolyon ferry service between New York andNew Jersey, causing the court case ofGibbons vs. Ogden, in which John Marshall ruled that the Constitution’s power to regulate interstate commerceapplied to navigation.

Steamboats on the Mississippi

• Going upriver from New Orleans to Louisville was cut from four months to 25 days

• Steamboats got more upscale, allowing passengers a luxurious way to go from one river city to another

First Turnpike—Lancaster, PA 1790By 1832 major cities were connected by 2400 miles of roads

Cumberland Road 1811

Cumberland (National Road)

Conestoga Covered Wagon Trails 1820

Erie Canal• Erie Canal started in

1817 and completed in 1825

• NY Governor DeWitt Clinton built the Erie Canal

• Connected New York City from Hudson River with the Great Lakes and the West

• Called Clinton’s Big Ditch--------Other canals follow

Road, Canal and River System

Transportation Rates Over Time

Growth of Cities

• Transportation improvements sped the growth of cities because of the ease of getting food and products to city dwellers

• Cities on rivers experienced drastic growth (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, St. Louis) followed by shifts to cities on canals (Rochester, Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland)

Population Distribution1790 and 1850

Industrial Beginnings

• “Industrial” refers to manufacturing—factories, textile mills, production of both final goods and useable raw materials

• Varied by region: North’s poor agricultural land encouraged industrial economy, the South preferred to invest in slaves over factories

• Factories usually had each worker doing a small portion of the final job, gathering many workers together in one factory

Causes of Industrialization

• Embargo Act of 1807 forced people to be more self-sufficient

• Era of Good Feelings allowed tariffs to protect the industries as they got started

• Population, especially in New England, grew larger than the land could support

• Culture of risk-taking, “Yankee Ingenuity,” that would be willing to try anything

Manufacturing in the U.S.1820 and 1850

• Built first textile mill in 1793 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

• Born in England on June 9, 1768 and worked in British factories. • Slater came to US to make his fortune in the textile industry.

• Slatersville Mill was the largest and most modern industrial cotton mill

of its day

Samuel Slater was the "Father of the American Factory

System."

The Lowell Mills• Americans beat the British

at their own game, made better factories

• Francis C. Lowell (a British “traitor”) came over here to build British factories met up with Boston mechanic, Paul Moody

• Together they improved the mill and invented a power loom that revolutionized textile manufacturing

The Lowell System Lowell, Massachusetts,

1832

• Young New England farm girls• Supervised on and off the job• Worked 6 days a week, 13 hours a day• Escorted to church on Sunday

Outwork

• Common in New England, New York and the Mid-Atlantic states

• Merchants provided households with raw materials; families made them into products at home

• Artisans were eventually added to this group

Organized Labor• One worker’s complaints will

not make a difference, but together they can force change

• Outwork eventual led to various groups of artisans demanding better pay or working conditions

• Workingman’s Party (1829) was an early union founded in New York City

• Not effective until after the Civil War

Women & the Economy• 1850: 10% of white women working for pay

outside home– Vast majority of working women were single– Left paying jobs upon marriage

• “Cult of domesticity”– Cultural idea that glorifies homemaker

• Empowers married women– Increased power & independence of women in

home led to decline in family size

Workers & Wage Slaves

• With industrial revolution, large impersonal factories surrounded by slums full of “wage slaves” developed

• Long hours, low wages, unsanitary conditions, lack of heat, etc.– Labor unions illegal

• 1820: 1/2 of industrial workers were children under 10

Workers & Wage Slaves• 1820s & 1830s: right to vote for laborers

– Loyalty to Democratic party led to improved conditions

– Fought for 10-hour day, higher wages, better conditions

• 1830s & 1840s: Dozens of strikes for higher wages or 10-hour day– 1837 depression hurt union membership

• Commonwealth v. Hunt – Supreme Court ruled unions not illegal

conspiracies as long as they were peaceful

Equality and Inequality• French visitor Alexis de

Tocqueville observed society in the US and wrote the book Democracy in America

• Very often quoted book• Observes the basic equality

of people here compared to Europe

• Also observes harsh treatment of blacks by whites

Immigrants

• Transportation revolution enabled immigrants to move past coastal cities

• Irish immigrants were the poorest group—due to their lack of education and Catholic faith, they were less accepted by Americans

Sources of Immigration, 1820-1840

Distribution of Wealthv During the American Revolution,

45% of all wealth in the top 10% ofthe population.

v 1845 Boston top 4% owned over 65% of the wealth.

v 1860 Philadelphia top 1% owned over 50% of the wealth.v The gap between rich and poor was widening!

Revolution in Social Relationships

Questioning Authority• Intellectual attacks on

ministers, lawyers and doctors led states to do away with licensing requirements

• As they became more independent due to paid work, children questioned authority of parents

Role of Women• Ideology of separate

spheres: Men were superior in making a living, but women had superiority in the moral influence on the family

• Decline in family size (with limited technology available) coincided with less need for large families

Essential Question: How did American society change socially, culturally, physically and

technologically in the period between 1815 and 1840?

• Socially: Fewer restrictions on upward mobility, more horizontal relationships (workers, artisans)

• Culturally: American forms of art and literature, immigrant influence begins

• Physically: People moving westward, larger population, more city dwellers

• Technologically: Innovation made products cheaper to produce and to transport