-176597 CHAPTER 8—NORTHERN TRANSFORMATIONS, 1800-1830 Murrin, Johnson, McPherson, Fahs, Gerstle, Rosenberg & Rosenberg Copyright © 2008 Wadsworth Group Liberty, Equality, Power: A History of the American People, 5e 0704lep5e.bmp
Times Instructions: Identify the following term(s). Farm labor in post-revolutionary America saw women increasingly do the field work. the sickle as the principal harvest tool. work carefully divided by sex. hoes replace ploughs as the primary tool for cultivation. Thomas Jefferson advocate an American adoption of the French peasant labor system. C Average p. 258-259 Factual 1 The young, single women who worked under the Waltham system formed a permanent, professional workforce. drank, kept late hours, and generally had bad reputations. supported their parents and paid for the college educations of their brothers. organized unions that violently resisted their exploitation. saved some of their money for dowries and spent some on clothes and books. E Average p. 277 Analytical 1 In early American rural neighborhoods most farm families lived in isolation from each other. paper money was widely used. a farmer rarely kept track of debts owed by other farmers. few farmers were self-sufficient. the practice of bartering was considered "un-American." D Average p. 260 Factual 1 Thomas Jefferson saw the ideal American society as one whose economy was dominated by master craftsmen. wage laborers. seaport merchants. rural farmers. an urban working class. D Average p. 257 Factual 1 All of the following were true of farmers after 1790 except they ate most of what they grew. they traded with their neighbors. they sent surplus products to outside markets. they generally raised only one variety of animal or plant. they profited from world markets without becoming dependent on them. D Most Difficult p. 259-260 Factual 1 The federal census of 1790 found that more than ____ of Americans lived in rural areas. 50 percent 60 percent 70 percent 80 percent 90 percent E Least Difficult p. 262 Factual 1 Which of the following was not a result of rising farm incomes after 1790? the improved appearance of rural houses by painting and planting flowers the purchases of salt, pepper and gunpowder a greater concern with personal and household cleanliness the ownership of mirrors and watches the use of individual place settings for eating B Most Difficult p. 261 Analytical 1 After the revolution, land inheritance by farm fathers decreased in frequency and decreased in size of lands. increased in frequency but decreased in size of lands. decreased in frequency but increased in size of lands. increased in frequency and increased in size of lands. remained constant as before the Revolution. A Average p. 261 Factual 1 By 1818 the National Road ran from Washington D.C. to Atlanta. was a smooth, crushed rock thoroughfare. had dramatically reduced the cost of moving goods inland. signaled the decline in steamboat traffic. all of the above. B Average p. 267 Factual 1 Which of the following was true of American cities in 1790? There were fifty cities with populations exceeding 10,000. The largest cities were all seaports. International commerce had yet to affect the composition and location of the largest cities. Only twenty percent of the nation's population lived in cities. A city was defined as having at least 10,000 people. B Average p. 262 Factual 1 In 1815 the largest American city was Philadelphia. Baltimore. Newark. New York City. Boston. D Least Difficult p. 262 Factual 1 Urban master artisans during the years of the early republic experienced no change in their social or economic status. were unlikely to enter the emerging business class. lived in a pristine environment free from filth and disease. were able to support their families on their own. increasingly subcontracted their "slop work" work to younger artisans. B Most Difficult p. 263 Analytical 1 Easterners described frontiersmen as violent, drunken, filthy "white savages." hard-working, productive yeomen farmers. simple, innocent, childlike primitives. honest, public-minded, democratic citizens. traitors who had joined forces with the French and Indians. A Least Difficult p. 264 Analytical 1 After 1790, the responsibilities for running American farm households fell more exclusively on women. decreased. were mostly given to the older children. were turned over to servants. were equally shared by all family members. A Average p. 259 Factual 1 During the early republic, Indians living on western lands were generally able to maintain their territorial holdings. received considerable political and military help from Britain. were constantly pushed further west. saw, by 1820, nearly 100,000 white settlers move onto their lands. were never more unified. C Average p. 264-265 Factual 1 During the 1820s New England storekeepers shipped their goods to England and Europe. depended almost entirely on locally produced goods for their retail sales. depended on a barter exchange of goods and services, rather than cash sales. saw their business decline significantly. increased their stock of consumer goods significantly. E Most Difficult p. 272 Analytical 1 In the treaty that ended the War of Independence in 1783, the British respected most Indian claims. only gave Florida to the new American republic. made no provisions for its western lands. gave all of its western lands to Spain. gave nearly all of its western lands to the new American republic. E Most Difficult p. 264 Factual 1 American society in the early nineteenth century became more democratic and individualistic. was authoritarian and paternalistic. witnessed a significant decline in alcohol consumption. slavishly copied European styles and manners. suffered a decline in population. A Most Difficult p. 265 Analytical 1 Which of the following was true of industrial development in the early constitutional era? There was none. A majority of northern men were industrial workers. The factory system was decentralized. Women and children did not work in factories. Jeffersonians were more in favor of industrial development than Federalists. C Average p. 276 Factual 1 The "national drink" of the early republic was cider. whiskey. rum. milk. coffee. B Least Difficult p. 266 Factual 1 Which of the following states did not establish a canal system by 1840? New York Pennsylvania South Carolina Ohio Massachusetts C Least Difficult p. 269 Analytical 1 An 1816 Senate report stated that it cost the same to transport one ton of goods across the Atlantic Ocean as it did to move one ton of goods ____ miles inland. 10 30 60 90 150 B Least Difficult p. 266 Factual 1 Which of the following was not an agricultural improvement of the mid-1800s? horse-powered threshing machines cast-iron plows the windmill hand-cranked fanning machines the grain cradle C Least Difficult p. 273 Factual 1 All of the following statements regarding transportation in 1815 are true except it was easier to transport goods into western settlements than out transportation west of the Appalachians was almost entirely undeveloped transporting goods by boat between Louisville and New Orleans took three to four months the cost of transporting wheat from Buffalo to New York City tripled its price trans-Appalachian settlements were marginal to the market economy A Most Difficult p. 266-267 Analytical 1 By the 1830s, northeastern farmers' relationship to the market had strengthened. weakened. remained unchanged. became independent of the international market. none of the above. A Average p. 260-261 Analytical 1 The National Road linked the Potomac River with the Ohio River. the Mississippi River with the Great Lakes. New York City with Boston. The Ohio River with the Mississippi. Boston with Charleston. A Average p. 267 Factual 1 The Waltham, or Lowell, system of textile manufacturing primarily employed entire families. immigrants. young men. children. young women. E Least Difficult p. 277 Factual 1 Eastbound traffic on the National Road consisted largely of cattle and pigs. wheat and corn. lumber. whiskey. cotton. A Average p. 267 Factual 1 During the period from 1790 to 1815, artisans were losing their independent status; most became master craftsmen. wage laborers. merchants. farmers. soldiers. B Least Difficult p. 263 Factual 1 The Erie Canal bankrupted the state of New York. replaced the New York Central railroad as the major means of transportation in the Northeast. opened the interior of New York and transformed the frontier into a prosperous commercial area. had little impact on the economy of the Northeast. made fortunes for its developers without the state deriving any real benefit. C Average p. 268-269 Factual 1 Backcountry whites adopted all of the following practices except girdling tress so that they would fall down naturally. depending on game for food and animal skins for trade. leaving their women behind to tend the farms when they hunted. engaging in drunken brawls. cooperating economically with local Indians. E Average p. 264 Analytical 1 Most canals built in the 1830s were built and financed by state governments. private corporations. foreign investors. the federal government. associations of farmers. A Average p. 269 Factual 1 The national market that developed by 1840 led to an expansion of foreign trade. created interdependencies among the Atlantic, western, and southern states. saw foreign trade account for an increasing proportion of market activity. resulted in the export of more northern food crops than southern cotton. involved an exchange of manufactured goods only. A Most Difficult p. 270 Factual 1 Young women employed in the New England textile mills grew more dependent upon their families because of their experience. grew increasingly independent from their families because of their experience. remained relatively unchanged because of their experience. tended to keep their jobs for many years, and in some cases for life. joined labor unions and led violent strikes against the factories. B Average p. 277 Analytical 1 Mid-nineteenth century New England farmers produced most of the food crops for the entire country. relied on beef and dairy products as cash crops. increased the amount of land set aside for cultivation. used the most inefficient and soil-depleting techniques in the United States. were not integrated into the domestic market economy. B Average p. 271 Analytical 1 The development of the northeastern market economy raised prices of most necessities. lowered the quality of finished goods. made farmers more independent and self-sufficient. made farmers more vulnerable to fluctuations in the national economy. led farmers to adopt mixed agriculture over single-crop agriculture. D Most Difficult p. 271 Analytical 1 In the early nineteenth century, in seaport cities life expectancy was higher than in the countryside. accountants were being replaced by bookkeepers. there was very little poverty. wealth was becoming much more concentrated. epidemics of disease were becoming rare. D Most Difficult p. 262-263 Factual 1 In the mid-nineteenth century, new female housework responsibilities included spinning yarn and weaving textiles for the family's clothing. less time spent in child supervision and individualized care. cash-producing activities such as candle making and cheese production. less time spent on planting flower beds and cleaning furniture. more time spent washing, sewing, and ironing. E Average p. 274 Factual 1 Which of the following is not true concerning alcohol consumption in the early republic? Men drank more than women. Farmers drank more than city dwellers. Southerners drank more than northerners. Westerners drank more than easterners. Alcohol consumption was the highest that it has ever been. B Average p. 266 Factual 1 The first power-driven spinning mill in the United States was built by____ in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Richard Arkwright Nathaniel Appleton Francis Cabot Lowell Samuel Slater Thomas Edison D Least Difficult p. 276 Factual 1 The factory villages where entire families labored for mill owners in the process of cloth production was known as the Lowell system. Waltham system. Rhode Island system. Massachusetts system. Carnegie system. C Average p. 276 Factual 1 Under the Rhode Island system, textile workers bought their own looms and bargained with merchants to establish prices. mill owners created factory towns that included farmland that was rented to the families of textile workers. factories were located in major seaport cities in order to have access to international markets. Rhode Island banks financed industrial development in other states but charged extremely high interest rates. the factories were government owned. B Average p. 276 Factual 1 Commercial agriculture in the Northwest was first made feasible by the railroad. steamboat. turnpike. horse and buggy. telegraph. B Least Difficult p. 267 Factual 1 In 1811, Francis Lowell received valuable information on designing a factory town from the United States patent office. industrial espionage while in England. speaking to a German inventor. his wife. an international trade conference. B Average p. 277 Factual 1 Between 1820 and 1870 the industrial revolution affected the United States as old seaports experienced a slow decline in population. commercial agriculture became less important. international trade became far more valuable than the domestic market. cities grew faster than ever before or since. older, more established urban areas grew faster than new cities. D Most Difficult p. 276 Analytical 1 Between 1820 and 1840, agricultural exports from the Northwest increased by 15 percent. 25 percent. 50 percent. 75 percent. 90 percent. A Average p. 273 Analytical 1 All the following regarding southern farmers who moved into the Northwest is true except they favored free-range livestock remained tied to the river trade often left the south seeing slavery blocked opportunities for them devoted most of their efforts to developing large cultivated farms did not bring slaves with them. D Most Difficult p. 272 Analytical 1 In the Northeast, the rise of livestock specialization reduced the amount of land under cultivation. woodlands. food crops. grain planted. all of the above. E Least Difficult p. 271 Analytical 1 Steamboats reduced the cost of transporting goods by river to approximately ____ per ton. one-third of a cent one and half cents five cents seven cents ten cents A Least Difficult p. 269 Analytical 1 In 1830, the annual per capita consumption of distilled spirits was roughly the same between men and women. ten times the current rate of consumption. five gallons. highest among the middle class. all of the above. C Average p. 266 Analytical 1 In the decades after the Declaration of Independence, American democracy grew in strength. T Least Difficult p. 265 Analytical 1 State governments took a more or less "laissez-faire" approach to the building of canals in the early nineteenth century. F Most Difficult p. 269 Analytical 1 By 1830, the primary engine of economic development was the North Atlantic trade. F Least Difficult p. 257 Factual 1 The building of the Erie Canal raised the cost of transporting western wheat in the early nineteenth century. F Average p. 270 Factual 1 The Erie Canal connected the rich fertile soil of New England with the New York City market. F Least Difficult p. 268 Factual 1 Early-nineteenth century New England farms were geared toward subsistence. T Average p. 271 Factual 1 The first big market in ready-made clothing was for slaves. T Most Difficult p. 280 Analytical 1 A "market society" transformed not only the economy but how people looked at the world. T Average p. 257 Analytical 1 The National Road ran from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico and linked the nation along its North-South axis. F Average p. 267 Factual 1 By the 1860s, the railroads had replaced canals and rivers as the major transportation avenues in the Northeast. T Least Difficult p. 269 Factual 1 Canals reduced the price but increased the time of transporting goods. F Least Difficult p. 268 Analytical 1 A "razorback" was a southern term for a porcupine. F Least Difficult p. 272 Factual 1 "Johnny Appleseed" was a fictional character created by Walt Disney. F Least Difficult p. 273 Analytical 1 The major technological improvements in early American industrial development were stolen from English inventors. T Average p. 276 Factual 1 The market revolution occurred only in the North. F Average p. 257 Analytical 1 Railroads never replaced canals because canal transportation was much cheaper. F Average p. 269 Analytical 1 In general the birth rate declined in areas of greatest commercialization. T Most Difficult p. 274 Analytical 1 Men and women worked side by side at farm labor in post-revolutionary America. F Average p. 258 Factual 1 High costs kept large factories from being located in early nineteenth century cities. T Most Difficult p. 280 Factual 1 The Erie Canal was essentially a ditch with a tow-path next to it. F Least Difficult p. 268 Factual 1 Between 1815-1840 northeastern agriculture became a cash-crop business. T Average p. 272 Factual 1 Until about 1830, most western settlers were southerners who settled near the tributaries of the Ohio-Mississippi River system. T Least Difficult p. 272 Factual 1 Between 1815 and 1830, the cost of ready-made cloth declined sixfold. T Least Difficult p. 272 Analytical 1 By 1815, recent economic growth was greatest in seaport cities. T Average p. 262 Factual 1 Prior to the rise of the market revolution, bartering was common in farm societies. T Average p. 260 Factual 1 As a result of the market revolution, women spent fewer hours on housework. F Average p. 274 Analytical 1 Southern farmers were early proponents of the systematic breeding of animals. F Least Difficult p. 272 Factual 1 The market revolution resulted in an increase in the size of the average American family. F Average p. 274 Analytical 1 Eastern visitors to the backcountry were impressed with the health and industriousness of frontiersmen. F Average p. 264 Analytical 1 As a result of the market revolution, old practices and old forms of neighborliness fell into disuse. T Most Difficult p. 266 Analytical 1 In the seaport cities, growth derived more from commerce with the hinterland than from international trade. T Average p. 276 Analytical 1 Samuel Slater smuggled printed copies for the water-powered spinning machine from England to America. F Most Difficult p. 276 Analytical 1 In 1816, it cost the same to move a ton of goods 3,000 miles by ocean as it did 30 miles by land. T Average p. 266 Factual 1 In post-revolutionary America, most farmers lived in isolation from each other. F Least Difficult p. 260 Factual 1 The nation's transportation network was built primarily by private enterprise. F Average p. 267-269 Analytical 1 In the early nineteenth century, life expectancy was higher in urban than in rural areas. F Average p. 262 Analytical 1 The transportation revolution reduced both the time and the expense of moving heavy goods. T Least Difficult p. 269 Factual 1 In the early nineteenth century, the main reason Americans drank was to get drunk. T Average p. 266 Analytical 1 In the 50 years following 1820, American cities grew at a faster rate than at any other time in history. T Average p. 276 Factual 1 By 1820, twenty percent of the population lived in the west. T Average p. 265 Factual 1 In 1790, more than ____________________ percent of Americans lived on farms and in rural villages. ninety 90 Average p. 262 Factual 1 0 In 1803, ____________________ entered the Union as a state. Ohio Average p. 265 Factual 1 0 ____________________ built the first Arkwright spinning mill in the United States (in Pawtucket, Rhode Island). Samuel Slater Least Difficult p. 276 Factual 1 0 In 1790, all of the largest American cities were ____________________. seaports Average p. 262 Factual 1 0 The frontier pathway used by westerners returning to Kentucky and Ohio after trading in New Orleans was called ____________________. Natchez Trace Average p. 267 Factual 1 0 The first successful American steamboat, Clermont, was built by ____________________. Robert Fulton Least Difficult p. 267 Factual 1 0 ____________________ was the eccentric Yankee who planted apple trees in the Northwest and earned himself the nickname "Johnny Appleseed." John Chapman Average p. 273 Factual 1 0 ____________________ became the great New England cash crop. Beef Least Difficult p. 271 Factual 1 0 Alcohol consumption in the ____________________ was the highest that it has ever been in the United States. 1830s Average p. 266 Factual 1 0 Steamboats reduced the cost of transporting goods by river to approximately ____________________ per ton. one-third of a cent Average p. 269 Factual 1 0 The National Road linked ____________________ with the Ohio River at Wheeling, Virginia. the Potomac River Average p. 267 Factual 1 0 The ____________________ first made commercial agriculture possible in the West. steamboat Least Difficult p. 267 Analytical 1 0 New York's governor, ____________________, talked the state legislature into building what became the Erie Canal. De Witt Clinton Least Difficult p. 267 Factual 1 0 In 1790, farmers relied more on ____________________ than on cash. barter Least Difficult p. 260 Factual 1 0 By 1820, ____________________ percent of the nation's population were westerners. twenty 20 Average p. 265 Factual 1 0 ____________________ made secret drawings of British textile factory machines during an 1811 visit and then duplicated the machines in America. Francis Cabot Lowell Most Difficult p. 277 Analytical 1 0 In 1830, the annual per capita consumption of distilled spirits was ____________________ gallons. five 5 Most Difficult p. 266 Factual 1 0 A "razorback" was a southern term for a ____________________. hog Least Difficult p. 272 Factual 1 0 In 1815, ____________________ was the largest American city. New York City Average p. 262 Factual 1 0 The canal that linked the Hudson River with Lake Erie was the ____________________. Erie Canal Average p. 268 Factual 1 0 Proponents of the "American system" hoped a ____________________ economy would transcend sectionalism and create a unified United States. market-driven Most Difficult p. 271 Factual 1 0 The city that became the center of the garment industry was ____________________. New York Most Difficult p. 280 Factual 1 0 The manufacturing system that relied on heavily capitalized and fully mechanized mills was known as the ____________________ system. Waltham Most Difficult p. 277 Factual 1 0 In the 1820s, the richest men in cities were ____________________. seaport merchants Average p. 278 Factual 1 0 Thomas Jefferson saw the ideal American society as one whose economy was dominated by ____________________. rural farmers Average p. 257 Factual 1 0 The "national drink" of the early republic was ____________________. whiskey Average p. 266 Factual 1 0 By making a run from New Orleans to Louisville, the steamboat ____________________ demonstrated that two-way river trade was possible. Washington Most Difficult p. 267 Factual 1 0 Most canals were built in the ____________________ and ____________________. Northeast; Northwest Northwest; Northeast Most Difficult p. 269 Factual 1 0 After 1830 most migrants to the Northwest came from the ____________________. Northeast Most Difficult p. 272 Factual 1 0 In the 1830s the women workers in the textile factories at ____________________ went on strike. Lowell Most Difficult p. 277 Factual 1 0 Samuel Slater: English textile engineer who left his homeland illegally. Built first Arkwright spinning mill in the United States. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Erie Canal: This man-made waterway linked the Hudson River with Lake Erie and helped open western New York state to much more rapid and inexpensive trade. Opened in 1825 at a cost of $7.5 million it was a great commercial success and earned back its cost in seven years. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Boston Associates: group of wealthy New England merchants turned manufacturers who put New England on the road to industrialization. Organized by Francis Lowell. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Rhode Island system: textile manufacturing system (developed by Samuel Slater and others) that employed carefully supervised entire families in the production of textiles. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Eli Whitney: Northern inventor of the cotton-engine (or gin) that revolutionized the production of cotton and, consequently, the southern economy. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Francis Cabot Lowell: wealthy Bostonian who secretly copied English textile machine designs. Organized the Boston Associates to finance mills that used unskilled female workers who lived in company-owned and supervised boarding houses. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 "sweated" trade: a subcontracting system that developed first in clothing manufacturing. A few skilled male tailors made pattern pieces and did custom work while large numbers of underpaid females sewed the clothing pieces together. The unskilled females worked longer hours for lower wages than did the skilled males. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Waltham system: labor system employed by the Boston Associates. Utilized young, single women from the farms of northern New England. The workers lived in carefully supervised boardinghouses and followed a strict set of conduct rules, both on and off the job. The workers were well known as sober, dignified, and self-respecting, unlike workers in other places. They became, in the end, a self-respecting sisterhood of independent, wage-earning women. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 up-country: eastern slopes of the Appalachians from the Chesapeake through Georgia, the western slopes of the mountains in Kentucky and Tennessee, the pine-covered hill country of northern Mississippi and Alabama, parts of Texas and Louisiana, most of the Ozark Plateau in Missouri and Arkansas. Home to most of the small farms in the South, these lands were too high, cold, isolated, and wooded to support plantation crops. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 "subsistence plus" agriculture: practiced by a majority of southern yeomen and involved mixing farming for household subsistence and neighborhood exchange with a small surplus or cash crop sent to market. Farmers would put most of their land into subsistence crops and livestock, cultivating only a few acres of cotton. With the income generated from their small cotton crops, they could pay their debts and taxes and buy coffee, tea, sugar, tobacco, cloth, and shoes. This system allowed farmers to enter the market when they wished; it kept them from ever being dominated by it. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 alcoholic republic: By the 1830s, the national consumption of distilled spirits reached five gallons per capita, the high mark in American history. Whiskey was considered safer than water and was cheaper than coffee or tea. The rise in drinking correlated with greater mobility among the population as improved transportation systems took more people further away from their homes for employment. TYPE: Identifications 1 -1 Explore changes in the local rural economies of the United States in the early nineteenth century. The nineteenth-century market revolution helped to usher in dramatic changes in the social and economic life of farmers in rural America. Before the nineteenth century (even several decades into it), most of rural America was relatively isolated from markets and, thus, from market control. Most farmers produced enough goods for home use and more for local exchange with neighbors or local storekeepers. Little of this produce was exchanged outside of each community, a form of exchange that cemented the bonds of community--central to the survival of pre-industrial households. Little cash exchanged hands, and storekeeper accounts usually were settled in goods and services. Most farmers exchanged not only goods with each other but capital equipment and services as well. This process was known in some areas as "neighboring." The market revolution of the early nineteenth century forever changed these precommercial local communities, giving farmers opportunities to purchase factory-made textiles and other domestic items. In order to purchase goods, farmers needed cash, and the only way to obtain cash was by increasing agricultural production and adopting commercial patterns. The new transportation systems allowed farmers the opportunity to do just that. With increased production came increased ties to the market and, eventually, the decline of the old community-oriented way of life. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Describe Samuel Slater's importance to industrialization in the United States. Before the arrival of Samuel Slater in the United States, the nation was, at best, backward as an industrial center. England was the major industrial power, the nation that Alexander Hamilton argued that the United States should emulate. Through the first several decades of the new republic, however, the nation seemed to be heeding Jefferson's warnings against industrialization. Samuel Slater, among others, helped to alter the nation's economic direction. Slater left England illegally. (As a skilled textile engineer, he was supposed to remain in England, by English law.) He arrived in the United States with the plans to Arkwright's spinning mill memorized in detail. Once in the United States, Slater, with financial support from Moses Brown, built the first fully contained (all processes of operation included) spinning mill in the United States (in Pawtucket, Rhode Island). In this way, Slater revolutionized the textile industry. Textiles no longer had to be constructed primarily in the home. In the mill, entire families were employed by the new textile manufacturers. Children would work the machinery inside (the new technology replaced the need for skilled artisans to work the wheels), and their parents would farm small plots and participate in various types of outwork. Although this system soon was replaced by larger, more heavily capitalized factory enterprises, Slater's mill marked an important turning point in the economic history of America. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Examine the transportation revolution in the period from 1800 to 1840. The transportation revolution of the nineteenth century had many stages, beginning with pretechnical aspects and culminating in the railroads of mid-century. Two things were central to the revolution: first, technological advances in the area of transportation vehicles and second, significant advances in transportation systems. Even in the late eighteenth century, the federal government and the states already were debating whether turnpikes would allow for speedier transportation of goods and, therefore, would increase commerce. By 1810, the debate shifted to the funding of canals. Canals, the most important of which was the Erie, were especially important since they allowed for the rapid movement of ships and boats at a far reduced cost for the shipper. Canals connected areas that were not served by rivers but that were especially rich in agricultural production. For example, the Erie Canal linked the Genesee Valley and the "Old Northwest" to the New York City market, revolutionizing grain production (and more) in the United States. Equally important to these transportation systems were developments in transportation vehicles, such as the steamboat, which made commercial agriculture feasible in the West. One example of the impact of the steamboat is the dramatic increase in market-bound produce after steamboat travel was introduced. In 1810, only 60,000 tons of produce was shipped from western areas. By 1840, this number increased to 500,000 tons. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Describe the market revolution. What were its causes and repercussions? In the period before 1815, the United States was primarily a rural, agrarian-based economy. Although Alexander Hamilton exhorted his fellow Americans to engage more fully in commercial enterprises (and called on the federal government to do the same), little movement had taken place in this direction. The 1812 war, as well as the end of the Napoleonic conflicts in Europe, convinced many American merchants and financiers to devote more attention to internal trade and commerce and less to overseas trade. Beginning in the last years of the eighteenth century, but not developing in earnest until after 1815, merchants began to increase their investments in both internal trade networks (canals and turnpikes) as well as in fledgling industries. Western rural communities were brought into commercial exchange systems because of dramatic developments in transportation and marketing. This introduction of previously unused farmland (in western New York and the "Old Northwest") all but destroyed agricultural production in New England, preparing that region for industrial development (textile mills and outwork production). As transportation systems developed further (with the Erie Canal, for example), the cost and time that it took to market items decreased substantially, further accelerating market development. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Describe the home life of Americans in the first-half of the nineteenth century. The development of a market economy changed the lifestyle of those families most directly involved in the new trends. One noticeable change occurred in the size of families: The average number of children was reduced from 6.4 in 1800 to 4.9 by 1849. The change was most common in the North where new farming techniques and the expansion of livestock production lessened labor requirements. In poor southern communities, which continued production of traditional labor-intensive crops, large families were still the rule. For many Americans, the concept of housework and gender distinctions between "man's work" and "woman's work" also changed. Previously female duties such as dairy farming, vegetable gardening, and poultry production were taken over by men when these activities became more profitable than field work. Within the household, women's roles altered as the number of children declined and as outside responsibilities were reduced. The market economy offered women better stoves, a variety of food products, manufactured cloth and clothing, and cleaning utensils. Women could devote more time to nurturing and instructing their children, baking pies and cakes, and decorating and cleaning their homes. They dressed their families in clean, pressed clothing, and improved the appearance and comfort of their surroundings. More families painted their houses and fences, planted flowers and shade trees, added on extra bedrooms, lighted their homes with oil lamps, and dined on tables set with table cloths and china dishes. The privacy, comfort, and attractiveness of prosperous American households improved as the nation became more market oriented. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Describe factory work in the Rhode Island and Waltham systems at the beginning of the American Industrial Revolution. In the 1820s, the expansion of the market economy in the rural United States ignited an industrial revolution in rapidly growing cities as factories were created to serve the rural markets. In Rhode Island the first American factories opened when mills were built for textile manufacturing. In these early years, the workforce came from entire families who moved to company built and owned villages which surrounded the mills. These communities were closely supervised and controlled. While production of finished cloth soared, jobs were plentiful and workers were generally well-treated. However, one trade-off was the loss of worker and household independence. A similar situation existed in Waltham, Massachusetts, another area of early factory development. Here young, single women from rural backgrounds came to live and work in carefully supervised factory towns. These workers were part and parcel of the many changes in society brought by industrialization that would usher in a more individualistic, acquisitive republic in the years to come. The Waltham workers became a self- respecting sisterhood of independent, strong-willed women. Twice, in the 1830s, they went on strike for better wages. TYPE: Short Essays 1 -1 Explore the beginnings of textile manufacturing in New England in the period 1790 to 1830. Essay should address several key points: A. Background to industrialization 1. Samuel Slater a. Moses Brown and Pawtucket, Rhode Island b. Importance 2. Development of the Rhode Island system a. Entire families engaged in production b. Small-scale operations B. Industrialization grows 1. Francis Cabot Lowell a. Boston Associates b. Lowell mills 2. Lowell (or Waltham) system a. Young women operators b. Implications C. Repercussions 1. Development of wage labor a. Independent artisans undermined b. Rise of unskilled workforce c. Early work conditions generally good
TYPE: Long Essays 1 -1 Discuss the role of the transportation revolution in creating the market economy of the nineteenth century. Essay should address certain key points: A. Rural transportation problems in 1815 1. East of Appalachians a. Primitive to nonexistent facilities b. Cost of transporting goods 2. West of Appalachians a. Undeveloped resources b. Utilization of Ohio-Mississippi River system c. Time frame for transporting goods B. Improvements in transportation 1. Roads a. National Road built by Congress b. Lancaster Turnpike built by Pennsylvania 2. Steamboats a. Clermont launched by Robert Fulton b. Impact on trade 3. Canals a. Erie Canal built by New York b. Canal boom in the Northwest and Northeast 4. Railroads a. Rivers and canals linked by rails b. Impact of railroads on other transportation systems C. Repercussions 1. Time and money a. Turnpikes, canals, and steamboats reduce costs b. Railroads and steamboats increase speed c. Foreign trade expands 2. Markets and regions--North and South
TYPE: Long Essays 1 -1