THE AMERICAN JOURNEY A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES Brief Sixth Edition Chapter 12 The Market Revolution and Social Reform 1815-1850
The Market Revolution and Social Reform 1815-1850 Industrial Change and Urbanization Reform and Moral Order Institutions and Social Improvement Abolitionism and Women s Rights Conclusion
The contributions of women were indispensable to the success of antebellum reform movements.
Learning Objectives How did industrialization contribute to growing inequality and the creation of new social classes? What role did women play in the reform movements that followed the War of 1812? How did Enlightenment ideas shape the reform of institutions for the poor, criminals, and the mentally ill?
Learning Objectives (cont'd) What was the relationship between abolitionism and the women s rights movement?
Industrial Change and Urbanization
Industrial Change and Urbanization Between 1820 and 1850, the United States joined England as a world leader in industrialization, with the nation s surge in manufacturing driven by the increased consumption of the goods it was producing.
Industrial Change and Urbanization (cont'd) Transportation revolution - Dramatic improvements in transportation that stimulated economic growth after 1815 by expanding the range of travel and reducing the time and cost of moving goods and people.
TABLE 12 1 Impact of the Transportation Revolution on Traveling Time
The Transportation Revolution Before 1815, the United States did not possess a transportation system. Steamboats provided the first transportation breakthrough and were supplemented by canals such as the Erie Canal that stimulated a canal boom.
The Transportation Revolution (cont d) Railroads were the last and the most important transportation improvement that spurred economic development in Jacksonian America.
The Transportation Revolution (cont d) State and national government played active roles in the transportation revolution. States provided money and the national government supplied land and other services.
The Transportation Revolution (cont d) Gibbons v. Ogden - Supreme Court decision of 1824 involving coastal commerce that overturned a steamboat monopoly granted by the state of New York on the grounds that only Congress had the authority to regulate interstate commerce.
The Transportation Revolution (cont d) Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge - Supreme Court decision of 1837 that promoted economic competition by ruling that the broader rights of the community took precedence over any presumed right of monopoly granted in a corporate charter.
MAP 12 1 The Transportation Revolution
Canal boats below a lock at the Junction of the Erie with the Northern (Champlain) Canal.
Cities and Immigrants In the early 1800s, the largest American cities were Atlantic ports, such as New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Baltimore. All grew as a result of the transportation revolution. Inland port cities such as Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago also emerged as important urban centers.
Cities and Immigrants (cont d) The Great Lakes ports and the new industrial towns were the fastest growing cities. Immigration from Ireland and Germany swelled the populations of almost every city.
MAP 12 2 The Growth of Cities, 1820 1860
MAP 12 2 (continued) The Growth of Cities, 1820 1860
FIGURE 12 1 Immigration to the United States, 1820 1860
New York City s busy harbor
Lowell was the nation s leading textile center and the second-largest city in Massachusetts by 1850.
The Industrial Revolution The Northeast led American s industrial revolution and the first large-scale factories, textile mills, were built in new England in the 1820s. Industrialization diminished the importance of the artisan and household systems of manufacturing.
The Industrial Revolution (cont d) Factories drew on families for their work force and also hired single adolescent women but later depended on immigrants. After 1815, the United States began closing the technological gap with Britain. The cotton gin, the American system of manufacturing, and stream power fueled industrialization.
The Industrial Revolution (cont d) Putting-out system - System of manufacturing in which merchants furnished households with raw materials for processing by family members. Rhode Island system - During the industrialization of the early nineteenth century, the recruitment of entire families for employment in a factory.
The Industrial Revolution (cont d) Waltham system - During the industrialization of the early nineteenth century, the recruitment of unmarried young women for employment in factories. American system of manufacturing - A technique of production pioneered in the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century that relied on precision manufacturing with the use of interchangeable parts.
Shown here are two foundry workers holding floor rammers
Shown here working at power looms under the supervision of a male overseer, young single women
Growing Inequality and New Classes In the early years of industrialization, the gap between rich and poor widened and a new middle class emerged. The new middle class arose in northern cities. The separation between work and home was the first defining quality of the new middle class as was support of evangelical religion. The cult of domesticity governed women s worlds.
Growing Inequality and New Classes(cont'd) The economic changes that produced the new middle class also produced a new working class of predominately immigrant origins. Job skills, gender, race, and ethnicity divided the working class. Early unions were formed to defend artisanal rights and often led to the founding of nativist organizations.
Growing Inequality and New Temperance Classes(cont'd) - Reform movement originating in the 1820s that sought to eliminate the consumption of alcohol. Cult of domesticity - The belief that women, by virtue of their sex, should stay home as the moral guardians of family life. Nativist/Nativism - Favoring the interests and culture of native-born inhabitants over those of immigrants.
FIGURE 12 2 Growth in Wealth Inequality, 1774 1860
This scene, entitled The Tea Room, by Henry Sargent
Middle-class family in 1832
Reform and Moral Order
Reform and Moral Order Alarmed by a perceived breakdown in moral authority, religious leaders and wealthy businessmen sought to revive and impose moral discipline in America. - Benevolent empire Network of reform associations affiliated with Protestant churches in the early nineteenth century dedicated to the restoration of moral order.
Reform and Moral Order (cont'd) [[Image Reference]] - Table, Page 327
Critics depicted the Irish as drunken brawlers
Italian children on board an immigrant ship
The Benevolent Empire Reform societies were founded to restore moral order in response to the increasing number of urban poor. The reform societies were constructed on the Second Great Awakening s organizational and communications techniques. Sabbatarianism was the boldest expression of the movement to enhance Protestant Christian power.
The Benevolent Empire (cont'd) Sabbatarian movement - Reform organization founded in 1828 by Congregationalist and Presbyterian ministers that lobbied for an end to the delivery of mail on Sundays and other Sabbath violations.
The Temperance Movement Temperance had the greatest impact of any reform movement. The goal of the American Temperance Society was to radically change American attitudes toward alcohol and its role in social life.
The Temperance Movement (cont'd) The first wave of temperance converts came from the upper and middle classes and was connected to self-discipline in the pursuit of business success. American Temperance Society - National organization established in 1826 by evangelical Protestants that campaigned for total abstinence from alcohol and was successful in sharply lowering per capita consumption of alcohol.
Temperance Cartoon
Women s Role in Reform The domestic ideal of the Cult of Domesticity stimulated the first phase of reform activities by women and focused on relief for widows and orphans. The second phase emerged in the 1830s and stressed moral reform attacking prostitution.
Women s Role in Reform (cont d) American Female Moral Reform Society - Organization founded in 1839 by female reformers that established homes of refuge for prostitutes and petitioned for state laws that would criminalize adultery and the seduction of women.
Backlash against Benevolence The benevolent empire was harshly criticized by the populist revivals of the early 1800s who distrusted the emerging market society and were members of grass roots sects that often followed itinerant preachers.
Backlash against Benevolence (cont d) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons, represented the most enduring backlash against the middleclass evangelicals.
Backlash against Benevolence (cont d) Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) - Church founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith and based on the revelations in a sacred book he called the Book of Mormon.
Institutions and Social Improvement
School Reform Before the 1820s, schooling in America was informal and haphazard. The Workingman s movement in northern cities in the 1820s issued the first call for tax-supported schools.
School Reform (cont'd) Horace Mann emerged as tireless champion for educational reform in Massachusetts and other northern states. He stressed the need for state government to impose centralized control over schools and that all schools should have the similar standards.
School Reform (cont'd) Just over half of the white children between 5 and 19 years of age were enrolled in school in 1850. Workingmen s movement - Associations of urban workers who began campaigning in the 1820s for free public education and a ten-hour workday.
Moral lessons, such as this one for boys at play, filled the pages of the McGuffey s readers.
Prisons, Workhouses, and Asylums Reformers focused attention on developing a host of new institutions to deal with social problems: penitentiaries, workhouses, mental hospitals, orphanages, and reformatories.
Prisons, Workhouses, and Asylums (cont d) Reformers believed environment helped shape a person s character and saw prisons providing an environment that would promote discipline and moral character. Workhouses and mental hospitals were seen as serving the same purpose for the poor and insane.
This photograph captures the compassion that Dorothea Dix brought to her crusade for mental health reform.
Utopian Alternatives Some reformers sought utopian solutions often involving the formation of new communities based on utopian principles. The most successful utopian communities were religious sects that reordered gender and economic relations. The Shakers espoused communism and celibacy.
Utopian Alternatives (cont'd) Other utopian communities included the Oneida Community in upstate New York; New Harmony, Indiana; and Brook Farm in Massachusetts. Transcendentalism that sought a truer reality beyond what the sense grasped became an aspect of the renaissance of American writing in the mid-1800s.
Utopian Alternatives (cont'd) Shakers - The followers of Mother Ann Lee, who preached a religion of strict celibacy and communal living. Communism - A social structure based on the common ownership of property. Oneida Community - Utopian community established in upstate New York in 1848 by John Humphrey Noyes and his followers.
Utopian Alternatives (cont'd) New Harmony - Short-lived utopian community established in Indiana in 1825, based on the socialist ideas of Robert Owen, a wealthy Scottish manufacturer. Socialism - A social order based on government ownership of industry and worker control over corporations as a way to prevent worker exploitation.
Utopian Alternatives (cont'd) Fourierist communities - Short-lived utopian communities in the 1840s based on the ideas of economic cooperation and self-sufficiency popularized by the Frenchman Charles Fourier. Brook Farm - A utopian community and experimental farm established in 1841 near Boston.
Utopian Alternatives (cont'd) Transcendentalism - A philosophical and literary movement centered on an idealistic belief in the divinity of individuals and nature.
Abolitionism and Women s Rights
Rejecting Colonization The initial thrust of antislavery reformers was colonization in Africa. The American Colonization Society helped found the nation of Liberia, but experienced little success. Free African Americans considered the United States their country and rejected colonization.
Rejecting Colonization (cont'd) American Colonization Society: - Organization, founded in 1817 by antislavery reformers, that called for gradual emancipation and the removal of freed blacks to Africa. Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World - Pamphlet published in 1829 by David, a Boston free black, calling for slaves to rise up in rebellion.
Types of Antislavery Reform
Abolitionism William Lloyd Garrison was the leading figure in early abolitionism, founding his newspaper, The Liberator, in 1833. The American Anti-Slavery Society was also founded in 1833. It used revivalist exhortations, rallies, paid lecturers, children s games, and print to spread the antislavery message.
Abolitionism (cont'd) Abolitionists considered themselves social agitators and had enlisted almost 200,000 Northerners to the cause by 1840. Antiabolitionist mobs violently opposed the abolitionists. American Anti-Slavery Society - The first national organization of abolitionists, founded in 1833.
Political Antislavery Many abolitionists believed emancipation could be achieved by moving abolitionism into the American political mainstream. Massachusetts congressional representative and former president John Quincy Adams championed the right to petition Congress.
Political Antislavery (cont'd) In 1840, the Liberty Party was formed to oppose the expansion of slavery in the territories, condemning racial discrimination and slavery. Some abolitionists began promoting the idea of the Slave Power bringing white liberties into the slavery debate.
Political Antislavery (cont'd) Liberty Party - The first antislavery political party, formed in 1840.
William Whipper, an African American businessman
With its slogan of Any holder but a Slaveholder, these embroidered potholders
The Women s Rights Movement The women s rights movement grew out of abolitionism as women compared their plight and status to slaves. Lucretia Mott and Eliabeth Cady Stanton called the first national convention on women s rights at Seneca Falls in upstate New York in 1848.
The Women s Rights Movement (cont d) The Declaration of the Rights of Women called for full female equality including the right to vote. Seneca Falls Convention - The first convention for women s equality in legal rights, held in upstate New York in 1848. Declaration of Sentiments - The resolutions passed at the Seneca Falls. Convention in 1848 calling for full female equality, including the right to vote.
Shown here are seven leaders of the founding generation of American feminists.
Conclusion
Conclusion After 1815, transportation improvements, technological innovations, and expanding markets propelled the economy toward industrialization. The reform impulse emerged to address the changing conditions in society and was strongly influenced by the new evangelical Protestantism.
Conclusion (cont'd) Reform movements focused on numerous aspects of society.