Industrial Economy In The 19th Century

In the nineteenth century a series of innovations in transportation and economic expansion transformed our economy from an agricultural standpoint to one now mainly focused on new methods of production and having an endless commercial ambition. Previously most american families would produce what they needed at home for subsistence and sold anything left over to local stores but, now our country has slowly shifted to an industrial economy where a bountiful of economic opportunities for the “common man” has emerged due to western expansion and the emergence of Northern trade through new ways of transportation. Farmers began to grow for profit and not self sufficiency and many factories and cities began to flourish. New innovations like the steamboat and the canals opened reduced the cost of transportation, and made the sell of goods easier for economic enterprises. They helped farmers stay connected to the national market. The invention of the steamboat made possible upstream commerce as well as rapid transport across the great lakes. Sailors didn’t have to rely on wind or currents and they could sail directly to ports.The Erie canal was 363 miles long and was completed in 1825. This allowed the flow of goods between the great lakes and New York City. With the steamboat you could travel to the great lakes from New york in a matter of a few weeks. The selling of goods became way easier.(Rates of Travel to New York City) As a result of the Canal it brought many farmers migrating to New England. These people helped build the cities of buffalo, Rochester, and
Syracuse near the canal. The goods these cities produced could then be placed on the steamboats traveling up and down the canal to be distributed and sold for a profit.(Foner 310) Many immigrants came to the north between 1790 and 1830 where job opportunities had been the highest and where they didn't have to compete with slave labor. The common men in the North were the middle class skilled artisan workers. Every artisan worker’s dream were to someday become an entrepreneur or a mastercraftsmen and move up in society or rank. Although the market revolution provided many opportunities for the common man to do this many people were left out and there were many limits on upward mobility. Expanding markets among commercial farmers opened the opportunity for urban merchants, bankers, and mastercraftsmen to increase their production and reduce the cost of labor they had to endure.Work ethics had been drastically been altered and entreprenuers had large worksops which opened up much job opportunities to immigrants. (Foner 319) In 1790, Samuel Slater created the first factory in Rhode island. Factories hired large groups of workers and replaced hand held tools with machines. Spinning factories produced yarn and were sent to farm families to be sewn into clothes. A group of merchants called the Boston Associates built many modern textile factories so all phases of production could be done in one place. They founded the city of Lowell and by 1850 Lowell had produced 52 mills and hired about 10,000 workers. These artisan workers faced a lot of restriction and limits on the opportunity of social mobility. For example, at Lowell their workforce were predominantly women. These mill girls would often go live in boarding houses and live at work for years while constantly being watched. There were very strict rules and freedom limited while living there. For example, curfew was at ten pm, outsiders were not permitted in the houses of borders, and if any damage was caused the occupant would be charged. (Lowell Mills Boarding House Rules) They were paid very low wages and many eventually left to go make something more of their lives by returning home, marry a man, or moving west. (Foner 323) Women were excluded from becoming anything higher than a factory worker. Another group of people that struggled with social mobility were immigrants like the Irish. Many of them emigrated to the United States in search of a new life due to the blight that killed potatoes in Ireland. Many of them weren't skilled and ended up taking low wage unskilled jobs that the American man tried to avoid. They worked long hours and at the end of the day were stuck working in these terrible jobs for the rest of their lives Some built railroads, were servants, and and worked in factories. By 1850 most of the mill girls had been replaced with these Irish immigrants and most had lived in the overcrowded dirty slums of smaller Industrial cities like New York and Boston. Poverty, crime and disease had riddled the minority.(Foner 325) The Market Revolution sparked a new found personal wealth and this drew a flood of land hungry settlers into the united states. In 1803 Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States. He looked at this as a great opportunity to create many more farms for yeomen farmers to create an ideal republican society. Every yeomans farmer goal was to make a profit for himself. The Northwest land ordinance of 1787 gave land to new settlers and people looking to farm western lands. Bank loans and insurance companies financed the gaining of lands and supplies like fertilizer and agricultural machinery to expand production. The western prairies had tough land and this made farming difficult. John Deere in 1837 invented the steel plow which made possible the tilling of soil and the rapid subduing of the western prairies. Cyrus McCormick in 1831 invented the reaper a horse drawn machine that greatly increased the efficiency and the amount of wheat a farmer could harvest. Farmers moved away from subsistence farming toward commercial agriculture. America as a whole tripled wheat production and western farmers were able to make a significant profit due to the fact that eastern farmers could not produce wheat and corn as cheaply. (Foner 319) Western cities grew in strength and population began to increase, although many limits on opportunity from upward nobility occurred. If a drought or some other natural disaster like a blight hit your crops this put you and your family in a bad position. Crop failure resulted in price drops and then you began to lose money. You would eventually lose your land to the government if you could not produce and sell for a profit and you would have to start from the beginning. For example, an Illinois farm family had produced eighty bushels of wheat but one fourth of it was unsaleable due to cheat a weed in wheat. Their profits had reduced and prices in goods like shoes and clothes had gone up. If cheat was in your wheat you could not use it to make bread or use its seeds for the next planting season.(Illinois Farm Family Brings Crops to Markets) Overall, the market revolution had a heavy impact on creating our new economy and our new way of life.
Rich farmland and the potential profit from the cultivation of wheat drew settlers closer to the west in the 1830s. Steamboat and the Erie canal innovations gave these farmers easy access to eastern markets. Many economic opportunities had emerged but many were limited to some groups of
people.