Market and Transportation Revolution

Introduction + Market and Transportation Revolution

• Course themes include race, gender, ethnicity, American Nation and Empire, and political economy.
• The market revolution refers to a series of changes in production and transportation.
• By this time, Americans had access to more products than ever before.
• Developments were heavily influenced by the War of 1812.
• Avoiding reliance on European goods was seen as necessary to avoid vulnerability and sustain independence.
• Henry Clay advocated for a national bank, tariffs, and financing internal improvements such as transportation networks.
• The household became a unit of production, with every family member playing a role in getting by and being self-sustaining.
• In contrast, in a market economy, people buy things others made, and sell their own products to others.

The Transportation Revolution

• People inland from the eastern coastline lacked access to imported goods.
• From 1815-1825, interior and coastal economies merged.
• By 1825-1850, 95% merger of the previously disparate economies was complete.
• Technological transportation changes were highly important.
• Roads were among the first infrastructure projects built.
• Rivers and canals became the primary way to move goods quickly including the Erie canal.
• Steamboats rose to prominence.

Technological Innovation

• The steel plow was invented.
• The mechanical reaper was invented.
• The steam engine was invented.
• Interchangeable parts came into use.
• The telegraph was invented.
• The cotton gin was invented.

Communication Revolution

• Space was effectively eliminated due to the ability to share national news.
• Postal service delivered newspapers.
• Periodicals became popular.
• Telegraph allowed real time communication.

Conclusions

• Changes in transportation, technology, communication, and political economy fostered unified national development.
• People across the country could communicate with each other, consume the same news, and buy the same goods at reasonable prices.
• Manifestation of Market Revolution in the North and South differed.
• Economic changes helped make "a people" out of the nation.

Jacksonian Democracy

• Andrew Jackson, a general in the War of 1812, ran for president against JQA in 1824.
• The election was decided by the House, which gave the presidency to JQA.
• Jacksonian Democracy was based on 3 core concepts from the late 1820s.
• Candidates had to court the public.
• Focus was maintained on voter turnout.
• Political parties were organized and designed to orchestrate political victories.
• The voice and vote of "the people" were emphasized, representing popular democracy.

Key Changes Leading to New Levels of Political Engagement

• Changes in state constitutions
• Fewer property requirements for voting
• New universal manhood suffrage allowed voting by virtue of being a man, not by owning property; this was a right still not afforded to women.
• In New Jersey, women had been voting from 1776-1808.
• Voting was linked to masculinity, causing voting and political culture changes.

The Second Party System

• There was nothing in founding documents about political parties.
• The First Party System existed in the 1790s and included Federalists and Republicans.
• The Second Party System emerged in 1828 and was organized around the cult of Jackson.
• Martin Van Buren designed grassroots campaigns focused on one party to win elections.
• There was a belief the nation would be better served by electoral competitors at the national level, not regional parties.
• A party machine emerged, and voter turnout increased immensely from 1824-1828.
• Slavery would predictably create political divisions.
• Only national parties could potentially prevent such divisions from happening.
• With the birth of the Democratic Party, a standard for political party operation was set.

Comparing Major Antebellum Political Parties: Democrats vs. Whigs

• Partisan press emerged.
• Public events with alcohol was common, and voting was not anonymous, because these were very masculine events.
• This era defined American politics in the mid-1800s.

The Second Bank of the United States (American Political Economy)

• It defined government control over the economy.
• It was modeled on Hamilton's first bank.
• The need for a bank rose out of a financial crisis.
• Its purposes included:
  • US government transactions
  • regulate the banking system
  • establish stable currency
  • regulate credit
• The bank war erupted over re-chartering.
• Jackson vetoed its re-charter in 1832 and won the election.
• This demonstrated the political will from voters connecting to political policy.
• Money was taken out of the bank and deposited into pet banks that helped Jackson get elected and supported him.

Indian Removal

• Indian wars made Jackson famous.
• The Five Civilized Tribes existed.
• The Indian Removal Act of 1830 reversed of executive policy.
• Rather the federal government negotiated removal treaties with tribes to move them off valuable Southern land.
• The military would do the actual removal, but the backlash to the bill surprised Jackson.
• South Carolina weighed in; Jackson ignored rulings.
• This led to the Trail of Tears.
• Indigenous tribes were separate, sovereign nations existing within the US although its citizens.

Conclusions

• Major changes in political culture and process that developed during the Jacksonian era remain with us today.
• Political divisions were centered on economic vision, but this will change to become about slavery.
• Indian Removal was a choice the government made with the support of the American people.
• Removal was about land, especially Southern Land.

The Rise of Urban America

• Date of lecture January 10.

The Birth of the American Metropolis

• Three forces were at work.
• Urban proliferation included more cities founded.
• Urban growth meant more people moved into cities.
• Urbanization meant the nation became less rural overall.
• The largest American cities were in the north + non-slaveholding west, such as NYC, Philly, St, Louis, Chicago.
• The only southern city of comparable size was New Orleans.

The Role of Immigration

• Immigration was possibly the single most important source of urban growth.
• People immigrated to the US in the mid-19th century due to changes in Europe.
• It became easier to get to the US.
• Immigrants came from Ireland.
• Immigrants came from Germany.

Features of the Urban Economy

• There was drastic, visible inequality.
• Living conditions were determined by social class.
• Utilities were only available for those who could pay. Poor sanitation was the consequence for those who could not afford utilities.
• City life produced pollution.
• Close living led to disease.
• Poverty was commonly tied to ethnicity.
  • Poor because you were Irish

Labor and Industrialization

• The market revolution fueled Industrialization.
• Labor and consumption patterns changed.
• Industrialization began in Northeast.
• Apprenticeship transitioned to factory labor.
• Textile production industrialized first.
• Women and children worked in textile mills, for example, the Lowell Girls.
• Factory labor was regimented by the clock.
  • Supervised
  • Seen as un-manly

Modern City Life

• Crowded places, populated by diverse groups of people.
• Individual anonymity was common.
  • contact with strangers

New Public Transportation

• Fixed route transit appeared.
• The omnibus appeared.
• The streetcar appeared.

Commercial Nightlife

• Commercial nightlife was made possible by gaslight.
• Commercial nightlife helped commercialize sex.

Conclusions

• The American landscape became less rural.
• American labor patterns were changing.
• Cities had disproportionate influence on the image of America.
• Growing fears emerged about the depravity of cities.

Revivals, Reform, and Domestic Life

• Date of lecture Jan 13.
• Revivalism and Religious Reform included changes in thought about religion, especially Protestantism.
• It was influenced by Second Great Awakening, and marked by evangelicalism and revivals.
• It included changes in Protestant doctrine.
• The Cane Ridge Revival was an example.
• Charles Grandison Finney from upstate NY turned to preaching. Erie canal + changes meant it was the right time to save souls of Americans. Industrialization/lack of morals meant revivals + saving missions would be essential.
  • The world was changing and its individuals should not let the changes corrupt their morals.
• Democratization of religion meant all including those with bible + religious faith could reach anyone.
• Protestants no longer preached predestination. As a result, individuals could perfect themselves.
• One was the agent of their own salvation, coinciding with Jacksonian Democracy/era.
• Religion became decentralized/less rigid hierarchy.
• Millennialism included belief in imminent arrival of 1000 year reign of Christianity and the return of Christ.
  • Commitment to faith had an effect on the return of Christ.
    • Life was filtered through notion of salvation + second coming.
• Finny believed world could be perfected in 3 years.
• Radical idea was based on individual responsibility to overcome sin.
• Effects of Second Great Awakening reflected that individual perfection could lead to society perfection.
• This led to a surge in popular religiosity, and religious values became public values.
• New Denominations
• Joseph Smith + Mormonism emerged as a result.

Reform Movements

• By 1850, over 50% of Americans were part of a church.
• Women converts outnumbered men, 3:2.
• Old school Calvinists were still present in America.
• The energy of the 2nd great awakening was channeled into practice of good works/specific social causes with immediacy, evangelical fervor, and unlimited optimism.
• These activities were often led by women, came from the north, and were led by the middle class.
• Movements included:
  • Temperance, which was the largest reform.
• Alcoholism was seen as a growing problem connected to domestic violence and the 2nd great awakening.
  • Abstinence became a condition for conversation advocated for by Finney.
    • This was closely tied to ideas about sex and abstinence from it.
• Led by women
• Hugely successful due to support in the middle class
  • The Drunkard's Progress
    • Education, to improve literacy and basic arithmetic, and it was based on the idea that education could lift people out of poverty.

Education

• Motivated by inequality of Jacksonian-Era America
• Reformers saw education as a social duty
  • Some saw education as a public good, not a charity.
• A goal was set to create public schools funded by taxes.
• Led by Horace Mann
• In the 1800s, only MA had public education system.
• There was greatest resistance to this in the south
  • Southerners did not like tax funds (related to slavery)
    • Women's rights was a growing concept (First Wave Feminism).
• Reform movements allowed women a respectable way to participate in society and policy.
• Policy was developed out of the abolitions movement
• Morality was invested in women

Doctrine of Coverture

• Governed lives of women in extreme ways
  • A woman's personhood and identity taken over/covered by husband once married, or her father if she was a minor.
• A man was legal guardian of children, but also wives.
• Women did not have custody over children, make legal/health decisions, or earn their own money.
• Unmarried adult women had more autonomy than married women/minors.
• Sarah Grimke argued gender could not be the basis for discrimination.
• The Seneca Falls Convention took place in 1848 and produced the Declaration of Sentiments.
• Successes for woman's rights included changes in property and wage laws, and changes in custody laws.
• Failures include the fact that equality for women, namely the right to vote, was still lacking.
• Men still thought women belonged in the home.
• Prison reform emphasized not just punishment, but reform.
  • Included repentance of sins, reform oneself through hard work and labor
• Mental health and asylum reform was increasingly common.
• Calls for abolition were rising.

Domesticity and the New Middle Class

• Date of lecture is January 13.
• Domestic life was shaped by changes in religious sentiment.

New Domestic Customs

• Marriage should happen later in life.
• The family is more centered around marriage.
• The home no longer serves as the site of labor.
  • Rather, it is a nurturing place. - with a focus on parenting and developing morality and character of ones children
• This was distinct from the market place.
• The "Cult of Domesticity" was a kind of reform movement that would be spread through magazines.
  • Sexes should occupy separate spheres of existence.
• Women were seen as vulnerable, but suitable for nurturing others.
• The home was organized by the mother, which creates home life as separate from the economy.
• This was a middle-class ideal that was not possible for lower class families and households.

Conclusions

• The Jacksonian period ushered in major changes in the way Americans thought about religion, their time on earth, and their ability to change the world around them.
• Women's role in society remained in flux, but was changing.
• Social ideals were tied to class. Poor Americans could not live up to middle-class ideals.
• Middle-class reform often targeted "vices" of the poor.

American Slavery and King Cotton

• Date of lecture is January 15. "Slavery" means many things such as;
• A system of coerced labor
• A legal institution
• An economic system
• A form of labor
• A live experience
• A consideration of time and place
• One of the oldest institutions
• Began in Virginia in 1619
• Enshrined in the constitution
• The international slave trade outlawed ending in 1808, but slavery continued

Internal Slave Trade

• Fugitive slave clause stated that if Enslaved people who ran away were still enslaved no matter where they ended up
• Slavery was thus designated as a permanent condition
• 3/5ths clause
• approach and understand slavery in multiple ways
• Regional institution (southern institution)
• Ways in which slavery was actually national (still essential to outside nations economy/the way politics evolved overtime)
• Northern states ending slavery during American revolution (gradual emancipation)
• A contradiction can be seen when contrasting the revolutionist ideology + institution of slavery (incompatible)
• Understanding the 3/5ths Clause
• Designed to amplify the political power of white southerners gives a bonus of the white population (+ 3/5ths) to every white population in enslaved states
• White person bonus (1+3/5ths vs. 1)
• Enslaved people were NOT represented in any way
• They were NOT counted as a potion of a person
• The number of enslaved people merely adds to the political power of states with significant slave populations
• the results:

Slave States

• Slave states were overrepresented in the House
• Slave states had inflated number of electoral college votes
• Had no effect on slaves themselves
• All 3 branches of federal government being determined by slave states
• Constitution specifically protects the interests of those who want support slavery and its expansion
• Electoral college still existing = created to amplify slaveholders Slavery and the Antebellum Economy
• cotton gin and new hybrid seed reinvigorated American slavery
• Lucrative crop = demand for land
• expansion into territories fit for cotton plantations fostered by Indian/NA removal
• migration of people from upper deeper south/west
• shipped to northern/European textile mills
• transportation revolution fostered this • two lucrative markets based on slavery:

Two Markets Based on Slavery

• Cotton (product grown by enslaved labor)
• Enslaved people (people as commodities)
• The Chattel Principle = A person with a price
• enslaved people were not just laborers, they were also valuable commodities and sources of wealth
• primary determinant of slavery = property
• slavery as insurance growing interconnected national economy: raw cotton other things, so importing many materials/items from the north (including cloth spun out of the cotton)
• slavery at epicenter of this
• reoriented American economy

Elements of an Economy Based on Slavery

• Cotton and other staple corps
• Enslaved people as labor
• Market in slaves
• Enslaved people as investment and commodity Financial support system Transportation network
• Production of finished goods in North or Abroad
• Cotton into Cloth/Textiles

consequences of an economy based on slavery

• Increased dependence on slavery for labor/commodified value
• Increased wealth for planters/owners of textile mills (wealth usually did not trickle down) Northern industry developed to aid plantation economy Ex: financial services, textile mills Economy dependent on fixed resource (land) that has a limit (regional perspective)
• More land, more cotton, more slaves Equation for extreme wealth Slavery as essential to the American system of capitalism Southern prosperity masked structural problems
• a limit on available land
• keeping cotton prices high meant monitoring production
• static growth: no southern economic diversity slaveholding = masculinity no change in internal economy of south/no technological innovations
• south is dependent on agricultural cycles (set of built in risks to this type of economy)

Slave Life in the Antebellum South

• Most enslaved people DO NOT live on large plantations
• Enslaved people concentrated in the "Black Belt" known for prodigious cotton production
• Violence often a part of daily life High mortality rate (mortality rate of enslaved children double that of white children) Slavery itself nothing but violence requires maintaining someones life/force labor upon them against their will
• Three general work categories House servants Access to better food, better physical conditions, take care of children More isolated from Black community In closer contact to enslavers family (dangers w/ that)
• Skilled artisans Had chance to maybe make their own money Level of education
• Field hands Physically demanding Less isolated from Black community
• 90% of men, 25% of women in this category Poor standard of living Lack of medical care, clothing, proper housing conditions, poor food/malnutrition Life expectancy of enslaved people on average = 30-35 yrs old No family security Religion (Christianity): central to Black life

Slave Life

• Effects of 2nd great awakening
• Formation of Black churches
• Individuality Conclusions Both Northern and Southern Economies both grow rapidly during the antebellum decades, but grow in very different way
• North grows dynamically, South grows statically
• Cotton economy is NATIONAL
• Cotton Plantation Economy increasingly determined the lives of enslaved people
• Violence + physical and emotional + central to experience Slave life is mundane, and that itself is part of the horror of it Nevertheless, slaves RESISTED

Abolitionism & Pro-Slavery Thought

Colonization

• Idea of sending African Americans "back to" Africa Reasons for advocating
• Free slaves from bondage Religious convictions Economic fears
• Prevent free black society from growing American Colonization Society (1816) Religious organization supported by people in North and South Fundraised for colonization Established in Liberia in 1822 Assumes Black people want to go back to Africa Emergence of Radical Abolitionism (among whites)

Abolitionism

• grew out of dissatisfaction with Colonization movement

• Influenced by Second Great Awakening & reform movements of early 19th century

  • Slavery was the nations original sin

• William Lloyd Garrison - quote

  • "Enslave the liberty of but one human being and the liberties of the world are put in peril"

• William Lloyd Garrison & The Liberator

• Founded American Anti-Slavery Society (1833) Four Ideals of Garrisonianism

• Immediatism: immediate end to slavery, without dely or compromise Anti-Colonization: colonization didnt solve problem of slavery as sinful

• Anti-Compensation: no money to slave owners for property

• Nonviolence: kill slavery through moral persuasion

Anti-Slavery

• Ending slavery is about the salvation of the nation, and all the souls implicated in slavery - the masters, bankers, profiteers
• Promoted racial equality
• "The Liberator": Pamphlet of Anti-Slavery Society
• Published from 1831 to 1865
• Black Radicalism in Action
• The Underground Railroad

Harriet Tubman

• "I was conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most conductors can't say - I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger." Reactions to Abolitionism To southerners, organized, radical abolitionism = first sustained threat to American slavery
• Circulation of abolitionist material using the US Mail flood south with anti-slavery propaganda
• Charleston Lynch Men
• Congressional Gag Rule Intensifying abolitionism prompts Congressional response
• No congressional discussion of slavery from 1836-1844

Pro-Slavery Ideology

• Historical Defense Slavery ideology has always existed - Political Defense
• Slavery makes democracy work by preventing class warfare Economic Defense Slavery makes national economy function - its better than free labor Religious Defense Old and new testament support slavery - only slavery could make heathens into Christians Legal Defense Blacks inferior: special law appropriate - natural law supports slavery Constitution Cultural Defense Its the southern way

Pro-Slavery Ideology

• Scientific Defense Blacks a separate species of just inferior humans? - Rooted in racial "theory" Racially inferior, animalistic, unable to survive in freedom Racial Defense

• Scientific Defense

Blacks better off as slaves - need race to overcome inherent contradictions of slavery and freedom The Science of Race Polygenism: the theory that different human races have different origins Pro-Slavery Positions in the North • Not common, but some pro-slavery Northerners Northern politicians who supported slavery = "Doughfaces" Basic trends in thought: Free states should leave the south alone Slavery vital to Northern economy Racism

Conclusions

• Resistance to slavery always existed, but radical abolitionism emerges in 19th C with expansion of institution.
• Defense of slavery becomes increasingly important to Southerners after the development of radical abolitionism. Defense comes from both South AND North, illustrating the national reach of the institution. Enslaved people and their allies resisted in radical and small ways. Acts big and small helped destroy the institution.

Gender, Domesticity, and Race in the US South

• companion to cult of domesticity Patriarchy and Paternalism Patriarchy system of social organization and/or government in which men hold all the power
• Rigid social hierarchy that placed white men at the top
• Slave owning white men the principle of southern society
• Paternalism = men, as heads of households, make decisions for all others (wives, children, other dependents, enslaved people)
• Presumption that they know what's best White Southern Manhood
• the "gentlemen" was:

White Southern Manhood

• A well-dressed dandy Honorable, chivalrous, courageous Word meant something, being honorable = masculine Societies view/social reputation: very important Enslaver = Could not attain full status of this in society without being an enslaver Defender of women Self-sufficient "Good" master (proper paternalist) Head of entire household (white and black) Control of productive + reproductive events in household Performed masculinity (gambling, drinking) Honor + mastery = southern gentlemen Behind closed doors: little honor Abused, assaulted, and raped enslaved women Ability to use physical power + authority as master over those who were in diminished positions

Enslavement

• Acted out fantasies that could not be with wives Enslaved women empty vessels for men to fulfill this Trade entirely devoted for men to purchase slaves to own specifically for sex The Southern Belle: Idealized White Womanhood The Myth: • Virginal, honorable, virtuous Subordinate to husbands/fathers Worthy of gentlemen's protection Ideal mother for legitimate children Seen as intellectually inferior to men Being a mother = central Create welcoming home-space Sexual relations only for procreation

Realities of the South

Consequences:

• unwilling participants in perpetuating slavery
• often violent toward enslaved people
• sometimes owned their own slaves
• full participants in slavery's marketplace (even when not directly present)
• own social power from role of enslavers (could become financially independent)*
• Mrs. Flint: committed to marriage and knowledgable that her husband is pursuing Harriet jealous + angry at husbands infidelity enslaved women violent and abusive towards slaves White Perceptions of Black Female Bodies
• hyper-sexualized
• promiscuous
• object of male fantasies

White Perceptions

• Black women were characteristically innate + women were to blame and the men not responsible
• Cannot be raped because they are naturally promiscuous* • Ability among enslaved women to reproduce justified enslavement The Mammy was characterized as: • Innoucuous and maternal.

Common Stereotypes

• Overly developed genitalia
• Women did not require care during child birth because they had no senses and could feel no pain.
• Overvalued reproduction
• Slave-holding/Masculinity no longer had to be proven, slave women existed to bear children and grow family power Law ensured any child an enslaved women had would be enslaved White men who raped enslaved women received greater property + wealth (not responsible for child, but rather gaining more property) Enslaved women's reproductive capacity added values to an enslavers wealth

Race

• Large "mulatto" population corroborated what we already know: African Americans and Whites have sex with each other
• White men often believed black slave women wanted these relationships Birth of "white slaves" Systemic sexual abuse, causing trauma to whole families

Black Manhood Bondage as Emasculation

• Enslavement = figurative castration Uncommon Stereotypes Sambo (happy, childish) Nat (violent, potential runway) Jack The Black Body Site of violence Site of sexual abuse Object of white fascination Slavery contained black sexual urges on men

Conclusions

• Archetypes guide the southern society that is described by race, gender and with implications of sex as means to justify violence and exploitation.

Antebellum Empire-Jan 24 lecture

• Middle Turn Choice of 2 Questions
• one on gender/domesticity
• multiple different regions one on political economy. Regional and also national developments. motivations discussed in this lecture for slavery. _ land territorial expansion - American Expansion From 1801 through 1858- Louisiana Purchase purchase France to be allowed to make treaties with indigenous people under the land

Motivations for building American Empire US show exist and world as Empire for liberty Availability for land that people could own

Jeffersonian Republicanism

• The citizenship land ownership title Manifest Destiny becomes more important Rightful Pre determined Destiny of U.s to the Continental nation Utility 4 to convince people to just fire by God.

• Gaining access to the Pacific Ocean nation had to be Continental to reach its potential

• Idea that the continental nation was for all all ordained it was a justification for expansion and imperialism

• Spread of democratic political institutions

Idea invented in promoted by Democratic press

was supported by

• land speculators
• railroad prospectors
• small farmers
• working class

opposed by the Whigs who want more economic development

Not an empire for liberty but for slavery Expand slavery into land that was not previously owned by U.S - More land more slavery more cotton Limit on territory limit on cotton Nation had to expand in order to for slavery to profitable connects to essay topic

An Empire For Slavery- Slavery and territorial expansion Land promise for men would become slave owners

Underlying reasons for supporting slavery expansion