Rise and Impact of the Market Economy
Introduction:
The
rise and impact of the market economy occurred between the end of the war of
1812 and the Civil War. It was a
time of uprising for America. Some
of the changes included a vast improvement in transportation, growth of
factories, and important development of new technology to increase agricultural
production. Americans advanced into
new areas and produced an agricultural surplus that went form subsistence to
market farming. In the nineteenth
century, manufacturing was the most important factor because it brought about
industrialization. Development of
both economic and technological advances also brought about the changes to the
American society.
Standards:
I.
California
History Standards (5.8) (Students trace the colonization, immigration, and
settlement patterns of the American people from 1789 to the mid 1800’s, with
the emphasis on the role of the economic incentives, effects of the physical and
political geography, and transportation systems).
California History Standards (8.6) (Students analyze
the divergent paths of the American people from 1800 to the mid-1800’s and the
challenges they faced, with emphasis on the Northeast).
II.
Introduction
to the Market Revolution
-sig. gives students a basic background of the Market
Revolution and explains why the Market Revolution is important in America’s
history.
-sig. helps students understand how the Market
Revolution was influential in the formation of America’s present-day economy.
A.
Economic
Growth
-sig. provides students with an understanding of what
type of economic growth occurred during the Market Revolution.
-sig. students will learn several of the economic
changes that took place during this time.
B.
Factors
that influenced the Market Revolution
-sig. students will understand which factors
contributed to the start of the Market Revolution and why each factor was
important to the rise of the Market Economy.
1. War of 1812
-sig. provides the students with an understanding of
why the War of 1812 was important to the start of the Market Revolution.
a.
the
embargo and the war itself stimulated manufacturing in America
b.
Europeans
sought to invest in America after the war
c.
the war
experience led the federal government to adopt new policies designed to increase
economic expansion
i.
tariff
protection
ii.
federal
support of internal improvements
iii.
renewal
of the National Bank
2.
Agriculture
-sig. students will learn how the introduction of new staple crops and
farming equipment in America contributed to the start of the Market
Revolution.
a.
introduction
of new staple crops
b.
important
advancements in farming equipment
3. Transportation Revolution
-sig. students will understand what the Transportation Revolution was and
why it was needed before the Americans would be able
to have a true market economy.
-sig. students will learn about a variety of
technological advances in the field of transportation that allowed America to
trade with distant markets, which greatly impacted America’s market economy
and contributed to the start of the Market Revolution.
a.
necessary
for a true market economy
b.
new
methods of transportation
i.
railroads
ii.
canals
iii.
steamboats
c.
achievements/outcomes
of the Transportation Revolution
d.
map as
secondary source
-sig. shows the routes of transportation in America
in 1840.
PRIMARY
SOURCE: Frances Anne Kemble, A Railroad Journey South (1838)
-sig. a railroad passenger describes her journey southward during the
Transportation Revolution.
-sig. allows students to learn about the Transportation Revolution from a
primary source and experience the Transportation Revolution through the
eyes of an actual participant.
1. Wealthy merchants established the first textile factory at Waltham, Massachusettes
a.
renamed
Lowel
-sig. achieved highly profitable operations
1.
Cloth was
the first manufacturing process to make significant use of the new technology.
-sig. students will understand that cotton began from
the opening of the bales, to weaving cloth, and then the machines did all the
work.
III.
Lowell
Mill
1. Built
on waterpower
a. developed the power of Merrimack River to run the
mills
2.
Built
several canals and dams
-sig. understand why more were built (they used the
water for energy)
a. provides
a regular flow of water down the river.
3.
Not
always beneficial
a. dams flood farmlands
b.
devastated
fish population
4.
Lowell
Mill Employers
a. did
not want to rely primarily on child labor
-sig.
shows how the employers hired daughters of New England families.
5.
Created
jobs for women
-sig. women found the possibility of economic independence
-sig.
women were the first factory workers in the United States
a.
women
were paid decent
-sig. students
will understand what women had to go through in order to make decent money at
that time
b.
lived
under very strict rules, long hours of tedious, repetitive work
c.
pay cuts
-sig. understand why women left the job and why they
hired immigrants to replace them
PRIMARY SOURCE:
A mill worker describes her work and life (1844)
a. Changing
Character in the Work Force
-sig.
students will understand how immigration took over
a. owners found they could do without the Yankee
women altogether.
-sig. newcomers were desperate for jobs and would
accept lower wages than women.
b. Irish replaced women in the mills
-sig. made American society more diverse
1.
Rural
Community
a.
Farming
in the east
b.
Old
northwest
c.
Agriculture
and the Environment
-sig. agriculture was still the country’s primary
economic activity and farms still made
up most of the exports
2.
Urban
Community
a.
Class
Structure in the cities
b. Urban
Working class
PRIMARY SOURCE: A diary entry from a Philadelphia shopkeeper by the name of Joseph Still
c. Middle-Class Life and Ideals
-sig. allows students to see a difference between urban community compared to that of rural community
V. Lesson Plan
1. Lowell and the Factory System