Nation of Nations 3/e Davidson, Gienapp, Heyrman, Lytle, and Stoff
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THE CHAPTER IN PERSPECTIVE

When Washington became the first president of the United States in 1789, American society was divided into a small commercial section along the seaboard and a larger semi-subsistence economy into the interior regions of the country. The party battles that erupted in the 1790s reflected competing views of social and economic development. The Federalists hoped to create a commercial nation, while the Jeffersonian Republicans championed an agrarian, semi-subsistence republic. In the quarter century after 1789, these two parts of the country continued to develop for the most part economically and socially independent of one another. As white settlers began pouring across the Appalachian Mountains, the lack of cheap land transportation prevented the integration of the interior regions into a larger market tied to the eastern seaboard. In 1815, with the restoration of peace with Britain, it still was not clear which vision of the Republic's future would prevail. But developments over the next generation would greatly strengthen the forces of commercialization in American life and decisively change the course of American development.

OVERVIEW

This chapter deals with fundamental economic changes that occurred in the quarter century after 1815. It traces the connection between these changes and changes in American values and society. The career of Chauncey Jerome illustrates many of the chapter's themes. The new market society depended on a stricter sense of time. By providing inexpensive, mass-produced clocks and aggressively marketing them in the United States and even around the world, Jerome gained fame and wealth. But the ups and downs of his career also demonstrated how fleeting success could be in the new boom-and-bust economy, as Jerome lost everything near the end of his life and died in poverty.

The Market Revolution

The development of widespread markets fundamentally transformed opportunity in the United States. Government played an important role here. After 1815 Congress enacted the program of the "new nationalism," including a protective tariff, a national bank, and federal aid to internal improvements (transportation facilities). The rapid expansion of cotton production in the Deep South, much of which was sold in England, stimulated economic growth. So did the development of canals, steamboats, and eventually railroads. The resulting transportation revolution for the first time enabled goods to be transported cheaply on land. By adopting a pro-business stance that encouraged investment and risk-taking, the Supreme Court under John Marshall played a crucial role as well. Corporations increasingly became an important form of business organization, to which the courts offered special legal protections and encouragements.

A Restless Temper

Economic expansion generated social and intellectual change. Eager to succeed in the new competitive markets, Americans were a restless people, driven by dreams of wealth and haunted by fears of failure. Americans of this period were constantly on the move, pouring steadily westward or flocking to the burgeoning cities in search of opportunity. The majority of new western settlers were farmers. In the ensuing land boom, land sales swung up and down with the economy, as an unprecedented amount of acreage was sold, largely to speculators. At the same time, truly significant cities developed, not just in the older regions of the country but in the West as well.

The Rise of Factories

As markets developed, entrepreneurs reorganized their operations to increase production. For the first time, factories developed in the United States, beginning with the textile industry. Eventually all operations (from opening the cotton bales to weaving the cloth) were combined on one site, with the work done largely by machines tended by semi-skilled operators. Lowell, Massachusetts, became the center of the textile industry and the symbol of this new mode of production. Factory work imposed a new discipline, oriented around the clock and strict schedules, on previously rural residents. In other sectors of the economy, the production process was reorganized without machinery. The shoe industry, for example, broke production down into a series of steps, with workers performing one step in the production process, though all of the work was done by hand until the 1850s. Factory owners organized the physical environment as well. Construction of a system of dams met the increasing demands for water power but converted water itself into a commodity and created conflicts with groups who relied upon rivers for logging, milling, fishing, drinking, and other purposes. Convinced that labor was losing its traditional status, workers increasingly protested against these changes by organizing unions, issuing political demands, and going on strike. The union movement flourished briefly in the 1830s, only to be destroyed by the depression that began in 1837.

Social Structures of the Market Society

As opportunities for profit expanded, wealth became increasingly maldistributed in American society. The rich became richer and controlled a larger proportion of the nation's total wealth. Nevertheless, the belief in opportunity and social mobility remained widespread. In reality, while white Americans still had the opportunity to improve their status, social mobility tended to be limited in this period. In addition, status increasingly came to depend upon wealth, rather than family ties or education. As a result, Americans frantically pursued material goods and success. The workings of the market revolution could be seen throughout the country: in the separation of the commercial and the now economically based residential areas of Kingston, New York; in the development of commercial agriculture in Sugar Creek, Illinois; and in the careers of mountain men, who entered the fur trade hoping to achieve wealth and status back home.

Prosperity and Anxiety

Prosperity brought with it anxiety, as Americans feared they would be plunged into poverty by sudden downturns of the economy that were beyond the control of individuals. After 1815 the economy lurched forward in fits and starts, so wealth never seemed permanent nor secure. Americans increasingly looked to government to relieve economic distress. The Missouri crisis of 1819-1821, which erupted in the wake of the first national depression in American history, was one sign of this concern. Once again, social change precipitated political change.

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