Early 1800's Industrialization in America

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Eli Whitney’s Gun Factory

Interchangeable Parts Rifle

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Oliver Evans

First prototype of the locomotive

First automated flour mill

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John Deere & the Steel Plow (1837)

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Cyrus McCormick & the Mechanical Reaper: 1831

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Samuel F. B. Morse

1840 – Telegraph

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Cyrus Field & the Transatlantic Cable, 1858

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Elias Howe & Isaac Singer

1840s Sewing Machine

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They all regarded material advance as the natural fruit of American republicanism & proof of the country’s virtue and promise.

The “American Dream”

A German visitor in the 1840s, Friedrich List, observed:

Anything new is quickly introduced here, including all of the latest inventions. There is no clinging to old ways. The moment an American hears the word “invention,” he pricks up his ears.

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The Northern

Industrial

"Juggernaut"

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Boom/Bust Cycles: 1790-1860

The blue line shows, for comparison, the price of a year’s tuition at Harvard College. In 1790 it was $24, but by 1860 had risen to $104.

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Creating a Business-Friendly Climate

Supreme Court Rulings: * Fletcher v. Peck (1810) * Dartmouth v. Woodward (1819) * McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) * Gibbons v. Ogden (1824) * Charles Rivers Bridge v. Warren Bridge (1835)

General Incorporation Law  passed in New York, 1848.

Laissez faire  BUT, govt. did much to assist capitalism!

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Distribution of Wealth

During the American Revolution, 45% of all wealth in the top 10% of the population.

1845 Boston  top 4% owned over 65% of the wealth.

1860 Philadelphia  top 1% owned over 50% of the wealth.

The gap between rich and poor was widening!

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