The Market Revolution

Chapter 9

Post War Market

• War of 1812 demonstrated inefficiencies in US gov’t:

- dependent on foreign trade

- immobile military

Congressional decisions:

- encourage nat’l independence

- build transportation routes

Tariff act of 1816

Congress eases burden of dependence

• Tariff- duties imposed on imported goods.

• Tariff Act of 1816

- raised tariffs an average of 25%

• Discourages dependence on imported products

- designed to protect American industries

- helps avoid entanglements during foreign conflicts

• In 1816, a Senate Committee reported that $9 would move a ton of goods across the 3,000 miles journey of the Atlantic from Britain to America; the same $9 would move the same ton of goods only 30 miles inland.

• Changes in transportation is needed

Improvement in Transportation

Transportation Revolution

• By 1815, drastic improvements were made in transportation

- better roads, canals, railroad, etc

• Congress authorized the “national road”

- links east & west regions

- made it easier for settlers & wagons to reach the west

- increase mobility of armed forces

The National Road opened the the Midwest for settlement and commerce

Erie Canal (continue)

• construction began on the Erie Canal in 1817 (100 miles of canal in the US)

• By 1840, more than 3,000 miles existed.

• Transformed interior of New York into a prosperous commercial area

Erie Canal (continue)

• runs from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean

• entire canal was opened on October 26, 1825 363 miles long, 40 feet wide, and 4 feet deep

• Result: massive population surge in N.Y. - opened regions further west to increased

settlement

US Railroads

• Connected cities to rivers and canals

- 3,000 miles of railroad built between 1820 & 1840

- 30,000 miles by 1860

- rendered some canals obsolete

• Improvements in speed

- journey from Ohio to N.Y. in 1815 took 52 days. Same route by 1850 took 6 days.

Railroads in the United States, 1840 and 1860

Industrial Revolution• Market Revolution initiated the Industrial

revolution

• Produced the beginnings of industry and the greatest period of growth in US history (1820-1870)

• South produced ¾ of the world’s cotton (p 258)

- Dependent on slavery (4 million in US)