Today’s Schedule – 11/04/09

• Warm-Up

• 8.2 PPT: Industrial Revolution in the North

• WS: Gangs of New York

• Warm-Up: What are the pros and cons of living in a city

Tocqueville Diary Entry • "'Is it true that great differences exist between the Americans of the North and those of

the South?' he now asked. • 'Yes, in Baltimore we think we can recognize a Yankee, or even an inhabitant of New-York

or Philadelphia in the street. • 'But what are the chief traits that distinguished the North and the South? 'I should

express the difference in this way. What distinguishes the North is its enterprising spirit, what distinguishes the South is l'esprit aristocratique [spirit of chivalry?]. The manners of the inhabitant of the South are frank, open; he is excitable, irritable even, exceedingly touchy of his honour. The New Englander is cold and calculating, patient. While you are with the Southerner you are welcome, he shares with you all the pleasures of his house. The Northerner, after having received you, begins to wonder whether he couldn't do some business with you."

• Tocqueville's interview with "Mr. Latrobe, a very distinguished Baltimore lawyer" (Pierson 496-497)

• "So far as I can judge the Republic does not seem to me a social state as natural and appropriate to the South as it is in the North of the United States. Does this result from differences in enlightenment between North and South, or in physical constitution and the resulting differences in character in the two sections? Or, rather, [is it that] the enlightened classes are not made for leadership in a democracy; do they in the South more easily betray the secrets that the same classes in the North conceal? This is what I still do not know. What's certain is that my impression is not the same in the two parts of America. The North presents to me, internally at least, the image of a government strong, regular, durable, and perfectly appropriate to the moral and physical state of men. In the South there is in the march of affairs something feverish, disorderly, revolutionary, passionate, which does not leave the same impression of strength and durability."

Farming

• Fertile area good for corn, and grains (i.e. wheat)

• John Deere – steel plow• Cyrus McCormick – mechanical reaper• Specialized businesses developed to process,

transport and selling of farming products– Slaughterhouses– Distilleries– Shipping companies– Banks

Industries

• In early 1800s, rural population declined and urban population increased

• People are specializing in jobs– No longer producing their own food– People working together

• Exposed to different cultures• Created the first working class

• Rapid increase in industrialization– Coal mining = steamboats and steamships– Mills

• Hired women willing to work for half pay of men

The Mills

The Mills

City Growth

• Growth of public institutions– People working outside of

home– No longer able to provide

education, healthcare to members of households

• Tenements– Cheap, rundown apartments– Cities could not handle

population boom

Labor Strike

• People working long hours for low wages– 6 days a week, 12 hours a day– $1.50 - $3/wk

• Workers often went on strike to protest wages– No minimum wage

Labor Unions

• National Trades Union– Formed in 1834 as the first national labor union– Worked to negotiate wages, working conditions, etc.

• Eventually fizzled out as factory owners sought government intervention to prevent unions

Gap Between the Rich and the Poor

• 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

American Dream

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

• 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