Chapter 14 - Forging the National Economy, 1790-1860

Question 1

“Self-Reliance”

Answer 1

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s popular lecture-essay that reflected the spirit of individualism pervasive in American popular culture during the 1830’s.

Question 2

Kentucky Bluegrass

Answer 2

a European bluegrass that thrived in charred canefields. Made good pastures for livestock

Question 3

Rendezvous System

Answer 3

basis of the fur-trapping empire. Each summer, traders ventured from St. Louis to a Rocky Mountain valley and wait for trappers and Indians to arrive with beaver belts to swap with manufactured goods from the east.

Question 4

George Catlin

Answer 4

A painter and student of Native American life who espoused the preservation of nature and pushed for it to become a deliberate national policy.

Question 5

Irish and Germans

Answer 5

Irish: arriving in immense waves in the 1800’s, they were extremely poor peasants who later became the manpower for canal and railroad construction. German: also came because of economic distress, German immigration had a large impact on America, shaping many of its morals. Both groups of immigrants were heavy drinkers and supplied the labor force for the early industrial era.

Question 6

America Letters

Answer 6

Letters sent home by immigrants in America that often described in glowing terms the richer life in America compared to Europe

Question 7

Molly Maguires

Answer 7

Secret organization of Irish miners that campaigned, at times violently, against poor working conditions in the PA mines

Question 8

Tammany Hall

Answer 8

Political machine in New York, headed by Boss Tweed.

Question 9

Paddy Wagons

Answer 9

Nickname given to police cars driven by Irish immigrants.

Question 10

Twisting the British Lion’s Tail

Answer 10

the term given to firing verbal volleys at London or the British in an attempt to gain the sympathy of the Irish. Coming from their oppressed state, the Irish immigrants were not quick to forget their British tormentors and maintained an anti-British sentiment even during their time in the United States

Question 11

Carl Schurz

Answer 11

A German immigrant who eventually became an influential figure within American society. Typical of the German Forty-Eighters, Schurz shared the sentiments of those who immigrated because of the failed democratic revolution back in the motherland and thus had a liberal viewpoint

Question 12

Conestoga Wagon

Answer 12

Wagons that were used to travel west, contributed by the Germans

Question 13

Kindergarten

Answer 13

An example of German influence on American language and education. “Kinder” meaning children’s and “garten” meaning garden.

Question 14

Nativists

Answer 14

An anti-foreign feeling that arose in the 1840’s and 1850’s in response to the influx of Irish and German Catholics.

Question 15

Order of the Star-Spangled Banner

Answer 15

A society formed in 1849 by the noisier American nativists. These radical thinkers wanted to take decisive political action in order to combat the growing influence of the immigrants

Question 16

American (Know-Nothing) Party

Answer 16

Know- Nothings opposed immigration and Catholic influence. They answered questions from outsiders about the party by saying “I know nothing”.

Question 17

Potato Famine

Answer 17

the cause for many Irish to go to the US. The Irish were already under massive stress from British overloads but then a lot of the crop that they were dangerously dependent on, the potato, died of disease.

Question 18

Famine Irish

Answer 18

generally too poor to move west and but the necessary land, livestock, and equipment so they swarmed to larger seaboard cities. They were seen as the bottom of the social ladder, along with free blacks, which is why they were generally cool towards the abolitionist movement. They were barely literate and forced to do labor work in areas such as canals and railroads. “No Irish Need Apply” (NINA) was a common sign outside of factory gates. Tended to remain in low-skill jobs but gradually began to obtain small amounts of property, which was a grand “success” for them.

Question 19

Boss System

Answer 19

A locally controlled system of politics in which a small powerful group of people control the party and use political jobs as rewards.

Question 20

Political Machines

Answer 20

Corrupt organized groups that controlled political parties in the cities. A boss leads the machine and attempts to grab more votes for his party.

Question 21

Factory System

Answer 21

Method of production that brought many workers and machines together into one building.

Question 22

Industrial Revolution

Answer 22

The industrial revolution had occurred in England in the 1700s, but it was not until the period industrial growth after the War of 1812 that the U.S. began to manufacture goods with the aid of factories and machines. New England, rather than the South, emerged as a manufacturing center because New England had many rivers to supply water power, plus a better system of roads and canals. The first major industry in New England was textiles.

Question 23

Samuel Slater

Answer 23

When he emigrated from England to America in the 1790s, he brought with him the plans to an English factory. With these plans, he helped build the first factory in America.

Question 24

Eli Whitney/Cotton Gin

Answer 24

1798 - He developed the cotton gin, a machine which could separate cotton form its seeds. This invention made cotton a profitable crop of great value to the Southern economy. It also reinforced the importance of slavery in the economy of the South.

Question 25

King Cotton

Answer 25

Expression used by southern authors and orators before the Civil War t indicate economic dominance of the southern cotton industry, and that the north needed the south’s cotton. Coined by James Hammond.

Question 26

Forty-Eighters

Answer 26

Liberal German refugees who fled failed democratic revolutions and came to America

Question 27

Mennonites

Answer 27

Founded by Dutch leader Menno Simmons; became descendants of Anabaptists and emphasized pacifism

Question 28

Milwaukee

Answer 28

City in Wisconsin that boomed with the arrival of German immigrants.

Question 29

Amish

Answer 29

People of German origin who were originally Anabaptist and would settle in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio. Many today live the same way their ancestors did 200-300 years ago.

Question 30

Interchangeable Parts

Answer 30

1799-1800 - Eli Whitney developed a manufacturing system which uses standardized parts which are all identical and thus, interchangeable. Before this, each part of a given device had been designed only for that one device; if a single piece of the device broke, it was difficult or impossible to replace. With standardized parts, it was easy to get a replacement part from the manufacturer. Whitney first put used standardized parts to make muskets for the U.S. government.

Question 31

Elias Howe/Isaac Singer

Answer 31

Howe invented the sewing machine and Singer made it more efficient. The sewing machine became the foundation of the ready-made clothing industry with began to establish itself around the time of the Civil War. It drove many seamstresses into factories.

Question 32

Limited Liability

Answer 32

legal principle that facilitates capital investment by offering protection for individual investors, who, in cases of legal claims for bankruptcy, cannot be held responsible for more than the value of their individual shares.

Question 33

Free Incorporation Laws

Answer 33

Laws first passed in New York in 1848 granting the right for businessmen to create corporations without applying for individual charters from the legislature

Question 34

Samuel F. B. Morse

Answer 34

Morse developed a working telegraph which improved communications.

Question 35

Wage Slaves

Answer 35

the southern term for the laborers in the North, referring to the horrible conditions that these laborers worked under, often treated like slaves.

Question 36

Strikebreakers (Scabs)

Answer 36

The derisive name given to strikebreakers, people who would be employed by the boss of a factory on strike

Question 37

Commonwealth v. Hunt

Answer 37

1842 - Case heard by the Massachusetts supreme court. The case was the first judgement in the U.S. that recognized that the conspiracy law is inapplicable to unions and that strikes for a closed shop are legal. Also decided that unions are not responsible for the illegal acts of their members.

Question 38

Lowell Mills

Answer 38

Francis Cabot Lowell established a factory in 1814 at Waltham, Massachusetts. It was the first factory in the world to manufacture cotton cloth by power machinery in a building. Lowell opened a chaperoned boarding house for the girls who worked in his factory. He hired girls because they could do the job as well as men (in textiles, sometimes better), and he didn’t have to pay them as much. He hired only unmarried women because they needed the money and would not be distracted from their work by domestic duties.

Question 39

Catherine Beecher

Answer 39

A writer and lecturer, she worked on behalf of household arts and education of the young. She established two schools for women and emphasized better teacher training. She opposed women’s suffrage.

Question 40

Cult of Domesticity

Answer 40

While many women were in favor of the women’s movement, some were not. Some of these believed in preserving the values of “true womanhood”: piety, domesticity, purity and submissiveness. These opponents of the women’s movement referred to their ideas as the “Cult of Domesticity.”

Question 41

Fertility Rate

Answer 41

the number of births among women age fourteen to forty-five, which dropped sharply among white women in the years after the Revolution.

Question 42

Child-centered Homes

Answer 42

The “modern” idea of a family that developed by midcentury: small, affectionate, and child-centered.

Question 43

John Deere

Answer 43

American blacksmith that was responsible for inventing the steel plow. This new plow was much stronger than the old iron version; therefore, it made plowing farmland in the west easier, making expansion faster.

Question 44

Steel Plow

Answer 44

produced by John Deere, broke the stubborn soil of the West. It was sharp, effective, and light enough to be pulled by horses, rather than oxen.

Question 45

Cyrus McCormick/Mechanical Mower-reaper

Answer 45

McCormick built the reaping machine in 1831, and it make farming more efficient. Part of the industrial revolution, it allowed farmers to substantially increase the acreage that could be worked by a single family, and also made corporate farming possible.

Question 46

Cash-crop Agriculture

Answer 46

Created by subsistence farming; the marketing, large-scale, specialized agriculture.

Question 47

Lancaster Turnpike

Answer 47

Probably the most successful and profitable road in the US. Built in the 1790’s by a private company, the road linked Philadelphia and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Because the road was set on a bed of gravel, water drained off quickly.

Question 48

National (Cumberland) Road

Answer 48

The first highway built by the federal government. Constructed during 1825-1850, it stretched from Pennsylvania to Illinois. It was a major overland shipping route and an important connection between the North and the West.

Question 49

Robert Fulton

Answer 49

A famous inventor, Robert Fulton designed and built America’s first steamboat, the Clermont in 1807. He also built the Nautilus, the first practical submarine.

Question 50

Erie Canal

Answer 50

1825 - The Erie canal was opened as a toll waterway connecting New York to the Great Lakes. The canal was approved in 1817 with the support of New York’s Governor, Dewitt Clinton. Along with the Cumberland Road, it helped connect the North and the West.

Question 51

Trans-Atlantic Cable

Answer 51

After four failed attempts in 1857, 1858 and 1865, a submarine cable was successfully laid between Newfoundland and Ireland in July, 1866.

Question 52

Clipper Ships

Answer 52

Long, narrow, wooden ships with tall masts and enormous sails. They were developed in the second quarter of the 1800s. These ships were unequalled in speed and were used for trade, especially for transporting perishable products from distant countries like China and between the eastern and western U.S.

Question 53

Stagecoaches

Answer 53

horse-drawn carriage that carries passengers, was a new form of transportation.

Question 54

Pony Express

Answer 54

a service that begun in 1860 that would use a relay of riders on horses to deliver mail from Missouri to California in10 days.

Question 55

Division of Labor

Answer 55

The home, once a place in which all family members cooperated, grew into a place of refuge from the world of work, increasingly the place of a woman.

Question 56

John Jacob Astor

Answer 56

His American fur company (est. 1808) rapidly became the dominant fur trading company in America. Helped finance the War of 1812. First millionaire in America (in cash, not land).

Question 57

Social Mobility

Answer 57

the “rags-to-riches” idea that poor labourers could move up the social chain and become wealthy.