Period 4: Chapter 14 Flashcards
Frontier life
Hard life, isolation, etc.
Cities growing
Population was doubling every 25 years (rapid growth)
Inadequate infrastructure for the population
Why did Germans and Irish immigrate to the United States?
Overpopulation in Europe
Irish potato famine
Irish treatment in the U.S.
Faced discrimination
- Heavy drinkers and less educated
Because of that they tended to be extremely racist (bully mentality)
Formed political machines, Tammany Hall
German treatment in the U.S.
Much better than Irish
- Protestant, lighter drinkers, more educated
More self-sufficient, less job competition
American Know-Nothing Party (1849)
They hated all immigrants and members of the Catholic Church
Industrial Revolution
Began in Britain in 1750
Gradually spread to the U.S.
- Imported manufactured products
- Land was more plentiful that labor
Manufacturing flourished
- Interchangeable parts (created by Eli Whitney)
Cotton gin
Created by Eli Whitney
Separated the seed from the fiber (should be less work)
Increased cotton production meaning more had to be grown at a rapid rate
More people were enslaved as a result
Northern Laborers
The Industrial Revolution reduced the need for skilled workers
Debate over 10 hour work day
Factory work provided economic independence for single women
- Married women practiced Cult of Domesticity
- Smaller, child centered families
The debate over the 10 hour work day
Van Buren established it for federal employees
Many strikes over wages and hours
Exploitation of child workers
How did poorer families changed during the Market Revolution?
They stopped farming and went and worked in factories
Kids as young as 6-8 were working
Cult of Domesticity
Upper and middle class women were expected to focus on their families and instilling American virtues in their children - women were expected to live in a separate sphere
If they worked it was nursing or teaching
John Deere steel plow
Broke up hard western soil
McCormick Reaper
Helped harvest
Prominent factory in Chicago (1847)
Cumberland Road
United States national highway - controversial
