USA In The Mid-nineteenth Century Flashcards
3 components of state government
A governor, a Supreme Court and a legislative body
Date of constitution
1787
Cut-off population between state and territory
60,000
Number of states by 1850
30
Who could vote in 1830
All white males
Political system
Two party system
Names of parties upto 1850
Whigs and Democrats
Stronghold for democrats
South and West
Democrat platform
Lower tariffs, less intervention and western expansion
Whig platform
Greater intervention, higher tariffs and infrastructure schemes
Congresses between 1840 and 1854
5/7 were Democrat majority
Number of people on gov payroll in 1860 (post office)
36,672 (30,000)
Sitting time of gov
December to March
Wealth distribution in 1860, top 5 and bottom 50
53% and 1%
Women working
25% out-of-home work before marriage 5% after
Restrictions on women
Could not vote
Could not own property
Average number of children in 1850 for white women
5
GNP growth 1800-50
7x increase
GNP per capita growth 1800-1850
2x increase
Population 1840 and 1860
17 million to 31 million
Population growth in area between Mississippi River and Appalachian mountains 1815-1850
3x faster than original states
Population distribution by 1850
50% lived west of Appalachians
Food production 1840-60
4x increase
Steamships in Mississippi in 1850
700
Railway growth 1840-1860
3,000 miles to 30,000 miles more than rest of world combined
Chicago population growth
40 people in 1830, 109,000 in 1860
New York population 1860
800,000
Number of Northern factories employing large numbers
4 over 50,000
Cotton exports to total exports
50% of total
Iron Industry in South
Tredegar Iron works in Richmond Virginia was 4th largest in 1840
Wealth distribution N and S 10%
10% owned 68% in 1860
% Slave owning families in South
25%
1800 % of labour in agriculture N and S
68% N and 82% S
1860% of labour in agriculture N and S
N 40% and S 81%
Number of confederate towns with more than 5000 people in 1860
20
Largest Southern Cities
Charleston (under 40,000) Richmond (under 40,000) New Orleans (175,000)
% of population living in towns N in 1820, 1840 and 1850
10, 14 and 26
% of population living in towns in South 1820, 1840 and 1850
5%, 6% and 10%
Fraction of foreign born to non in N and S in 1860
1 in 6 in N and 1 in 30 in S
Slave trade made illegal
1808
Number of slaves in 1808
1 million
Colonies with slavery in 1776
All 13
First ban on slavery
1787 Ordinance in Northern West Terittory
Cotton production in 1790
9000 bails a year
Cotton invention
Eli Whitney’s Cotton Engine in 1793
Cotton production in 1830s
2 million bales a year