Upload
dortha-moore
View
224
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE, AND EVERYDAY LIFE,
1840-1860
CHAPTER 11
Introduction to Ch. 11
Stitching by handPants – 3 hrs.Dress – 7 hrs.
Stitching by machinePants – 38 mins.Dress – 57 mins.
700-800 machines per year (1851) to 21,000 (1859) to 174,000 (1872)
Installment plans were adopted by Singer Most machines were sold to factories There was an upbeat response to
technological change (God’s chosen instrument of progress)
Yet there was a darker sideRevolvers killSweatshops formed The urban decay
Hailed as democratic, the benefits of technology drew praise from all sides
Antebellum life was transformedSteam engine, cotton gin, reaper, sewing
machine, telegraph Transportation and production increases
= lower commodity prices
Agricultural Advancement Westward expansion = opportunity for
innovation and increase in production John Deere’s steel-tipped plow busts up
Midwestern soil, opening it up to wheat Available timber builds homes and
fences Wheat is the Midwestern cotton
Agriculture innovations meet business enterpriseCyrus McCormick’s offers deferred
payments and money back guarantees The Reaper harvested grain 7X faster
with ½ the labor force He sells 80,000 in 1860; 250,000 during
the Civil War
InterestingWhitney (Conn. Yankee) helped the South
○ Solidified Cotton as King and made it more profitable
McCormick (Virginia Confederate) helped the North○ North was the main market for the wheat and
freed up workers to join the army
West was not conscientious of farming innovation yet
The East was much better – in an effort to compete with the amount coming out of the WestPlaster in VirginiaQuano in southern cotton
Technology and Industrial Progress
American System Interchangeable parts made American
manufacture distinct○ Replacement parts available○ Enabled entrepreneurs to push inventions
swiftly into mass productionExamples: Smith and Wesson from Colt; telegraph
lines put up quickly to tackle fire communication
The Railroad Boom
Americans were travelling first class (those allowed to ride)
Problems thoughNo brakes or lights, problems in scheduling
and delays, and different gauges gradually give way to better conditions
Important: RR connects the East to the MidwestChicago replaces New Orleans as the
interiors commercial hub They also propels the growth of small
towns on their route Example: Illinois CentralRoads going E-W trees; N-S numbersLand speculation along the lines was big
time
Important to understand about the RRGovernment financing
contributes to private investmentRailroad financing and investing
helps make the NYSE and New York what it becomes
Rising Prosperity From 1800 to 1850 prices drop and
worker’s real income increases 25% More work available all year lone Women and children contribute more (they
have to) Despite some of the problems in quality of
life in the cities, most in rural areas did not own farmland, etc.The cities were better
Quality of Life; Dwellings, Con/Incon. Patent offices flooded Machine-made furniture provide taste; stoves
provide heat; RR provide fresh food The middle class may be a bit closer to the
upper, but they both separate from the lower Rowhouses and tenements vs. “Place” and
“Square” Running water and burning coal
Baths, sewage, and hogs
Disease, Health, and Movements Transportation increased spreading Public calls for municipal health boards
Little confidence in conclusions of medical professionals
Contagion vs. miasma theories Anesthesia helps improve image Phrenology – example of invented
science that improves simple “understanding”
Newspapers 1830 – newspapers were 4 pages long with a circulation
of 1,000-2,000 Journalists were loyal to some clique Steam-driven cylindrical presses change everything (10X
increase) Newspaper now relied on circulation, not political
subsidies 1833- the Penny Press So common newsboys sell on the streets Topics become human-interest stories with actual
reporters New York Tribune and New York Herald
The Theater All classes went to the shows They were notoriously rowdy (prostitutes,
etc.) Most of the shows were Shakespearean,
dumbed down for understanding and maybe even altered a bit
Short performances took up the interludes
Minstrel Shows Plays much into the American sense of racial
superiority by diminishing blacksEspecially that of working-class whites
Blacks were docile, dancing around, stumbling over words, etc.
Songs such as “Dixie”, “Camptown Races”, “Oh Susannah”, “Old Folks Home” and “Carry Me Back to Old Virginny” started out as songs in minstrel shows.
P.T. Barnum Recognized the opportunity to make
money off of entertainment He was a hustler He bought an old museum, called it
the American Museum, and created popular entertainmentMain goal was to prick public curiosity
Strong lecturer on the temperance circuit
He helped break down barriers that divided the pastimes of husbands and wives
Roots of American Renaissance
What helped create this development?Transportation innovations created a national
market for booksThe rise of philosophical movement known as
Romanticism ○ it challenged the classical view of “standards of
beauty being universal”○ Also, it focused on the emotionally charged
The democratization of literature had begun
Writing fiction was the new genreIt did not require knowledge of Latin or
GreekThe novel allowed for interpretation
James Fenimore CooperCreated the distinctively American character,
Natty Bumppo (Leatherstocking)
Ralph Waldo EmersonMost influential spokesman for American
Literary NationalismTranscendentalism – our ideas of God and
freedom are inborn; knowledge resembles sight- an instantaneous and direct perception of truth
The American Scholar
Walt WhitmanInfluenced by journalism and politics – kept
him in touch with ordinary AmericansLeaves of Grass (shattered poetic
conventions) Henry David Thoreau
Rep. of the younger EmersoniansMore action orientedCivil Disobedience; Walden