Irish Immigration - Findlay City Schools Web Portal

Chapter 14

Forging the National Economy 1790-1860

1. • • •

Population growth 1800 = 5.5 million to 33 million by 1861 13 states to 33 states by 1861 Expansion of cities

2. Flow of Immigration – 1830’s to 1860’s • Why? Potato famine and European problems • Irish • German 48er’s • Hated by “Nativists” 3. Transformation of American Industry • Industrial Revolution – why? • American System • Sectionalism • Industrial pioneers

Westward Movement •

Americans marched quickly toward west – very hard w/ disease & loneliness

• •

Frontier people were individualistic, superstitious & ill-informed Westward movement molded environment – tobacco exhausted land – “Kentucky blue grass” thrived

5.3 million

Population Growth from 1620 to 1860

City growth

Westward expansion Growth of cities and states by 1850

The March of the Millions •

High birthrate accounted for population growth – Population doubling every 25 years

• •

Near 1850s, millions of Irish, German came Beginning in 1830, immigration in the US soared

Causes Irish escape famine in their country Settled mostly in urban areas of the Northeast Millions of Germans arrived and settled in the Midwest

Event

U.S. experiences Huge influx Of immigrants.

Effects Produced feelings Of nativism among Many Americans

Know-Nothing Party Was started to prevent Immigrants from Holding office

Irish Immigration • • •

Irish Potato Famine 1845-1849 Main ports of entry – New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston Irish were too poor to move inland and farm so they stayed in the cities – –

•

Ancient Order of Hibernians – –

•

Boston did not particularly like the Irish – catholic, illiterate, poor “No Irish need apply!” Benevolent society to help Irish Spawned “Molly Maguires” (miners union)

Gradually improved and became active politically –

NY’s Tammany Hall, Irish political machine

German Immigration • Most Germans came due to crop failures – Germans better off than Irish, came west, many to Wisconsin

• A few were political refugees from collapse of democratic revolutions in 1848 • German contributions include Kentucky rifle, Christmas tree, kindergarten, and abolitionists • Some Americans were suspicious because they tried to preserve language, culture and lived in separate communities, and drank beer

Sources of Immigration, 1820-40

Sources of Immigration, 1840-60

Settlements of Immigrants •Irish in Northeastern cities: New York and Boston •Germans would settle in Midwest

Early Nativism •

American “nativists” feared 1840s & 1850s invasion of immigrants – –

•

Took jobs, grew Roman Catholicism Catholics built their own schools, were #1 denomination by 1850

1849: Nativists form Order of the Star-Spangled Banner, developed into “Know-Nothing” party – –

Wanted immigration restrictions Nativists occasionally violent, burned Boston convent (1834)

–

Philadelphia Irish fought back, 13 killed in several days of fighting (1844)

The “Know-Nothings” [The American Party] ß Nativists. ß AntiCatholics. ß Antiimmigrants. 1849  Secret Order of the StarSpangled Banner created in NYC.

KnowNothing Party: “The Supreme Order of the Star-Spangled Banner”

• A shift from goods made by hand to factory and mass production • Technological innovations brought production from farmhouse to factories – Invented in Britain in 1750; smuggled to U.S. – Beginning of US Factory System

• US slow to embrace factory system – Scarce labor – Little capital – Superiority of British factories

Resourcefulness & Experimentation  Americans were willing to try anything.  They were first copiers, then innovators.

1800  41 patents were approved. 1860  4,357 “

“

“

The invention which changed the South, cotton and slavery.

•Eli Whitney’s cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry.

•He is also noted for the concept of mass production and interchangeable parts by creating dyes for pistols and rifles. •Very important early pioneer in America’s industrial revolution.

Whitney Ends the Fiber Famine • Cotton gin invented in 1793 – 50 times more effective than hand picking

• Raising cotton more profitable – South needs slavery more than ever for “King Cotton”

 New England factories flourish with Southern cotton

Effects Increased exports for the South Planters became rich

Cotton Gin

Increased demand for slaves

Eli Whitney’s Gun Factory

Interchangeable Parts Rifle

•1830s, Industrialization grew throughout the North… •Southern cotton shipped to Northern textile mills was a good working relationship.

•Built first textile mill in 1793 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Samuel Slater was •Born in England on June 9, 1768 the "Father of the and worked in British factories. American Factory •Slater came to US to make his System." fortune in the textile industry. •Slatersville Mill was the largest and most modern industrial cotton mill of its day

Workers & Wage Slaves • With industrial revolution, large impersonal factories surrounded by slums full of “wage slaves” developed • Long hours, low wages, unsanitary conditions, lack of heat, etc. –Labor unions illegal

• 1820: 1/2 of industrial workers were children under 10

Workers & Wage Slaves • 1820s & 1830s: right to vote for laborers – Loyalty to Democratic party led to improved conditions – Fought for 10-hour day, higher wages, better conditions

• 1830s & 1840s: Dozens of strikes for higher wages or 10-hour day – 1837 depression hurt union membership

• Commonwealth v. Hunt – Supreme Court ruled unions not illegal conspiracies as long as they were peaceful

The Lowell Mills • Americans beat the British at their own game, made better factories

• Francis C Lowell (a British “traitor”) came over here to build British factories met up with Boston mechanic, Paul Moody – Together they improved the mill and invented a power loom that revolutionized textile manufacturing

Lowell Mill

Starting for Lowell

Lowell Girls

What was their typical “profile?”

Lowell Boarding Houses

What was boardinghouse life like?

Lowell Mills Time Table

Early “Union” Newsletter

Irish Immigrant Girls at Lowell

Early Textile Loom

The Lowell System Lowell, Massachusetts, 1832

• • • •

Young New England farm girls Supervised on and off the job Worked 6 days a week, 13 hours a day Escorted to church on Sunday

Women & the Economy • 1850: 10% of white women working for pay outside home – Vast majority of working women were single – Left paying jobs upon marriage

• “Cult of domesticity” – Cultural idea that glorifies homemaker

• Empowers married women – Increased power & independence of women in home led to decline in family size

Industrialists and Inventors Robert Fulton Samuel Slater Francis C. Lowell

Eli Whitney Samuel F.B. Morse

Development or Invention steamboat Textile machine

Mass production of textiles Interchangeable parts Telegraph; Morse code

John Deere & the Steel Plow

Cyrus McCormick & the Mechanical Reaper

Samuel F. B. Morse

1840 – Telegraph “WHAT GOD HATH WROUGHT”

Cyrus Field & the Transatlantic Cable, 1858

Elias Howe & Isaac Singer 1840s Sewing Machine

Perfected by Singer Gave boost to northern industry Became foundation for ready-made clothing industry Led many women into factories

From left to right: Eli Whitney (cotton gin, interchangeable parts), Robert Fulton (steam boat), Thomas Edison (light bulb), Cyrus McCormick (reaper), Richard Hoe (automatic printing press)

Transportation Railroads: enabled trains to travel fast and go wherever track was laid

Steamboats: made river travel more reliable

Erie canal: connected the Hudson River at Albany to Lake Erie at Buffalo N.Y National Road: major east-west Highway that reached from Cumberland, Maryland to Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia)

Industrialization Manufacturing went from hand tools to large complex machines Interchangeable parts transformed One-by-one process into a factory Process. Telegraph quickly sent Messages over long-distances

Skilled artisans gave way to Workers organized by tasks

Factories replaced home- based Work manufactures sold wares nationwide

Highways • Bad roads made transportation highly unreliable • The National Road begun in 1811 and completed by 1832 – Connected Maryland to Illinois. – Built by US government

Cumberland (National Road), 1811

Conestoga Covered Wagons

Conestoga Trail, 1820s

• Population shift because of westward expansion – the West demanded transportation. – The Land Act of 1820, gave the West its wish by authorizing a buyer to purchase 80 acres of land at a minimum of $1.25 an acre in cash

• Erie Canal started in 1817 and completed in 1825 – NY Governor DeWitt Clinton built the Erie Canal – Connected New York City from Hudson River with the Great Lakes and the West • Clinton’s Big Ditch--------Other canals follow • Navigable rivers and the steamboat – the first steamboat on western waters was in 1811.

1807, Fulton's Clermont, was the first

commercially successful and reliable steamboat. Steam boat would revolutionize water travel. The steamboat was often the only mechanical means of river travel and freight transportation from 1808 through 1930.

Erie Canal System

Principal Canals in 1840

Inland Freight Rates

•Help unite the country as well as improve the economy and the infant industry. •Because of the British blockade during the War of 1812, it was essential for internal transportation improvements.

The Railroad Revolution,1850s • 1850 to 1860, RR proved most significant development toward national economy • Americans demanded transcontinental railroad to California. –Completed by 1869.

The “Iron Horse” Wins! (1830)

1830  13 miles of track built by Baltimore & Ohio RR By 1850  9000 mi. of RR track [1860  31,000 mi.]

Pioneer Railroad Promoters • 1800 to 1850: Roads, canals, navigable rivers with steamboats were the main modes of transportation. • 1850 to 1860, RR proved most significant development toward national economy • Competition between Railroads and Canals • Obstacles – opposition from canal backers – danger of fire – poor brakes – difference in track gauge meant changing trains

Map rr

Clipper Ships

Effects of the Transportation Revolution • 1860-61, Pony Express connected East-West • Telegraph instantly sent messages across US • Attraction of many large capital investments and encouraged risk taking in the US economy • People moved faster and country expanded – Unifying spirit among fellow country men – A need for a transcontinental railroad that connected east to west

•Telegraph revolutionized communication

•Would replace the Pony Express by 1861

Trails

ECONOMIC?

POLITICAL?

SOCIAL?

FUTURE PROBLEMS?