The Market Revolution
John Sacher University of Central Florida
[email protected]
Democratic v. Whig Ideas 1.
2.
Do not welcome economic and social change (or at least don’t believe government should aid this change.) Welcome & encourage economic and social change.
Characteristics of Market Revolution 1. Creation of a national market. 2. Increase in concentrations of economic activities. 3. Increase in mobility of capital, goods, and labor. 4. Innovations in government and legal systems, and political & social conflict between market oriented & market resistant groups.
Roads
The National Road
Our Traveler, Cincinnati to NY
Flatboat
Erie Canal
TRT
The 8th Wonder of the World
Northern Canals
Railroads
Travel Time Cincinnati to New York 1817 1843 1852
52 Days 18 Days 7 Days
Total travel time decreases 86%. Cost decrease—95%-land, 75% downriver, 90% upriver.
The Telegraph
Samuel F.B. Morse “What Hath God Wrought.”
Americans “were more ready to seek six columns of the details of a brutal murder, or the testimony of a divorce case, or the trial of a divine for improprieties of conduct , than the same amount of words poured forth by the genius of the noblest author of our times.” James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald
Land—Subsistence Plus Agriculture
Fall Line
A Mill
Urban Growth
In 1820, 12 cities over 10,000 2 cities over 100,000 7.2% population in “urban” areas In 1860, 101 cities over 10,000 8 cities over 100,000 19.8% population in “urban” areas
Urban Areas, 1820-1860
Lowell Mills
