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Women and the Economy
Women worked 12 or 13 hours a day, 6 days a week
mostly New England farm girls
Opportunities for women to be economically independent were scarce
primarily nursing, domestic service, and especially teaching
Catharine Beecher urged women to enter the teaching profession
about 10% of white women were working for pay outside their own homes in 1850
“cult of domesticity” - widespread cultural creed that glorified the customary traditions of  the homemaker
Marriages became more based on love instead of parental prearrangement
Families became smaller
“domestic feminism” - the growing power of women to determine the number of children in their families
greater attention given to each child
New idea of child rearing – child's will to be shaped, instead of broken

Western Farmers Reap a Revolution in the Fields
Trans-allegheny region becoming the nation's breadbasket
Corn grown, shipped as liquor or in hogs
Cincinnati became known as “Porkopolis”
Westerners wanted more profit than that made from the southerners who bought most of their produce
John Deere invented a steel plow light enough to be pulled by horses
Cyrus McCormick invented a mechanical mower-reaper
One man could do work of 5 men
Large scale, extensive, cash-crop agriculture came to dominate the trans-Allegheny West
West began to harvest a bigger crop than the South could devour

Highways and Steamboats
in 1789, primitive forms of travel were still widely used
in 1790s, a private company completed the Lancaster Turnpike from Philadelphia to Lancaster
highly successful, returned as much as 15% annually
Turnpike building boom lasted 20 years, had many obstacles
states righters opposed federal aid to local projects
easterners protested against being bled of their population by the westward reaching arteries
1811 – Nat'l gov't began to construct the national road, or Cumberland Road
from Cumberland Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois (591 miles)
completed in 1852
Robert Fulton put a steam engine in a boat
made a 150 miles trip in 32 hours
started the steamboat explosion
allowed 2 way travel on rivers a reasonable speeds
1820 – some 60 steamboats on Mississippi river and tirbutaries
1860 – over 1000
Population clustered around rivers

“Clinton's Big Ditch” in New York
Canal-cutting popular in same time period as turnpikes and steamboats
DeWitt Clinton, govnor of NY led NY to build Erie Canal
begun in 1817
363 miles long
completed in 1825
Cost of shipping a ton of grain from Buffalo to New York fell from $100 to $5, and time from 20 days to 6 days
Value of land along Erie Canal skyrocketed
new cities formed – Rochester and Syracuse
Detroit, Cleveland, and Chicago exploded into mighty cities
Canal Consequences
farmers moving westward
farmers becoming mill hands
farmers switching to fruits, vegetables, and dairy

Pioneer Railroad Promoters
Railroad fast, cheaper than canals to construct, and not frozen over in the winter
first railroad appeared in US in 1820
by 1860, over 30k miles of railroad in US
NY legislature prohibited railroads from carrying freight in 1833 to save Erie canal

The Transport Web Binds the Union
Ditch diggers and tie layers were attempting to conquest nature
offset natural flow  of trade
by 1840s, Buffalo handled more western produce than New Orleans
between 1836 and 1860, shipments increased 60 fold
by the eve of civil war, each region of the US specialized in a particular type of economic activity
far reaching social effects: families tied toe the market economy, no longer self sufficient
Store bought fabrics, candles, soap, and other goods replaced homemade products
traditional women's work devalued
home grew into a refuge from the world of work

Wealth and Poverty
Revolutionary advances widened the gulf between the rich and the poor
More millionaires on eve of civil war then earlier
John Jacob Astor had $30million when he died
Unskilled workers drifted from town to town based on the prospects of menial jobs
Wages for unskilled worked rose about 1% per year from 1820 to 1860

Cables, Clippers, and Pony Riders
Americans generally  exported agricultural products and imported manufactured goods
generally imported more than exported
1858 – Cyrus Field stretched a cable under the deep North Atlantic from Newfoundland to Ireland
went dead after 3 weeks
heavier cable laid in 1866
permanently linked American and European continents
1840s and 1850s dawned a golden age for American shipping
clippers – long narrow sailboats that could outrun any steamer in a fair breeze
sacrificed cargo for speed
British iron tramp steamers (“teakettles”) were better than the clippers in the long run
Pony Express – est 1860
carry mail from Missouri to California
trip took ten days
only lasted 18 months
Morse's invention ousted the Pony Express in 1861