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