This week we will explore the relationship between westward expansion, slavery and American identity. We will also discuss the wars against Mexico.
Clark (chap.5)
Points of Entry:
Panic of 1837
Manifest Destiny -
U.S.-Mexican War -
The Alamo -
Antebellum Period -
Thoughts/Questions for blog discussion:
List and analyze 2 quotes from the reading.
What are some of the arguments?
How are they related to the larger themes of the week discussed in class?
"But while divisions between rich and poor grew wider in the 1840s and 1850s, the were masked to some extent by the continued expansion of the modestly prosperous proprietary, professional, and trade groups that made up the urban and small-town middle class."(196)
ReplyDelete"During the late 1840s and 1850s these divisions over patterns of economic development became associated with divisions, first, about national expansion and, second, about slavery itself."(206)
The economic class divides begin to play a very important role in the 1840s and 1850s with the creation of the middle class. With more and more people traveling to America, the population is growing and so is the number of workers. The economy will start to move in another direction that is important to see because it could take away from the economic necessity for slaves which were abolished. Even though they were abolished, there is still a want for slaves because the economy has not developed onto a new path yet. The creation of economic classes is that fork in the road that could pull the focus from slavery and onto a productive future of merchants. The planters in the South are still an issue because a middle class does not apply as much to them as it does in the urban areas. The other major distinction is still the North and the South who's economic policies vary more than the economic class divisions. The importance of these classes remains that this is a crucial time in Americas economic development pushing them toward a stronger power positon within the world globe. A different set of workers is emerging which will be decisive in the direction that America moves in and whether the North or the South will have the ultimate say in economic policy which is hard to determine as both sides are inter-dependent upon each other.
“Northern men seek no enlargement of territory, but they desire to render productive what they already have…. Southern men seek additions to their territory, but they do not seek to render productive what they have.” (206)
ReplyDeleteThis is a quote by Henry Carey that Clark uses to emphasize the different expansion and economical differences between North and South. The North was more of a merchant trading system expanding within cities and ports, building upon what already exists to provide more jobs within cities. This resulting in a population boom within small and large Northern cities alike (Albany and Chicago). The South, still holding slaves, was more bent upon gaining more land. The more land a slave owner could have, the more he could earn, spreading the population out in rural areas in the South.
“Residential separation accompanied a growing separation of functions at work between the activities of production and those of supervision.” (172)
Clark is explaining the further separation between the household and the workplace by the employment of a supervisor or manager. The manager takes place of the owner in order for the owner not to live at the workplace and force employees to do the same; which caused riots, protests and workforce rebellion to make such changes.
“The most important effect of these migration flows, from Britain and Ireland, from German and Scandinavia, and from Canada, was permanently to reverse the structural labor shortage that had influenced the character and development of the American economy since the colonial period.” Page 182
ReplyDeleteIn this quote, Clark is talking about how the immigrants came to the United States ad dramatically changed the economic growth in the North. Before the issue was that there were not enough workers in factories, but now the issue was there were too many. Skilled workers from foreign countries were taking many jobs from Americans, which eventually caused an expansion to the Midwest and Northeast.
“Here, in both urban and rural settings, immigrants furnished a substantial supply of new labor at different levels of economic activity and wealth.” Page 185
In this quote, Clark is discussing how immigrants stayed in the North because it was more economically sustainable. More factories were being established and there were more job opportunities. The South was too hard to migrate too because there were fewer opportunities for jobs because of slavery. There was also not enough land because of so many plantations.
Quote 1: The growth of waged employment marked the passing, in the North, of most forms of unfree labor, and would become the hallmark of ther emergence of a "free labor" system distinct from that of slavery in the South.
ReplyDeleteQuote 2: The simple expansion of banks and multiplication of mercantile firms required more clerks, and officers to run and supervise them, and the quanitity of such work in large cities created clerical jobs on a large scale--in brokerage firms, insurance and other activities.
Clark's economic framework exemplifies how the economic superstructure shapes society. In essence, as industrial capitalism took form so did discourse and actual jobs. Wage labor was seen as wage slavery, in which "producerists and consumerists" as Lawrence Glickman calls them, viewed the consequences of industrial capitalism differently. However, with this new urban/industrialized society also came increases of inequality not seen in previous agragian economies. A gap in which the richer get richer, and the impoverished become well, whats worse?
"With the expansion of the manufacturing economy, the number of skilled workers also increased" (Pg 170)
ReplyDeleteAs America was incorporating new western ideals into their society, their classical economy of agriculture and trade was changing too. More and more Americans were moving to industrial goods and learning a craft such as furniture making or textiles, while plantation and self sufficient farms were shirking. Skilled workers were in increasing demand during this time period. The desire to expand and fulfill the ideal of manifest destiny is what ultimately etched these new principles in the American economy. Times were changing and as modern ideas spread, America had the desire to lead the movement rather than follow the European values.
“Economic disruption and political upheavals helped increase the numbers of families and individuals seeking to emigrate” (Pg 181)
During this age of American Expansion, change also came within the culture of and image of America. As times grew harder in Europe misplaced citizens of other countries such as those who struggled to survive after the Irish potato famine, sought a new beginning on American soil. America was no longer the predominately white society that it was formed as. The original idea of the great American melting pot was finally forming in the westward lands of the Americas. This idea of immigration also related to the expansion and the changing labor market because as the desire for labor expanded, immigrants were generally given lower wage jobs and those previously settled in America were becoming the specialized skilled craftsmen that were creating the first American based Economy, no longer relying solely on imports.
“Inflation and banking reforms in the mid-1830s, including the hotly contested decision of Andrew Jackson’s administration not to recharter the Second Bank of the United States, were followed by critical shifts n international economic conditions that, as had happened in 1819, provoked a panic in 1837” (Clark, 177-178).
ReplyDelete-Clark is describing how the turn of the nineteenth century caused banks and small businesses to go out of business and to file for bankruptcy. The panic of 1837 occurred because banks were forced to refuse paper notes to buy land. As a result the panic lead to a five-year depression. This quote ties in with the themes we have been discussing this week because Americans were focusing on moving west, buying land, and making a new life for themselves. Since the travellers usually didn’t have any money, the lack of paper notes to buy land would make it very difficult for the general population of America to buy land.
“In New York City, where the foreign-born population already measured one-fifth of the total in 1820, the proportion reached 51 percent by 1855, with 70 percent of the city’s wage workers having been born abroad” (Clark, 182).
-Clark is describing how immigrants were taking over the workforce on the eastern seaboard in the mid-1800s. After the panic of 1837, where unemployment was at its highest it has been in America at this time, immigrants were coming in from other countries and taking the majority of jobs that were present in the states. Clark states that more that half of the population in New York City was native born and over 70 percent of the employed people in New York City were not even born in America. This quote ties in with how Americans were outraged by the immigrants coming in because they were taking all of the jobs away from the native citizens after a long period of turmoil of the panic of 1837.
“The deep effects of the Panic of 1837 and the depression that followed were felt in changes that altered the direction of Northern society when the economy began to recover”(Clark 179).
ReplyDeleteJust as the American society was thriving, they were hit with a crisis but were able to recover because of the small businesses. These businesses were important because the economy was reliant on both large companies and small family owned businesses. Clark goes on to discuss how the panic, in a way, helped to improve the American society because it lead to many triumphs that may not have occurred other wise.
"The contrasts between these circumstances of the poor and the vast wealth of the larger cities' richest citizens attracted the notices of writers skeptical of the directions urban life was taking"(Clark 195).
At this point the immigrants have come in search of work and there has now been class divisions. These divisions were established by the wage rates, housing and opportunities. This caused there to be an establishment of the middle class.
"Elements of a burgeoining labor movement challenged the undermining of the independence of craft workers and laborers"(175)
ReplyDeleteThe Labor movement boomed in the 1820's because there were many changes in the way things worked. There were more textile factories with more work for people to do. The United States although were still very heavily reliant on slavery and the economy of the the South. The work force was beginning to evolve and the types of jobs that were becoming available and the important jobs were starting to be in the factories.
"Women workers were notable participants in this upsurge of labor radicalism."(176)
In the 1820's women in the work field was big news. Women were no longer just stay at home mom's and house wives, they actually out 'Bringing home the bacon'. Women working was a start to modern day but women were still paid less than men were. This is still an issue today at some companies.
Danielle Quinones
ReplyDelete“Rates of employment of immigrants in shoemaking consequently remained lower than in textiles until after the Civil War, when the various stages of production came increasingly to be concentrated in factories.” (pg187)
This showed how unskilled work began outweighing skilled work. As expansion was happening so was modernization and the idea of having more productivity with more success and profit. Factories gave immigrants work and the more workers the more product.
"In other parts of Europe too economic disruption and political upheavals helped increase the number of families and individuals seeking to emigrate." (pg 181)
This showed how the immigrants started to come to America. Because of the number of immigrants that came because of their economic problems or want of a better life, labor shortages were no more in America. America's success began with the flow of new people seeking jobs.
1.“[The] introduction of batch production and division of labor” because “mastership and proprietorship were not the presumed aim of most craftsman; they were achievements to which only a minority could aspire”(Clark page 171).
ReplyDeleteThis relates to the assembly line production not only because the process is efficient but it de-skills the works. Production had been thought of in a whole new way. Farming was not necessity anymore, but the outlier. Most men and women wanted to work within the factory; therefore, a transition from rural to urban was set in place.
2.“Participation in productive labor as the principle basis for earning and for citizenship” was the ideology that stood behind labor(Clark page 174). Labor was such a force to mess with, that all the men in a labor unit would band together and create a union. These unions are seen in modern day America, meaning that labor is not just an idea. Labor is men and women working under conditions, dealing with management, and even transportation. Expansion was a driving force behind labor, and natives were the people who partook in the labor force.
“The tradition that apprentices or those hired for work would live, or at least take meals, with their employers did not disappear; it continued, especially in rural areas and small towns. But it became rarer in larger towns and manufacturing districts, where separate housing or boardinghouses for workers began to be common.” (Clark 171) This quote shows that working conditions were changing with the progressing times. The larger towns were moving faster in technology than the small rural towns. In the larger towns, customs of the past were becoming rarer than the small, rural towns. The smaller towns did not advance in technology because they were away from the advances and the progression of life. Clark is arguing that as the larger towns advanced in technology, the smaller towns stayed the same. Once the smaller towns advanced too, people would move further west to more rural and smaller towns. Also people moved from the smaller towns to the larger towns to work and not be in an apprenticeship.
ReplyDelete“Although there were exceptions, conflicts between native-born and immigrant communities in the 1840s and 1850s tended to arise not directly from employment issues, but over wider cultural, religious, and political differences.” (Clark 187) This shows that the new immigrants and the American citizens disagreed and did not get along very well. They disagreed about everything and could not work with each other. This led to conflicts among the two groups over every single thing and dislike of the other group. There were rivalries between the groups and they wanted two completely different things and ideas. Clark argues that these two groups of people could not live with one another due to the animosity to one another. This led to riots and they fought to have control of the cities.
"Mechanics' ideology had stressed the importance and virtue of those who were 'producers'. It viewed participation in productive labor as the basis for earning and for citizenship," (p. 172). As stated in this quote, mechanics believed that in order to earn a place in society, one had to work for a living. They did not approve of the people who profited due to others' labor. They viciously attacked those who gained wealth through these procedures and other indirect methods such as rental of property. These beliefs were backed from religious implications of the Second Great Awakening of the 1820's. Baltimore evangelicals embraced the producers ideology, and the laborers and mechanics used Biblical passages to back up their claims. This was a key ideology in the early 19th century.
ReplyDelete"The end of the 1830's and the early 1840's found the American economy once again in deep crisis," (p.177). Clark explains in this quote that after the initial boom of the early 1830's, the effects of this boom caused some pretty rough times in later years. Inflation and banking changes led to the Panic of 1837, similar to the Panic of 1819. When banks were forced to spend specie payments, things went south from there. Multiple banks collapsed. Mercantile firms as well as many small businesses were forced to close shop. All parts of the country were affected by this panic.
Northern men...desire to render productive what they have.... Southern men.... do not seek to render productive what they have"(206)
ReplyDeleteThis is yet another tension being built between the north an south. The north concentrates on the products in factories and the expansion of land and the southern states prefer to retain their rich productivity as they always had, his split in economic philosophy would cause further division between the north and south.
"...certain patterns of mercantile clerkships and comparable occupations also grew in number and importance in the 1840s and 1850s"(202).
This new emergence, especially in the north would cause the emergence of the middle class. This new working class would make slavery all but extinct in the north and cause further division. I would also cause a huge shift in population in the country, most people would reside in the north. The change would also effect the southern economy in that now the southern imports/exports would be chiefly handled by northern merchants.
"Waged employment occurred, moreover, with a legal framework that gave force to employers' efforts to instill and maintain work discipline" (173)
ReplyDeleteWith wages, new forms of crafts and jobs being more instilled in the 1820s and 30's the work force began to change. Women worked more often and received wages. Plus workers started carrying more about their working conditions. Attitudes of workers and employers started getting more rowdy. People began learning new crafts and relying more on what they could do best. The whole era improved parts of the work force but it created a huge step to make. Immigrants played a huge role in the economy at this time because they were willing to earn money and start a new living.
"Economic depressions in the United States generally produced a slowdown in the arrivals of immigrants from Europe" (181)
Although the Panic of 1837 caused closures to mills and shops, I believe that it was good that the States felt this panic. Everybody around the world wanted a new beginning and they saw the US as a place where they can go and accomplish their dreams. When people saw this happening to the States they didn’t want to come over. This helped the States because they weren’t overwhelmingly being populated by immigrants.
"An industrial world was emerging in which "mastership" and proprietorship were not the presumed aim of most craftsmen; they were achievements to which only a minority could aspire." (Pg. 171)
ReplyDeleteThis quote describes the factors that affected the production of the workers. Some of the factors that were stated was that as the number of skilled workers rose, their proportion in the manufacturing workforce was starting to decrease. Batch production and the division of labor also changed the patterns of work and the social relations of the skilled craftsmen.
"As the number of their workers increased, many employers too withdrew from the conception of the workplace as an extension of the master's household, and established residences separate from their workshops." (Pg. 172)
This quote describes the living arrangements of the workers in the manufacturing business. Some of the apprentices chose the option to live separately from their masters because they felt that they were mistreated which was known as the household discipline of the old system. Some masters in Massachusetts sometimes whipped their apprentices for poor work or infractions of their rules.
In other parts of Europe too economic disruption and political upheavals helped increase the number of families and individuals seeking to emigrate." (pg 181)
ReplyDeleteThe the 1800's saw the largest flow of immigrants to the united states. this cause much unrest with some citizens who became known as "Nativist" this is an ironic term for the majority of these nativist were of european discent who ancestors were that of the colonizing families. this was the start of what we still see today with strong protest and demonstation against immigration laws today.
"As the number of their workers increased, many employers too withdrew from the conception of the workplace as an extension of the master's household, and established residences separate from their workshops." (Pg. 172)
this shows the beginning of the cities we now see today. you start to remove the usually home and business to rather seperate creating the distinction between areas of residence in cities and financial and business disrticts.
“Northern men seek no enlargement of territory, but they desire to render productive what they already have…. Southern men seek additions to their territory, but they do not seek to render productive what they have.”
ReplyDeleteHenry Cary emphasize the different expansion and economical differences between the North and South. The North had more of a commercial trading system which expanded within the cities and to provide more jobs within those cities. Eventually this will result in some kind of population growth within the small and large Northern cities. The South were still holding slaves and were more focused on gaining land. The more land a slave owner would have, the more he earned, spreading the population out in rural areas in the South.
"Northern men...desire to render productive what they have.... Southern men.... do not seek to render productive what they have"
This only caused more tension between the Northern and Southern states because the North was all about big cities and factories for mass production which provided more job opportunities but for the south all they wanted was to keep their slaves so they could expand their crops and build a higher status within their society.
Not only did the two different kinds of elite groups - North and South - have different relationships to labor and politics, they also came to hold different notions of economic development." (Clark 205)
ReplyDeleteThrough these diffenrences in economic and political ideals we begin to see that our country is not as unified as it once was. These kind of differences set off the beginings of the civil war.
"In the united states as a whole in 1860, the richest 1 percent of the population owned 29 percent of the total personal wealth. In urban areas, however, the top 1 percent owned 45 percent of the total wealth." (Clark 193)
This shows the power of agrarian communities that layed outside, in the coutry rather than in the big city.
"Labor advocates saw factories and the companies that owned them as threats to the equality and independence the producer ideology valued. "The liberty our fathers sought/ the factory system sets at nought," wrote the Rhode Islander Thomas Man in his 1833 poem."
ReplyDelete-This quote exemplifies how the citizens felt that labor was one of the most important aspects of life in the new world. However, citizens emphasized the ideology of that factories and how they impacted society as a whole.
"Had the panic and depression of the late 1830's and early 1840's been confined to North America, it would not have had the profound effects it did on American society. Instead it was an international phenomenon, and so in addition to its influence domestically, the depression also altered the behavior of people in other countries toward the United States. Above all, it helped intensify the flow of immigrants who had been sailing to America in rising numbers, particularly since the 1910's.
-This quote is significant because it expresses how the depression not only affected the United States of America, but distorted the perceptions of America across the world. It is interesting to see how the behavior of immigrants was discussed as well when it came to joining America.
" the great middling interest class who worked with there hands, who lived and worked independently"(197)This passage shows the rise os a new middle class that was working to make ends meat in a more untraditional way than farming or un skilled labor. These New class citizens had there own form of skilled labor that either provided a service or they could work from there home.
ReplyDeleteSouthern towns remained fewer in numbers and and generally smaller in proportion " (202) What i got from this passage from what it reads seems like a southern united sates that did not have as much opportunity as the north. With the south maily being a slave held economy, legitament jobs were few. As opposed to in the north were all the immigrants were flooding into cities for unskilled labor
"Our government also, with parental care, has persuaded the Indians to forsake their savage life, and to adopt the habits and pursuits of civilized nations, while the charities of Christians and the labours of missionaries have sent to them the blessings of the gospel to purify and enlighten."
ReplyDeleteCatherine Beecher Stowe has a careful tone and seems to agree with the government's efforts to help the Indians, as if they were children who didn't know any better.
"Unless our general government interfere to protect these nations, as by solemn and oft-repeated treaties they are bound to do, nothing can save them."
What she is advocating is not a forceful removal but one with treaties and the such to ensure the Indians own survival.
“The growth of waged employment marked the passing, in the North, of most forms of a “unfree labor” system distinct from that of slavery in the South.” (Clark, 173)
ReplyDeleteClark continues to explain the rising differences between labor in the North and South. Specifically he notes a gold mine in northern Georgia that employed African Americans slaves as three-quarters of its workforce and the remaining fraction as white males. Here the only social distinction between workers was their ability to vote. Although both suffered the same treatment and grueling conditions, and social hierarchy was formed in the South due to race. It is obvious how the social differences between the southern and northern labor systems could polarize the two areas of the country.
On the same page Clark writes, “…Workers frequently depended on supplies from company-owned stores, which often debited them for goods against their credits for wages. These ‘truck’ payments from their stores both reduced the companies’ need for ready cash and provided a source of profit on the sale of goods.”
Essentially, truck payments allowed the company to have a monopoly on their employees and were typically more common in rural areas, especially in the mining and forestry business. Even though workers could easily become indebted to their employers, legally binding themselves to the company and therefore becoming enslaved, white males still considered themselves above the African American race. Employees could technically switch jobs, but only at the risk of losing their wages or being sued by the company. Although protests, strikes and unions helped to decrease this issue, a social hierarchy also formed in the north between employee and employer.
The North and South differed in many ways during this pre civil war era. America had suffered through the panic 1837 and the depression that started in the 1840's. THis had left the primarily agriculture based south very reliant on the North. THe south realized this and set out to make a change by expansion both economically and industrially. Expansion would benefit the south economically by providing them with increased resources and more land to for industry.
ReplyDelete" Historians have frequently argued that slavery itself was barrier to economic diversification in the south" (211).
Southerners were so focused on the use of slavery in plantations that their entire economy is based of the use of slave which leads to the great dependence they have for the north.
Another difference faced which added its due tension was the labor shortages in the North and South. Originally because of the free states in the North labor was all family or wage labor while in the south it was family or slave labor. This gave a big advantage to the South however, this advantage ceased during the 1830's. "As the Immigrant population grew the Northern labor shortage receded" (214). This was a huge benefit for many employers especially ones who's work was considered "unskilled" labor. More attracted to the North the immigrant surplus skipped over the south who responded by expanding plantation land to Texas and Arkansas in order to maintain economically competitive. However this dug a whole for the south as this brought a huge demand for slaves which supply couldn't meet.