Social Changes of the Market Revolution in the US (College Board AP® US History)

Summary

The “market revolution” changed the demographics and societal norms of the United States. As new technologies and innovations in transportation and communication transformed industries, the nature of work and daily life also shifted dramatically. 

The revolution led to the growth of cities, an increase in factory labor, and a rise in immigration. The social structure of the United States began to evolve, as economics and social class also affected how people saw themselves both inside and outside of the home. These changes had far-reaching effects on family dynamics, the roles of women, and the development of a distinct working class; setting the stage for the social and cultural development that would define the nation in the years to come.

A rising immigrant population in the US 

• During the first half of the 19^th century, large numbers of immigrants came to America

• Most immigrants came from Ireland and Germany 

  • 1840s: Irish people made up almost half the immigrants that came to the United States

  • 1845−1852: Irish escaping the Potato Famine immigrated to the US

  • Germans with farming skills were: 

    • leaving Germany after experiencing years of crop failures 

    • looking for a democratic way of life after a failed democratic revolution in 1848

• Immigration in the US expanded rapidly:

  • 1820s: 150,000 immigrants

  • 1830s: 600,000 immigrants

  • 1840s: 1.7 million immigrants

Where did immigrants settle?

• Since many Irish immigrants didn’t have much money, most of them stayed in the East Coast cities where they had first arrived in America

  • New York: by the 1840s, the Irish population of New York had grown rapidly

    • Many immigrants living in overcrowded areas like the Five Points, working in factories and on the docks

  • Boston: the 1840s and 1850s saw a large influx of Irish immigrants to Boston

    • The migrants were primarily working in manual labor jobs such as working on the railroads

  • Philadelphia: Irish immigrants began arriving in the 1830s, filling factory jobs

• Numerous German immigrants decided to live in midwestern cities such as

  • Milwaukee

  • St. Louis

  • Cincinnati

• Other immigrants went to communities west of the Appalachians along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to work as farmers 

Living conditions for immigrants

• Cities became larger and more densely populated as the number of immigrants increased

• Immigrants lived in crowded, dirty tenements 

• The tenement conditions were poor:

  • Only rooms that faced the street got any light 

  • There was little ventilation in the interior rooms

  • No indoor plumbing

  • Constructed using cheap materials

  • Often unsafe

  • Overcrowding led to the spread of diseases like cholera

• The standard of living rose for many native-born Americans who were members of the middle class in the North

  • These people included shopkeepers, merchants, doctors, and lawyers

  • The middle class saw an improvement in their standard of living due to the expansion of the economy which was fueled in part by the labor of immigrants working in factories

  • The middle class believed in the value of education and practiced temperance

• A small number of elite individuals owned businesses and controlled much of America’s wealth

Women in factories in the US

• Women worked in factories to support their families 

• They often had dangerous and repetitive jobs 

• Women had to work quickly, with few breaks, to complete one step in a manufacturing process

  • Men received more complex tasks to complete

• The amount of work a woman produced in a day determined how much she got paid

• Women’s working hours: 

  • Between 12 to 13 hours a day

  • Six days a week

• Women also did piece-work and received pay for each finished piece they made:

  • sewing garments

  • making paper flowers

  • rolling cigars