Reference no: EM133333844

Question: This forum focuses on the changing social and economic climate prior to the Civil War, with a focus on the northern states. What were the important changes that were taking place in the North? How were communities affected by them? Let's consider economic, demographic and cultural changes. Can you compare those changes with what was taking place in the South?

Case Study: Northern Economy and Culture

While there are many reasons for change in any given historical period, the role of economics is often considered to be among the most influential forces. The first half of the nineteenth century saw enormous change in both the northern and southern sections of the country and much of this change will be based on economic development. Both sections were increasingly tied into an expanding commercial economy, but these commercial connections would serve to increasingly separate, rather than unite, the two regions. As a result, two distinct regional cultures developed in the United States between 1800 to 1850. The different values and goals of these regions would ultimately challenge each other over whose values and goals the nation would take and this confrontation would ultimately lead to the Civil War.

Transportation development was central to spreading a commercial economy. After the failures of the War of 1812 the federal government recognized the need for a greater focus on developing a national infrastructure. The first National Road was begun in 1811, ultimately connecting the seaports of Maryland to the Ohio River. Similar turnpikes were created on the state level in many northern states. Canal development was even more important. The Erie Canal is the most dramatic and influential of these projects. 363 miles in length, the Erie Canal allowed people and goods to move back and forth from the Great Lakes and upper state New York to New York City. The University of Rochester offers a nice brief history and portrait of the Erie Canal. Thousands of miles of canals were created in states during the 1820s and 30s. The first railroad lines also started to appear in the late 1820s. Ultimately, the railroad would dominate the transportation industry, with tens of thousands of miles of track laid before the Civil War. It should be noted that most of these transportation lines moved east to west and not north to south. Therefore, economies, communities and people tended to be linked along an east-west axis that facilitated a geographic sectionalism between the north and south.

Transportation improvements made commercial production a more viable economic option for Americans. For the purposes of this essay, consider commercial activity to be the production of goods for distant, rather than local markets. Northern farmers and artisans who lived near transportation systems were important participants in this development, but it was merchants and other investors who provided some of the most important change as they began to invest capital in factories oriented toward large-scale production. The first factory workers were typically young women sent by farming families to secure extra income for the family. But as the factory system grew, its effect on male artisans was also felt. Artisan production that once featured a semi-cooperative, family and local community orientation now began to change. Under the pre- industrial system an artisan would teach his trade to an apprentice and journeyman. These helpers would learn the craft so they could eventually become independent craftsmen themselves and typically ate and lived with the craftsman's family. Work relationships under the factory system became more anonymous and less cooperative. Instead of young men learning a trade under an expert's guidance, the factory system created employer-employee relationships with little opportunity for learning enough skills to become an independent craftsman. This increasingly left employees vulnerable to the success and whims of their employer.

These changes obviously left an impact on communities. Communities along major transportation lines such as the Erie Canal grew tremendously in this period. Distinct neighborhoods organized along income lines began to develop, with the poorest factory workers living near the factories themselves, and better paid workers and factory owners living on the outskirts. Although class is a difficult classification to measure, you could say that middle and working class communities and cultures began to develop from the 1820s to 1840s in northern cities. While working class culture and communities are important to examine, note the focus on the new middle class ethic found in your text. With the grittiness of the industrial system making inner cities less desirable, middle class people seemed to increasingly seek shelter within their neighborhoods and homes.

Family relationships also seem to change in this period. Under the pre-industrial system, men were often at or near the home during the course of the day. They often assumed the role of child discipliner and young boys would spend much of the day learning the skills of their fathers. With the industrial system men spent most of the day away from the home and women's role as mother became more important. At the same time for middle class families earning decent incomes and who could now afford to purchase goods, the economic role of women became less important. Thus, for middle class women the role of homemaker and mother begins to become the focus of activity. Much of this activity seems to focus on making the home a refuge from the rough edges of industrial towns and to provide a nurturing environment for children to be reared in.

The emphasis on women as nurturers, combined with a lessened economic importance helped combine to create one of the United States' largest religious revival, the Second Great Awakening. The Second Great Awakening seemed to have its most profound effects on areas affected by the new commercial economy. Towns situated along the Erie Canal saw so many revivals that they were called "the burnt-over district." Middle class wives whose husbands worked away from home seemed to be the backbone of this revival. The Awakening's emphasis on the ability to be reborn and the importance of all souls helped lead middle class women away from their homes and into their communities in an attempt to create a better environment for their Christian ideals. You will read about the many activities that take place that are oriented toward social reform such as temperance, anti-prostitution, poor relief and asylums, with many of these activities featuring women in important roles.

Women were traditionally discouraged from participating in political activity and this was particularly the case in the rough and tumble world of the Jacksonian political era. But when women began to organize in opposition to slavery as part of their reform efforts they began to step into the political world of men. Angelina and Sarah Grimke were sisters who became spokeswomen for the American Antislavery Society. However as their reputation and influence grew, they were increasingly confronted by angry mobs and newspapers that challenged the idea that women had the right to speak on politically sensitive matters such as slavery. The comparisons between the second class status of African Americans and women in general were becoming obvious and this politically charged atmosphere helped lead to the origins of what might be considered the Women's Rights movement in the United States. Forced to sit behind a curtain at the World Antislavery Convention because they were women, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott vowed to organize a women's rights convention. This convention, known as Seneca Falls, was held in 1848 in upper- state New York and spoke to a number of issues concerning women in this period. Read about the convention and its platform and consider how the changes in the North were leading to an increasing awareness of rights and the ability to organize political activism. You can also get more information on Seneca Falls and the early women's rights movement