American Economic Growth2

American Economic Growth

Erie Canal

http://www.bethpagecommunity.com/Schools/socialst/k5/eriedbq.ht m

B&O Railroad

http://www.american-rails.com/baltimore-and-ohio.html

New mentality Agriculture for SALE rather than for sustenance “Every man seems born with some steam engine within him, driving him into an incessant and restless activity of body and mind… every head and every hand busy, with a thousand projects, and only one holiday—the 4th of July— working from morning till night with the most intense industry.”

Mechanization Labor shortages lead to machinery Rapid spread/democratization of education; innovation and production Literacy in white population 38.4% of white kids in school!

Education Moving toward public education Economic value; social value Good habits—discipline and concentration

Industry Centralization of labor Family based “putting out” Factories

Transportation brings about reorganization Textile mills as leading industry Lowell Mills

Immigration, 1840-1860