Lecture notes Chapter 8

Susan Warner’s privileged and comfortable life is suddenly destroyed when her father loses most of his fortune in the panic of 1837. As Susan searches for ways to help her family, she discovers the economic possibilities of novel writing. Her books attract readers who find her description of the period’s economic and social uncertainties convincing. This chapter focuses on the economic changes experienced by Americans in both urban and rural settings during the first few decades of the 1800s. As industrialization and a new market economy increased in scope and size, it exerted a tremendous impact on all facets of American life. Economic changes helped foster new forms of social and cultural behavior driven largely by the white middle class, particularly in American cities. Some families would find prosperity by seeking new land on the edges of American settlement in the West. This chapter concentrates on the economic and social transformations in the Northeast and the Midwest between 1820 and 1860. The chapter discusses the factors contributing to economic growth, particularly the importance of changes in transportation, and explores industrialization as a new means of production and as a source of social change. The chapter also shows that the process of industrialization was uneven, as old and new ways of production existed side by side. Several types of communities are discussed to show how each participated in economic growth. The ways in which different classes, ethnic groups, and races responded to new conditions and shared or failed to share in the benefits of growth are highlighted. The persistence of Revolutionary ideology is evident in working-class critiques of the new industrial world, while new middle-class ideals emerged as a response to changing economic and social conditions.