Market Revolution (1 dic 1790 anni – 1 gen 1860 anni)
Descrizione:
A period of American history where there was a drastic change in society and economy, known as the first Industrial Revolution in the country.
For example, previously the production of goods consisted of people working in their houses on a part of a particular product (such as a shoe), then shipping it to someone else's house for the next stage. The Market Revolution changed this system so that people worked in one place (ie factories), which made the whole process more efficient. These were the first factories, which famously had few regulations about them. This led to the creation of labor unions and workers' strikes that petitioned for better wages or hours, as well as protections of safety. The idea of congregated workers working by the clock struck fear into Thomas Jefferson's heart, who was nervous that this system infringed upon his idea of free yeoman farmers ruling the country.
Additionally, the methods of transportation vastly improved. Previously, the speed of land transportation was so terrible that it was almost always faster to transport by water to another town, even if they were fairly close to each other and the river took the boat on a winding course. The speed of land transport was improved with better roads, as well as the first railroads, which made land transport actually faster than by water. However, aquatic transport was improved by the invention of the steamboat, which could travel upstream easily, and the creation of many canal networks, such as the Erie Canal in 1825, which was so successful it was said that cities sprang up along it like plants from fertilizer.
This period of time saw many new inventions, such as the aforementioned factories, steamboat, and railroads. Other achievements included the telegraph, speeding up communications, or the cotton gin, which rampantly increased the demand for slavery in the South.
Finally, urbanization vastly increased. People began to congregate into larger cities (though by today's standards they were more like large towns).
The Second Great Awakening was likely caused by this phenomenon, as evangelicals could preach to large groups of people because of urbanization, and they could move quickly between areas thanks to the improved transportation.
Notably, most of these changes were happening in the North. While the South's economy was vastly changed by the invention of the cotton gin, they created fewer new roads, canals, railroads, or cities. Additionally, they did not experience the Second Great Awakening as strongly as the North.
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