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Life in the American North

1820-1860

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Urban & Industrial Growth

Small upper class

 

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Urban & Industrial Growth

Small upper class

  • Industrialists
  • Bankers & Merchants

 

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Urban & Industrial Growth

Small upper class

  • Industrialists
  • Bankers & Merchants

Large poor class

  • Horrid working conditions
  • Crowded, dirty living
  • Crime and disease

 

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Urban & Industrial Growth

Small upper class

  • Industrialists
  • Bankers & Merchants

Large poor class

  • Horrid working conditions
  • Crowded, dirty living
  • Crime and disease

Emergence of the middle class

  • Shopkeepers
  • Professionals
  • Farm mechanization

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Culture

Families: traditional  gender roles

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Culture

Families: traditional gender roles

Women at work (“Lowell Girls”)

  • Unmarried but well-supervised
  • Cheap

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Culture

Families: traditional gender roles

Women at work (“Lowell Girls”)

  • Unmarried but well-supervised
  • Cheap

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Children

  • Growth of public schools
  • Work at young age

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Culture

Families: traditional gender roles

Women at work (“Lowell Girls”)

  • Unmarried but well-supervised
  • Cheap

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Children

  • Growth of public schools
  • Work at young age

Free blacks

  • No voting rights
  • Few jobs available
  • Little education opp.

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Immigration

1830-1840:     600,000 immigrants

1840-1860:  4,200,000 immigrants

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Irish

  • Farm background
    • Potato famine
  • Low-paying urban work
  • Catholicism

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Irish

  • Farm background
    • Potato famine
  • Low-paying urban work
  • Catholicism

Germans & Scandinavians

  • Economic & political reasons
    • More skilled
  • Settlement in Great Lakes region

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Nativism: anti-immigrant movement

  • Resented differences (language, customs, religion)

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Nativism: anti-immigrant movement

  • Resented differences (language, customs, religion)
  • Labor competition

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Nativism: anti-immigrant movement

  • Resented differences (language, customs, religion)
  • Labor competition
  • Urban overcrowding

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Nativism: anti-immigrant movement

  • Resented differences (language, customs, religion)
  • Labor competition
  • Urban overcrowding
  • American Party (Know-Nothings)
    • Favored status for native-born Americans
    • Use of violence and intimidation