Sean Wilentz And The Market Revolution

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The Market Revolution was one of the most important changes of American society before 1850. It was the adoption of a nation wide commercial change that would later alter all the different societies within the country. Wilentz described this period as the development of a market based economy and the dramatic changes in America’s behavior during the first half of the nineteenth century. Collectively, Sean Wilentz wrote about how historians argued about the topic of the market revolution and how each part of the country was affected by this time period and the changes that resulted. Wilentz’s focus is primarily on the development of the northeast. The northeast grew economically at such an alarming rate because of the millions of poor …show more content…

Since the rise of capitalism was underway, everything was being mass produced for a affordable price. This new abundance made the imbalance in economic classes significantly worse. Only big business manufacturers and merchants, lawyers, successful farmers, and other professionals dominated the locus of production, which lead to the decline of household needs as a source of production. Clothing was no longer being made at home, and food was being mass produced and sent to small shops. While this made some things easier for the average household, it took away much of the lower class’s means of …show more content…

However, studies of migration suggest that the rural northwesterners who could not make it during the age of commercialization in the northeast took off west in order to produce enough for their families. Thousands of immigrants from Ireland and Germany flocked to the United States and started trying to reconstruct the yeoman communities that slowly evaporated. The westward expansion faced many challenges in their efforts to settle, firstly was the removal of the Native Americans and then when the land was finally cleared, capitalist speculators were eager to convert the land to commercial development. Part of the land was released for market development and as commercial status rose, farmers were forced to settle and be part of the capitalistic society that was unfolding before

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