The Market Revolution marked a period of time in the nineteenth century when new practices and ideas in America began taking shape, creating a lasting impact on the nation's economy. A shift in commerce allowed Americans to experience buying and selling goods at a national level, rather than relying on self-made products and goods. Although the Market Revolution may be seen as a movement that did little to change American society in terms of political and social policies, it proved to be an era where accessible transportation, an increase in population, and the idea of changing women's role in society marked a transformation in America. Prior to the nineteenth century, trading took place face-to-face between people in local towns …show more content…
For many, America has becoming a refuge for immigrants fleeing social, political, or economic struggles. Countries that are incapable of providing their citizens with the means necessary to fulfill a stable life tend to flee toward America. Today, the nation acts almost as a dumping ground for foreigners. As well, many locations in the United States have become ghost towns, whereas major cities are becoming overpopulated. People are migrating into areas where they see future economic opportunity. In looking at this, a great comparison can be seen between the population boom of the Market Revolution and the population of today's nation. In the early 1800's, women were seeking jobs either inside or outside of the home as they took upon the role of providing for their families. While men were normally the main breadwinners of middle and upper-class families, women still made an impact, either by sewing, knitting, or routinely assisting their husband with agricultural labor or privately owned businesses. By the mid nineteenth-century, however, the role of women drastically changed into what is known as the Cult of Domesticity. Instead of assisting with family income, women played a limited role in
The Market Revolution can be defined as the economic transformation that took place in America during
There are many key elements of the market revolution. During the early nineteenth century, large economic changes known as the market revolution forever changed America. What triggered these massive changes was new innovations in communication and transportation. During the colonial times, technology was not very advanced, there were not any canals, ships were not very fast and all manufactured goods were created by hand. Many farm families in the 1800s were not bound to the marketplace and just made the most of what they needed to live on at home.
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.
“The Pastoralization of Housework” by Jeanne Boydston is a publication that demonstrates women’s roles during the antebellum period. Women during this period began to embrace housework and believed their responsibilities were to maintain the home, and produce contented and healthy families. As things progressed, housework no longer held monetary value, and as a result, womanhood slowly shifted from worker to nurturer. The roles that women once held in the household were slowly diminishing as the economy became more industrialized. Despite the discomfort of men, when women realized they could find decent employment, still maintain their household and have extra income, women began exploring their option.
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the Market Revolution was famous in America. It was an economic revolution marked by industrialization, improvements in transportation, and expansion. People had difficulties selling their production because of the poor transportation and many family lived in the self-sufficient mode. However, this problem was solved because of the invention of the steamboat,
The market revolution was a time of change, liberation, growth, and of course American ingenuity. This new kind of revolution brought about many changes in the lives of Americans everywhere. New technology from the steamboat to the telegraph connected the country in a new way. The emergence of factories (and the factory system) brought the growth of commerce, specialization of products, and many jobs to a rapidly growing nation. The market revolution benefited our country by impacting the social groups of the slaves and the middle class, generating a change in laws of the economy and warranting the redefining of freedom.
The Market Revolution was a drastic change in the economy of the 19th century. The Marketplace expanded exponentially. This marked the most significant change in American communities. This era was a time of great technological and economic innovation. The Industrial Revolution was taking off and American inventors were transforming the U.S. economy with new innovations and technological advances. The rapid development of manufacturing and improved farming had great impact on American
The Market Revolution took place between 1800-1840. It was described as a time when new forms of transportation connected different parts of the country resulting in an expansion of the marketplace. Although becoming connected mainly defined this time period, it also represented a great amount of people becoming disconnected. People began to disconnect themselves religiously, socially, and individually. It seemed that during this time period, people became more independent from the “norm.”
The evangelical movement largely contributed to this idea that women were “suited to serve as dispensers of love, comfort, and and moral instruction to husbands and children” (U.S.: A Narrative History, 230). Previously, women were seen as very sinful, but this new womanhood ideal saw women as more religious and morally stronger than men (230). Because of this, the woman’s sphere shifted to be solely focused on domestic duties to ensure the household was as prosperous as possible. Middle class and elite women began devoting more time to these domestic duties as their homes were seen as “havens of moral virtue” while lower class women were still attempting to break into the workforce (231). Furthermore, the development of a new structure and attitude regarding home life gave way to the foundation of the modern family, with delaying marriage to ensure that a husband could financially support his wife and decreasing family size to focus on the success of each child more closely (231). The cult of domesticity, in conjunction with the rise of factories and decline of household manufacturing, changed the meaning of womanhood and further separated the workplace and the home, which created a rift between men and
In American in the 1800s many significant events were going on, but the most important was the Market Revolution. This was a time where the economy expanded, a shift from subsistence farming to surplus farming occurred, and a large-scale production of crops through huge factories and plantations. The Second Great Awakening, a series of religious revivals was happening at this time also from the 1800 to 1850; it sparked as a reaction against the Market Revolution (Davis). This period marked the peak years of the market revolution that took the country from fringe of the world economy to the brink of commercial greatness (Johnson and Wilentz,
An outburst in growth of America’s big city population, places of 100,000 people or more jumped from about 6 million to 14 million between 1880 and 1900, cities had become a world of newcomers (551). America evolved into a land of factories, corporate enterprises, and industrial workers, and, the surge in immigration supplied their workers. In the latter half of the 19th century, continued industrialization and urbanization sparked an increasing demand for a larger and cheaper labor force. The country's transformation from a rural agricultural society into an urban industrial nation attracted immigrants worldwide. As free land and free labor disappeared and as capitalists dominated the economy, dramatic social, political, and economic tensions were created.
Before the market revolution, American families were producing all of the goods they need in their homes or local communities. It was expensive to create goods, so people depended on trade. Since the market revolution, there has been a change in transportation, industrialization, and urbanization. Market Revolution was beneficial to every region in the states. The northeastern states became more industrialized and urban, the southern states gained more cotton and slavery benefits, and the western states became the new nation and improved in transportation and communication.
The Market Revolution, from 1790 to 1840, inspired by the developments of commercialization, industrialization and the advances in transportation altered the lives of Americans in areas such as labor, transportation, commercialization, family life, new values and the new middle class. American entrepreneurs with new technology created an entirely different economy which shaped and affected all other aspects of society. The Market Revolution gradually shifted society from a rural agricultural lifestyle to the focus of work in the urban cities as it is today. While the vast majority of American citizens participated in agriculture and farming in 1800, the percent of farmers working in 2013 is less than 1 percent: this is the everlasting effect of the Market Revolution.
During the Great War and the huge amount of men that were deployed created the need to employ women in hospitals, factories, and offices. When the war ended the women would return home or do more traditional jobs such as teaching or shop work. “Also in the 1920s the number of women working raised by fifty percent.” They usually didn’t work if they were married because they were still sticking to the role of being stay at home moms while the husband worked and took care of the family financially. But among the single women there was a huge increase in employment. “Women were still not getting payed near as equally as men and were expected to quit their jobs if they married or pregnant.” Although women were still not getting payed as equally it was still a huge change for the women's
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the economic role of women was mostly focused around the family economy. How women worked to support their family depended on the kind of household they came from. In farm households they would usually run the farm and do farm work with the smaller children while their husband and older children went off to find work elsewhere so that they could make more money. In artisan households the women would usually sell their husband’s manufactured goods or open a small shop of their own. They would also be in charge of household finances and the entire business while their husband was away, this was also the case in merchant households. Also in peasant households, if the family had enough land to support themselves,