The Market Revolution

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The rising of the market economy occurred between the end of the War of 1812 and the Civil War. It was a time of uprising for Americans of the United States. There were changes in the vast improvement in transportation, the growth of factories, and there were important developments of new technology that increased agricultural production. Americans advanced into new areas and produced an agricultural surplus that went to market farming. In the nineteenth century, manufacturing was the most important factor because it brought about industrialization. The expansion of both economic and technological advances also brought about the changes in American society. The growth and eventual dominance of market capitalism in the United States changed the lives of all Americans fundamentally. The Market Revolution and the rise of market capitalism influenced the working class because of new inventions, like the cotton gin, and it encouraged farmers to raise more cotton in the South, and brought people in the North greater opportunities in the work field.

With distant but profitable markets now attainable, farmers and manufactures now produced for the market rather than for their own personal consumption. Farmers, craftsmen, and entrepreneurs were brought considerable opportunities because of the Market Revolution. The construction of new roads and canals allowed people to exchange goods in distant markets with complete strangers. Railroads allowed people and goods to move faster and cheaper. The steamboat, which was invented by Robert Fulton in 1807, made it possible for two-way traffic to move swiftly on the nations new waterways. With the steamboat, this made it easier for farmers in the South to easily transport cotton, rice and sugar...

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... tend to the machinery or to the cloth in the factories.

The antebellum era was a period that had great political change. During this period there were also technological and economic innovation. The Industrial Revolution had produced new inventions and methods of production. American inventors helped to transform the United States economy with new innovations of their own. This rapid evolution of manufacturing and upgraded farming had an extreme effect on society in America. This change is something that historians refer to as the Market Revolution. It is shown in this paper that the lives of the working class changed significantly. The Market Revolution and the rise of market capitalism influenced the working class by bringing them greater opportunities in the work field in the North, and new inventions encouraged planters to raise more cotton in the South.

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