Chapter 9 - Transforming the Economy, 1800-1860 Flashcards
(32 cards)
Industrial Revolution
a burst of major inventions and expansions in industry
division of labor
the concept of dividing up work into specific jobs (like an assembly line)
mineral-based economy
an economy built on coal and metal
mechanic
a skilled craftsman who invents and improves tools for industry
Samuel Slater
reproduced Richard Arkwright’s British spinning cotton machinery in America
Francis Cabot Lowell
Boston merchant who toured British textile mills and secretly made drawings of their machinery
Paul Moody
copied and improved designs of British textile machines
Waltham-Lowell System
a labor system that took young women from farm families and had them work in mills under strict moral supervision
Sellars family
Philadelphia-area family of inventors responsible for many technological advancements
Franklin Institute
scientific education organization founded by the Sellars family and other mechanics
machine tools
machines that make parts for other machines
Eli Whitney
inventor of the cotton gin
artisan republicanism
ideology of production based on liberty and equality
unions
organizations formed by workers to bargain for better working conditions under their master-artisan employers
National Trades Union
formed by Boston and Philadelphia unions; first regional union of different trades
labor theory of value
notion that the price of goods should reflect the labor required to make them and that most of the profits should go to the producers (not factory owners, middlemen, or storekeepers)
Market Revolution
the dramatic increase between 1820 and 1850 in the exchange of goods and services in market transactions
Erie Canal
a 364-mile waterway connecting the Hudson River and Lake Erie
steamboat
industrial age boat that ran on steam
Post Office Act of 1792
established over 8,000 post offices by 1830
Cyrus McCormick
inventor and founder of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company
middle class
the social product of increased commerce
self-made man
a central theme during the Industrial Revolution, suggesting that a respectable man could rise from poverty to greatness
Benevolent Empire
a broad-ranging campaign of moral and institutional reforms inspired by evangelical Christian ideals
