#301 Market Revolution

Holley Knife Company, Lakeville, CT, established 1844.

Pair and share:

• What are some ways the Market Revolution was likely to influence life in Salisbury, Connecticut?
• Identify two examples your own life has been impacted by the consequences of the Market Revolution.

Brief overview:

• North and South developed differently in years from 1800-1860:
  • North: urbanization, early industrialization, expansion of transport networks, and systems of credit; western farmers produced for urban centers
  • South became more committed to plantation-based agriculture, especially production of highly profitable cotton, a portion of which found its way to Northern textile factories

• Market Revolution brought important social changes to the North:
  • Growth of cities
    • From New York in the east to Cincinnati and Chicago in the northwest.
  • New work opportunities
    • Especially important change for young women who had previously been expected to stay at home.
  • Faster modes of transportation and communication
    • Canals (built largely 1800s-20s), railways (1830s-90s), and the telegraph (from the 1830s)
  • Arrival of immigrants
    • Irish Catholics came in the largest numbers and provoked anxiety among some “nativist” Protestants
  • New waves of:
    • Religious revival: The Second Great Awakening reached its height in 1820s-30s.
    • Social reform: Labor, temperance, women’s rights, and eventually abolitionism.
    • Philosophical inquiry: Transcendentalist writers like Emerson and Thoreau (1820s-40s).

Cincinnati, 1800

Cincinnati, 1850

Chicago, 1820

Chicago, 1860

Guided research:

• Groups:
  • Group A: Local iron ore mining
  • Group B: Local industry
  • Group C: Transportation
  • Group D: Immigration to Connecticut
  • Group E: Social movements
• Create a joint Google Doc (copy this template) with your team members to locate resources on your assigned topic from the library’s Cemetery Project LibGuide.