4.5 Market Revolution

Source 1

April 4, 1839

Dear Sabrina,

. . . You have been informed I suppose that I am a factory girl and that I am at Nashua and I have wished you were here too but I suppose your mother would think it far beneith [sic] your dignity to be a factory girl. Their [sic] are very many young Ladies at work in the factories that have given up milinary [sic] d[r]essmaking & s[c]hool keeping for to work in the mill. But I would not advise any one to do it for I was so sick of it at first I wished a factory had never been thought of. But the longer I stay the better I like and I think nothing unforsene [sic] calls me away I shall stay here till fall. . . . If you should have any idea of working in the factory I will do the best I can to get you a place with us. We have an excellent boarding place. We board with a family with whome [sic] I was acquainted with when I lived at Haverhill. Pleas [sic] write us soon and believe your affectionate Aunt

M[alenda] M. Edwards

Source: Letter written by a factory worker (1839)

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Source 2

And, whereas, we believe that those who have preceded us have been, we know that ourselves are, and that our successors are liable to be, assailed in various ways by the wicked and unprincipled, and cheated out of just, legal and constitutional dues, by ungenerous, illiberal and avaricious capitalists,—and convinced that "union is power," and that as the unprincipled consult and advise, that they may the more easily decoy and seduce—and the capitalists that they may the more effectually defraud—we (being the weaker,) claim it to be our undeniable right, to associate and concentrate our power, that we may the more successfully repel their equally base and iniquitous aggressions.

Source: Constitution of the Lowell Factory Girls Association (1836)

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Source 3

Note: Cotton gin is invented in 1798

Image Source: Bill of Rights Institute

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Source 4

The chief source of the commercial and agricultural prosperity of Rochester is the Erie canal, as that village is made the emporium of the rich agricultural districts bordering on the Genesee river; and its capitalists both send out and import a vast quantity of wheat, flour, beef, and pork, pot and pearl ashes, whiskey, and so on. In return for these articles, Rochester supplies the adjacent country with all kinds of manufactured goods, which are carried up by the canal from New York. In proportion as the soil is brought into cultivation, or subdued, to use the local phrase, the consumers will become more numerous, and their means more extensive. Thus the demands of the surrounding country must go on augmenting rapidly, and along with them, both the imports and exports of every kind will increase in pro portion. There were in 1826 no less than 160 canal boats, drawn by 882 horses, owned by persons actually residing in the village, besides numberless others belonging to non-residents.

Source: British traveler (1829)

Source: American Yawp Reader

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Source 5

This Indenture witnesseth, that James Long, of the township of Lower Makesfield, in the county of Bucks, son of Francis Long, by and with the consent of his father, as testified by his signing as a witness herento, hath put himself, and by these presents doth voluntarily, and of his own free will and accord, put himself apprentice to Samuel Downs, of the same place, Blacksmith, to learn his art, trade and mystery, and after the manner of an apprentice to serve him from the day of the date hereof, for and during the full end and term of four years and two months, next ensuing. During all which term the apprentice his said master faithfully shall serve, his secrets keep, his lawful commands every where gladly obey. He shall do no damage to his said master, nor see it done by others, without letting or giving notice thereof to his said master. He shall not waste his said master’s goods, nor lend them unlawfully to any. With his own goods, nor the goods of others, without license from his said master, he shall neither buy nor sell. He shall not absent himself day nor night from his said master’s service without his leave; nor haunt ale-houses, taverns or play-houses; but in all things behave himself as a faithful apprentice ought to do, during the said term.

Source: Blacksmith Apprentice Contract (1836)

Source: American Yawp Reader

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Source 6

Having . . . considered the advantages which canals will produce in point of wealth to individuals and the nation, I will now consider their importance to the union and their political consequences.. . . Numerous have been the speculations on the duration of our union, and intrigues have been practiced to sever the western from the eastern states. The opinion endeavored to be inculcated, was, that the inhabitants beyond the mountains were cut off from the market of the Atlantic states; that consequently they had a separate interest, and should use their resources to open a communication to a market of their own; that remote from the seat of government they could not enjoy their portion of advantages arising from the union, and that sooner or later they must separate and govern for themselves.

. . . What stronger bonds of union can be invented than those which enable each individual to transport the produce of his industry 1,200 miles for 60 cents the hundred weight? Here then is a certain method of securing the union of the states, and of rendering it as lasting as the continent we inhabit.

Source: Robert Fulton, inventor, to Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, letter, 1807.

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Source 7

As an instance of the rapid manner in which travelers get along, I may instance Mrs. Lloyd's trip to Richmond in Virginia. She left Philadelphia at six o'clock A.M. . . . and arrived in the evening of the second day from Philadelphia at the city of Richmond, thus traversing without fatigue a distance of five hundred miles in a little more than thirty-six hours!

Undoubtedly, a traveler will be able to go from Baltimore to New York by the light of a summer's sun when the locomotives shall be placed on the Amboy [New Jersey] railroad. An invitation to a three-o'clock dinner in New York or Philadelphia may now be complied with by the individual who takes his breakfast in either of these cities; and with the loco[motive], when established, he may start from one city in the morning and return again in the evening from a visit to the other.

Source: Samuel Breck, member of the Pennsylvania Senate and former member of the United States House of Representatives, journal entry, 1833.

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Source 8

Source: AP Classroom

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