Factory System, Immigration, and Nativism

Samuel Slater

Established first factory in U.S.

Pawtucket, R. I. in 1793

Textile mill supplied by greater supply of cotton

Boston Manufacturing Co. in 1812 by Robert Lowell in Waltham MA

Hired young, rural, and single women and provided boarding houses

Workers were paid anywhere from $2.40 to $3.20 a week: extra income

Machines were noisy and unsafe

Laborers worked 12 hours, six days per week

Lowell System

1850

Early Textile Loom

Cheap labor

Women usually worked 2-5 years and then left to marry

By the 1830’s there was a drive to increase textile production

As Lowell girls leave Irish immigrants and children were hired to work.

Lowell Boarding Houses

What was boardinghouse life like?

Irish Immigrant Girls at Lowell

Work is redefinedGoverned by the

clock (bells)Monotonous routineLabor subject to the

“iron law of wages”Work is steady; year

long

Lowell Mills

New EnglandTextile

Centers:1830s

New England Dominance in Textiles

Changing Occupation Distributions:1820 - 1860

The gap between rich and poor was widening!

American Revolution:45% of all wealth in the top 10% of the population.

1845 Boston: top 4% owned over 65% of the wealth.

1860 Philadelphia: top 1% owned over 50% of the wealth.

Economic opportunity located in the West

Economic Opportunity and Distribution of Wealth

US In 1845

First Wave of Immigration:1820 - 1860

Early Irish Immigration

Single men and women

Dug the Erie Canal Laid the rails of the

new railroad network

Cleared swamps for new cotton and rice plantations

Were considered expendable

Later Irish Immigration

In 1845, a blight afflicted the potato crop of Ireland

As a result, millions of people starved, and were forced to eat the grass on their fields

“Famine” Irish flee from the Potato Famine: 1.8 million Irish came to North America from 1845-1855

Flock to East coast cities such as New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, making the cities overcrowded

Illiterate and unskilled

Immigrant Neighborhoods in New York

Lived in ghettoes or ethnic neighborhoods such as the notorious ‘Five Points’

It was overcrowded, often two hundred immigrants would crowd into a single poorly built building

The neighborhood had numerous bars where fighting was common; prostitution, gangs and gambling

Violence and poor sewage systems

Another political cartoon against the Irish

From 1846 to 1854, over 1 million Germans came to

Germans came to America for political reasons and economic reasons.◦ Escape the failed

Revolution of 1848◦ Economic Opportunity

German Immigrants

German Immigrants:◦ Lutheran◦ Catholic (Bavarians)◦ Jewish

Skilled workers◦ Farmers◦ Brewmasters◦ Artisans

Arrived in family units

German Immigrants

Adolphus Busch

Moved to the Midwest:◦ Cincinnati◦ Chicago◦ Milwaukee

Educated Established German

communities◦ Newspapers◦ Festivals◦ Schools◦ Businesses

German Immigrants

Kindergarten Foods:

◦ Cheeses◦ Frankfurter (and other

sausages)◦ Wines◦ New Biers

Music Celebrations

◦ Oktoberfest◦ Christmas ◦ Christmas Trees (“O

Tannenbaum!”)

German Immigration

Resistance to Immigration and immigrants◦ Roman Catholic◦ Alcoholism◦ Domestic abuse and

violence◦ Crime, prostitution, and

gambling◦ Political corruption

Stereotypes: Irish: “Bridgets” and “Paddies”

Discrimination◦ NINA (“No Irish Need

Apply”◦ Segregated

Nativism

Anti-Immigrant Violence

Burning churches and schools

Philadelphia Nativist riots in 1844

Burning a convent in Boston

Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk published in 1836: ◦ debauchery in a

convent◦ Bestseller

Baltimore riots of 1856 Rise of the “Know-

Nothing” Party

Know-Nothing Party:“The Supreme Order of the Star-Spangled Banner”—secret society

Rise of the American Party

Strongest in the 1840s and 1850s

Platform:◦ Limit immigration from

Catholic countries◦ Ban Catholics from political

office◦ 21 year wait for citizenship◦ English only◦ Ban sale of alcohol◦ Ban Catholic migration to

the West Won electoral votes in the

election of 1856 Disappear in 1860

Know-Nothing Party

American Population Centers in 1820

American Population Centers in 1860