The Opening of America

1815-1840

Need for Expansion of Markets• U.S. had been tied to international trade;

when it suffered (as in War of 1812), so did the U.S. economy

• European wars of 1790s (French Revolution) and 1800s (Napoleonic Wars) interfered with American exports

• Most Americans were rural and self-sufficient; couldn’t absorb any increase in American manufacturing

Stimuli to Development

• Embargo of 1807 stimulated American industry

• War itself increased demand for manufactured goods

• After Napoleon’s defeat, European capital flooded America looking for opportunities

A post-War of 1812 program of economic centralization, designed to promote internal

economic development, was pushed by a group of aggressive young Republican nationalists.

The economic program included all of the following EXCEPT:

A. Funding the war debt

B. A protective tariff

C. A national bank

D. Federal subsidies for public works programs

John Marshall’s Supreme Court decisions sought to promote

American enterprise by all of the following methods EXCEPT:

a. upholding private contracts

b. blocking state interference with private property

c. ruling that Indian lands must be turned over to white developers

d. creating a climate of business confidence

McCulloch v Maryland

• Facts - Maryland required all banks not chartered by Maryland (ie the National Bank) to pay an annual tax

• Issues:

– Was the National Bank constitutional?

– Did Maryland have the power to tax it?

McCulloch v Maryland

• Supreme Court endorsed a “loose” interpretation of the Constitution, recognizing the doctrine of implied powers

• Supremacy clause - although the national government is limited, it is supreme in its sphere of action

• “The power to tax is the power to destroy”

Gibbons v Ogden

• Commerce clause interpreted broadly

• Congress is supreme in all aspects of interstate commerce

Fletcher v Peck

• Yazoo land fraud• Protection of private

property and contracts from legislative interference

Dartmouth College v Woodward

• Corporate charters are a contract, and cannot be disturbed by the legislature

• All these decisions created a climate of business confidence

What was the most basic reason so many Americans moved so much,

especially to the new western lands?

1. Greater political freedom

2. Improved economic opportunity

3. More comfortable social relationships

4. A sense of providential destiny

The phase of the Industrial Revolution that occurred in the early 1800s featured each of the

following EXCEPT:

1. the rise of an American system of manufacturing based on machine tools and interchangeable parts

2. manufacturing surpassing agriculture as the most important economic sector

3. active government support for economic growth through both legislation and court rulings4. the rise of an industrial labor force, initially mostly rural

women

Which of the following groups purchased the greatest amount of

western land?

1. Industrialists

2. Small farmers

3. Squatters

4. Speculators

Which of the following proved to be the breakthrough necessary to push

cotton production to the center of the American agricultural stage?

1. Extensive railroad development

2. Development of vast overseas markets

3. Federal subsidies of cotton production

4. Invention of the cotton gin

All of the following help account for the shift to factory production except:

1. A growing, accessible market

2. The availability of investment capital and credit

3. The availability of workers

4. Inventions that gave the U.S. a head start over Europeans

In its social impact, the market revolution did all of the following

except

1. Elevated the status of workers

2. Produced greater per capita wealth in American society

3. Stimulated materialism

4. Reorganized society toward specialization

The Panic of 1819

The Missouri Compromise of 1820