Begins now. So welcome to our lecture today on the growth of cities in the early American Republic a period of American History that im fascinated by and im really excited to share with all of you today. And as weve already discussed in this class, we know that the early American Republic which were roughly defining as the period between the end of the American Revolution and the election of Andrew Jackson was a period of possibilities and of problems. It was a time in American History when many of the Big Questions about what the nation would look like who would hold power and what kind of spaces and values would define the country. Remained very much in question. And so last class we talked about americas transition to capitalism. And we talked about how this Economic Transformation was linked to changes in the labor market in Banking Systems in the rise of corporations, and we looked at how these transformations were particularly affecting for young women like mary paul the worker in the lowell mills in the 1840s. So today were going to continue our conversation about how economic changes affected americas urban centers its cities and well examine how questions about the National Built Environment and access to Material Resources like goods land and money came to a head in americas growing urban landscapes both along the east coast in places that are familiar to us, but also in growing midwestern cities between the 1790s and into the 1830s so with these themes in mind i thought we could start off today with a little bit of a comparative story that illuminates some of the ideas that well talk about in more detail today, particularly how americans and the Early National period encountered commented on and experienced urban infrastructural growth and change. In 1810 a young woman by the name of Margaret Van Horn dwight set out on a 500mile journey from connecticut to the ohio territory, and shes going with a few travel companions and friends. Margaret was born in 1790 and she was the descendant of a prominent line of connecticut theologians and yale College President s and she grew up in an age defined by the uncertainties and the possibilities of the new nation. Yet margarets sixweek journey west left a lot to be desired the group stayed in dirty taverns, they encountered scores of other wagons making the journey west and they struggled to navigate their route, especially in the Allegheny Mountains. And if any of you have ever written a grumpy dramatic journal entry while on a long trip or being frustrated with the people youre traveling with maybe youll empathize with margarets words margaret wrote. We crossed the longest hills and the worst road i ever saw two or three times after writing a little distance on the turnpike. We found it fenced across and were obliged to turn into a wood where it was almost impossible to proceed it appeared to me that we had come to an end of the habitable part of the globe. She commented on infrastructure or i guess i should say for the purposes of this class in this moment the lack of infrastructure. Roads turnpikes poor wayfinding margarets journey. West was not great. And she concluded by mentioning. The reason so few people are willing to return from the western country is not that the country is so good, but because the journey is so bad. Now if we Flash Forward almost 20 years later we encounter yet another woman making the same journey west. Francis trollope an english novelist and writer she moved to the United States to join a utopian community and then she later traveled around the country in the 1820s and wrote about what she experienced she returned back to england and published the book domestic manners of the americans in 1832. And francis on her journey west followed the same route that margaret did. But this time instead of a bumpy unpaved road. She traveled along the National Road the first federally funded road in america connecting east and midwestern cities. And francis wrote the whole of this Mountain Region through 90 miles of which the road passes is a garden. I really can hardly conceive of a higher enjoyment than a tour among the Allegheny Mountains as our noble terrace road the simplon of america rose higher and higher all that is noblest in nature was joined to all that with sweetest and here she uses an illusion to the simplon road a mountain scenic road through the alps. Now, what do you guys notice about the differences between margaret and franciss journeys particularly franciss journey whats different here . Yeah. And since so much time is yeah, absolutely. Yeah other observations. Yeah. Cause of the National Road, she was allowed to enjoy the beauties of nature rather than being frustrated by. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes, and so here we see how much had changed for these two women commenting on the same stretch of country just 20 years apart. By the mid 1820s the population had nearly tripled to 12 Million People from what it had been in 1784. The nations land area had more than doubled more states had been added to the union and there were new roads steamboat routes canals. And more all of which helped to bring Economic Development to the west and spurred the growth of cities. But what exactly was causing this dramatic transformation in American Life . This week were going to explore the roots of these changes and how they took place in americas cities. And well do that through the lens of three questions. First why was the Early National period such a transformative moment in american urban growth . Next how to historians know what cities look like in this period and what physical evidence do they have to understand urban change over time . And lastly well ask. How did infrastructural change affect the socioeconomic dynamics of the urban experience and well begin with our first question . To understand how americas Early National cities changed. We first need some grounding and what these places were like in the colonial period in the 17th and 18th centuries european powers as we know including the english the spanish the french the dutch established cities along the Atlantic Coast of north america and these were places intended to primarily serve the merchant and imperial interests of european empires. These early cities served as important crossroads for the movement of people and goods. And the colonial economy flowed first and foremost through its urban centers, including things like the slave trade. And as historian colin calaway reminds us european powers were certainly not the first people to create largescale urban settlements in the americas. Native americans had also created monumental towns and cities long before the europeans showed up. The native american urban frontier was a space of cultural contact and exchange and Colin Callaway actually writes. He says well christians were erecting gothic cathedrals in the 12th and 13th century Europe Indian people in the Mississippi River basin were constructing temple mounds creating ritual spaces and demonstrating their power through building. And we know that indians continued to visit cities in america and in europe well into the 18th and 19th centuries, they went as diplomats invited guests and of course curious travelers. But with the rise of British Imperial power in the 18th century, we see a series of angloAmerican Cities emerging to the forefront of the north american landscape. By 1775 boston, newport, new york, philadelphia and charleston where the largest urban centers in british north america, and they had populations ranging anywhere from 12,000 people to 20,000 people. And youre probably starting to see this by looking at these statistics that those cities are forming an important part of the colonial economic experience. Theres certainly not the norm for ordinary folks only about one in 20 people actually lived in cities in the colonial period so these were small places compared to the largescale metropolises that will emerge in the 19th century. And of course compared to what we think of when we think of big cities today. A number of factors shaped the growth of cities in the Early National period there are far too many to explore in just one lecture. So were going to focus in on just a few key points. Well talk about the market revolution. Well look at westward migration and well examine changes to the labor market and then well shift gears and well zoom in on the physical evidence of cities to talk about their impact on peoples everyday lives. In the Early National period American Cities were shaped in large part by what historians have come to call the market revolution, you know, we talked about this a little bit last class and this revolution was not something draw, you know drawn out by bloodshed or by war but rather by innovations and transportation and technology and factories changes to the labor market. And of course accompanying economic and infrastructural growth and though historians disagree about when the market revolution officially started some argue that we should be talking about this much earlier in the 18th century. They all agree that the market revolution fundamentally reoriented americans relationship to the broader economy. Especially the act of buying and selling goods and earning a living and cities are the places where these changes are felt and seen most clearly so what was the market revolution trying to address . One of the biggest pieces that the market revolution is trying to address is the terrible inefficiency of the colonial market. In the 1700s so in the colonial period it was incredibly inefficient to transport goods from city ports to rural markets. It costs the same amount of money to ship a good just 30 miles inland that it did to bring that good from europe in the first place. So as you can imagine this economic inefficiency would have frustrated Many Americans particularly people with interest in the economic sector in business. And many people began to funnel that frustration into innovative action. So by the 1830s a number of innovations arrived to make the movement of people goods and money much more efficient specifically the rise of turnpikes and canals. In the early 1800s congress authorized the construction of the National Road this paved road from maryland to the old northwest that they extended a few times in the 1820s and 1830s eventually terminating in illinois. This was the same road that francis traveled on in her journey west that we saw earlier today. And in 1825 cities like new york celebrated the opening of the 363 mile long eerie canal this system of canals and hudson river transport that connected new york city to growing upstate new york cities and towns like syracuse buffalo. And this also ushers in a major migration of new englanders into upstate new york and into ohio as theyre able to reap the benefits of these Economic Trends transformations in deeper western areas. And you can see on this map behind me here the roads and canals crisscrossing across the country. What is jumping out to you here about the number of Transportation Networks by the 1840s. What do you see . Yeah. Well, i would say in contradiction to what we previously learned now. Were able to travel more towards the rule ports such as in North Carolina even down towards, alabama, mississippi rather than being tied to the coastline allowing greater transportation and access to people of all backgrounds and demographics. Excellent. Yeah. What else do you see . Trust it goes a lot further western previously now, its all the way to green bay and in the iowa territory. Whereas not that long ago people were complaining about going into ohio. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, no more complaining about going to ohio. Yeah, absolutely other things, but what do you notice . What about cities . Any any city names jumping out to you . What do you notice . Yeah, alex mulatto the course that hes like boston new york, philly. Theyre all connected by highways but also new cities like chicago new orleans. Theyre also connected. Yeah, excellent. So we have these colonial era cities being connected to one another and a more concrete way through road and Rail Transport and then we all have the emergence of new western cities. Excellent. Yeah, jordan. Yeah going off the point also now that theres an ability for city to pop up in the middle of the country no longer just along seaport because theyre able to travel a lot easier than just through the water. Yeah great. Great. Yeah. Excellent. So the Economic Transformations in the Early National period as weve seen drastically altered peoples relationship to western lands and spurred the growth of these new cities that weve been talking about today. And americans were lured west by improvements in transportation and communication and between 1790 and 1840 a period of just 50 years about 4. 5 Million People crossed over the Appalachian Mountains to settle in new western areas. And peoples migratory roots typically followed one of three pathways and with this movement came the creation of New Territories and states. They would move from the southeastern states to the new cotton kingdom of alabama, mississippi, louisiana and arkansas. Theyd go from the upper south into southern, ohio and indiana and illinois. And from new england into new york and the upper north and midwest places like, ohio, indiana, illinois, michigan and wisconsin. And at the heart of all of these migrations sit midwestern cities places like cincinnati saint louis chicago that form the center of these growing trade and exchange networks. But you also see growth happening on the east coast these trade and transportation Transportation Networks connecting east and west spur the growth of some other cities like baltimore on the coast that really comes into its own in the Early National period an urban populations in the United States skyrocket between 1820 and 1850. In 1820. There are just 12 cities with populations of more than 5,000 people. But by 1850 there are almost 150 cities with populations of that size. And as western settlers are traveling theyre going with their families. Theyre bringing their belongings and theyre taking things with them that you would expect your typical household belongings things like, you know furniture and farming equipment, but also in many cases theyre traveling with enslaved men and women and ill just say this briefly here because were going to return to this in future lectures when we talk about the material culture of the southern urban experience of slavery in the 19th century that that though urban growth brought with it Economic Opportunity. It was linked to the backs of enslaved labor and thats essential to the story as well that the market revolution and westward expansion happened in tandem and the choices and decisions that are authorizing the construction of new roads canals Transportation Networks are ultimately motivated by other choices and decisions that heightened americas reliance on slave labor. So when were talking about people spinning thread into cloth in northern factories, we have to talk about the ties to the southern cotton economy when were talking about the growth of railroads and canals not just in the northeast but especially in the deep south and into the new western territories. We have to think and acknowledge the role of enslaved labor in building that infrastructure. So weve seen how the market revolution offered greater efficiency for the movement of people and goods. But how did these economic changes shape the growth of cities and the people who lived in them . Nows the time for a quick refresher from last class. So if we cannot brush off the cobwebs from from the other day. We discussed the decline of the household system of labor. Anybody want to remind us what that was all about . Finally revolved around an apprentice staying with a master and they would learn the craft from this master for many many years so that they could perfect every aspect of the trade, but that wasnt very efficient. And so it led to them wanting a factory style of work or piecework where one person would specialize in a particular part of an object so that they wouldnt have to be trained as long and things could go a lot quicker rather than knowing every part of the trade in expertise. Yeah, excellent. Excellent. Yeah other things that we want to add to that understanding of the household system of labor and its decline yeah, annalize summarized it nice for us. That was that was really really nice. Okay, so we have this Household Labor system the system of a master craftsman working in a trade his apprentices and his journeyman living with his family under one roof and as annalize remind us this is a fairly inefficient system and as we see the rise