The Rise of an Economic Power – US Economy in the 19th century
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Transcript The Rise of an Economic Power – US Economy in the 19th century
Possible essay topics
Strengths and weaknesses of the American economy
The future of USD as a global currency
Is the double deficit of the American economy sustainable?
Future of American economy – prosperity or collapse?
Lessons from the Great Depression (1929-33)
The role of entrepreneurship in the economic success of the USA
American health care reform – is Obamacare successful?
The role of innovation in the American economy
doc. Ing. Tomáš Dudáš, PhD.
USA – A new nation state
The Thirteen Colonies began a rebellion against British rule in 1775 and
proclaimed their independence in 1776
Americans in the Thirteen Colonies demanded their rights as
Englishmen to select their own representatives to govern and tax them
The 1783 Treaty of Paris represented Great Britain's formal
acknowledgement of the United States as an independent nation.
The original 13 member states - Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New
Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island
1789 – new constitution (federation state)
Westward expansion (1789–1849)
1803 – Lousiana purchase
From France for 15 million USD
It doubled the territory of the USA
1819 – Treaty with Spain
Florida
1845 – Texas joins the USA
Texas became independent from Mexico in 1836
1846 – Border treaty with Britain
Oregon country
1848 – Mexican cession
After a war with Mexico USA gained what is today
Calirornia, Utah, Nevada, part of Wyoming, Colorado
and New Mexico
1853 – Gadsden purchase
From Mexico
1867 – Pruchase of Alaska
From Russia
1898 – Annexation of Hawaii
1899 – Annexation of Puerto Rico
Division of the land
By 1853, the land area of the USA was 7,6 million km2
Two thirds of this land was still empty and in the public
domain
The government had a plan of land disposal, but nothing
went according the plan
Land speculation and corruption were common
Basic population data between 1790 and
1860
Total
(millions)
White
Nonwhite
Urban
1790
3,9
82,1 %
17,9 %
5,2 %
1800
5,3
81,1 %
18,9 %
6,1 %
1810
7,2
81,9 %
18,1 %
7,3 %
1820
9,6
82,3 %
17,7 %
7,2 %
1830
12,9
81,4 %
18,6 %
8,7 %
1840
17,1
83,0 %
17,0 %
10,8 %
1850
23,2
84,5 %
15,5 %
15,3 %
1860
31,4
85,7 %
14,3 %
19,8 %
Basic population facts
By 1860 the population of the USA exceeded that of United
Kingdom and from the European countries only France and
Russia had larger populations
The population growth was approximately 3,3 % from 1790,
which meant that the population doubled roughly every 23
years
Very high fertility – 55 births per 100o persons (15,7 in 1993)
Very young population – in 1820 the median age was less than
17 years
Plentiful land
Rural/urban division
Immigration before 1860
Policy of unrestricted immigration
Until the 1830s the number of immigrants was not really
significant
1821-1825 – annual average number of immigrants 8 000
1826-1830 – annual average number of immigrants 20 587
Series of poor harvests and the failure of potato crops in Europe
1831-1835 – 50 498
1836-1840 – 69 330
1841-1845 – 86 067
Huge inflows of immigrants between 1845/1850 – 1,4 million people
and between 1850/1857 2,2 million people
Immigration - sources
The first upsurge came from the British Isles
Famine in Ireland (more than 1 million dead in the
1840s)
Between 1846-1855 approx. 1,3 million Irish entered the
US officially
The events of 1848 created a new wave of immigrants
Nearly 1 million of German speaking immigrants
Harvest failures
Labor data
In 1860 the US labor force numbered 11 million (35 %
of the total population)
Approx. 79 % of these (58 % free and 21 % slave)
worked in the agriculture
In 40 years, the proportion of the agriculture was cut
in half
Transportation and urbanization
Government improved transportation for the new settlers
Turnpikes - intercity toll roads (27 800 miles in 1820)
Not very profitable business – profit rate of 3-4 %
Canals – great canal building era between 1815 and 1843
PPP projects
First success – Erie Canal in 1825
Steamboats
Mississippi, Ohio and Missouri rivers
817 steamboats in operation in 1860
Railroads
Total investment in railroads up to 1860 was more than 1 billion USD
Slavery
The enslavement of Africans in the USA began in 1619 at
Jamestown
Black slaves were servants for life, their children were born
into slavery
1780 – nearly half a million of slaves concentrated in the
South
Expansion of slavery in the 19th century
Production of cotton
By 1860 most slaves were freed in the North and in the
Middle colonies, leaving the South the major user of slaves
US Civil war 1861-1865
The divisions on slavery became fully exposed with the 1860 presidential election
Lincoln, (Republican), won with a plurality of popular votes and a majority of
electoral votes. Lincoln, however, did not appear on the ballots of ten southern
states: thus his election necessarily split the nation along sectional lines.
11 states seceded from the USA and established the Confederate States of America
Northern leaders had viewed the slavery interests as a threat politically, and with
secession, they viewed the prospect of a new southern nation, the Confederate
States of America, with control over the Mississippi River and the West, as
politically and militarily unacceptable.
January 1st 1863 - Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation