The North's Economy In The Late 19th Century

Economy The North’s economy primarily relied on industry. Before the Industrial Revolution, much of the North’s economy consisted of small-scale farming. Starting in the 1800s, many started working in factories. The American first factories manufactured textiles, using cotton grown in the South to produce cloth. Factory production eventually diversified. They assembled a wide variety of items, such as clocks, shoes, watches, guns, sewing machines, and agricultural machines. As the states developed, trade started increasing. The many cities in the North became centers of trade, including New York, Philadelphia, and Boston. People started investing in trade ventures and new industries.
Technology
Many innovations led to the growing industry

Before these innovations, most people used wagons and horses to travel across land. However, traveling by wagons and horses were quite difficult. Traveling 363 miles could take as long as three weeks. Because of this, private companies saw value in building turnpikes, or toll roads. These roads often had a base of crushed stone, and corduroy roads were built where the land was muddy. Railroads were also widely used forms of transportation in the north. In addition to transportation over land, river travel was also improved. The steamboat revolutionized river travel. Before the invention of the steamboat, people moved their things using river barges. However, this was very limited, as most major rivers flowed north to south, so items could not be transported from east to west. Additionally traveling upstream by river barge against the current was very slow. The steamboat allowed shipping goods to become cheaper and faster, and made travel more comfortable. Canals, or artificial waterways, were dug to allow for river travel to be independent from the existing river systems. Series of locks were built along the canals to provide a way to raise and lower boats at places where canal levels

Much of its economy depended on industry, so there was a class of rich businessmen and factory owners. These people were usually very wealthy and came from old families. The North also had a growing working class, which mainly consisted of factory workers and other small-scale farmers. By the 1850s, many states had organized education systems, with free public schools, trained teachers, and longer, mandatory school years. Women of the North united and advocated for equal treatment under law. They were often paid less than male workers and excluded from unions. Freed African Americans also faced discrimination. They were often excluded from public facilities and were forced into segregated schools and hospitals. Immigrants also contributed to the culture of the North. Between the 1820 and 1860, two of the largest group of immigrants came to the United States. Over 1.5 million Irish immigrants arrived in the United States, and most were too poor to buy land in the U.S. so they took low-paying factory jobs, and the 1 million German immigrants who settled in the United States usually had enough money to buy farms and start their own business, prospering in many parts of the country and bringing a distinctive flavor of languages and religion in the United States. Immigrants faced discrimination from many people as