Essential Questions: What was the nature of the American agricultural economy? How did western emigration
affect the frontier?
I. The U.S. at the turn of the century was a farmer�s republic composed of rural people
whose lives revolved around community and family.
A. Households were more than just the primary social unit
1. Most production, even for overseas markets, was done within the
household economy with a gender division of labor.
a. Men worked in the fields
-Labor intensive
-Prejudice
b. Women were responsible for the household
B. Most manufacturing was part of the rural industry (i.e. shoe making, quilting,
and carpentry.
1. This work was part-time and done primarily by the women and children.
a. This supported the traditional paternal (father) authority
C. Neighbors proved especially important as sources of information, exchange
and assistance.
1. Shared tools, exchanged goods for services.
D. Children still gained the wealth of their parents through inheritance, but the
institution underwent significant changes in the post revolutionary war era.
1. Overcrowding caused the price of good farmland to rise sharply
a. After the war, fathers didn�t have much land to give their sons.
-More and more young men were leaving home
E. Rising standards of living improved the lives of some families, but widened
the disparity between rich and poor
II. Americans flooded out of the east, continuing a constant emigration from backcountry
to frontier.
A. Americans insatiable appetite for western lands virtually guaranteed the
destruction of the Woodlands Indians (Iroquois, Cherokees, Shawnee).
1. Out of this cultural disaster emerged leaders like Chief McGillivray
Tenskwatawa, and Tecumsah who spoke of banding together to expel
the whites from their lands.
a. Unfortunately, the Indians failed to secure any real concessions
from the American nation.
B. A flood of western settlers from 1790-1815 transformed the backcountry.
1. Easterners were appalled by the violence, filth, and drunkenness of
frontier life.
2. The new settlers bought land from speculators who had acquired large
tracts of land under the Northwest Ordinance.
a. In 1790, only 10,000 settlers lived west of the Appalachians.
b. By 1820, 2 million Americans were westerners (1 in 5)
C. The Backcountry, 1790-1815
1. Backcountry farmers disdained by easterners for embracing Indian ways
a. Use of women in the fields
b. Violence and drunkenness (white savages)
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Chapter 7: The Democratic Republic, 1790-1820 (Sec 2)
Essential Questions: What was the nature of the American agricultural economy in the plantation South?
What role did the seaport cities play in the economy of the early republic?
III. The Plantation South 1790-1820
A. Slavery and the Republic
1. Future of slavery uncertain in Chesapeake in 1790
a. Tobacco had been on the decline since before the Revolution
-Tobacco depleted the soil (land was spent)
b. Increasing reliance on grain (wheat) and livestock
c. Search for new uses for slaves
-Tenant farmers, artisans, and laborers
B. Growing reliance on granting slaves freedom
1. Especially Maryland, and Delaware
2. There were limits on widespread freedom
a. Few owners could afford to grant their slaves freedom
IV. The Recommitment to Slavery
A. Growth of cotton in the lower south
1. Demand generated by British industrialization
2. It was easy to grow in the lower south
3. Development of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney revolutionized cotton
a. Cotton became a major cash crop
b. It also rejuvenated the slave system
B. Rice in coastal South Carolina and Georgia
1. Increasing demand for rice
2. Both cotton and rice increased the demand for more slaves
a. Many slaves were imported as soon as possible before the African slave trade ended in 1808.
C. Race, Gender and labor in the Chesapeake
1. Growing sex based labor divisions
a. The men did the manual labor and jobs requiring artisan skills
b. The women did the menial tasks (hoeing, spreading, weeding)
D. The seaport cities, 1790-1815
1. Commerce
a. These cities had grown steadily during the 18th century, handling
imports from Europe and farm exports from America
-Merchants built infrastructure (docks, warehouses facilities, banks, and insurance companies)
2. Poverty
a. The commercial boom created poverty as well as wealth
-Poor diets and unsanitary conditions led to epidemics
3. Status of labor
a. Many skilled artisans were being replaced by cheaper labor
-This eroded the paternal status of artisan husbands
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Chapter 7: The Democratic Republic, 1790-1820 (Sec 3)
Essential Questions: What led to the decline of paternal authority and the rise of individualism?
How did religion help shape American society and culture?
V. The Withering of Patriarchal Authority and the Rise of Individualism
A. Paternal power in decline
1. Power of father declined sharply in the early years of the republic
a. Children realized that fathers would not be able to help them
2. Also evident in the changing patterns of courtship
a. Relationships were now based on love and affection, not property and parental pressure.
B. The alcoholic republic
1. The erosion of the old family economy was related to the rise in alcohol consumption.
a. New and dangerous drinking patterns began to emerged
C. The democratization in print
1. Rise in literacy
2. Increased literacy accelerated democratization
a. Encouraged Americans to read, think, and interpret information
D. Citizenship
1. Adoption of democratic concepts that allowed for equality
a. Elimination of property requirements in territories encouraged western expansion
b. Giving propertyless men the right to vote
VI. Republican Religion
A. The decline of the established churches
1. Withdrawal of state support caused many congregations to disappear
(i.e. Episcopal Church, Congregationalists)
2. Growing religious freedom fostered new, more democratic religious
sects (i.e. Methodists, Baptists)
B. The Christianization of the white south
1. An assault on pre-Revolutionary structure of authority
a. Paternalism, church authority, British authority, and the plantation system
2. Evangelicals came to dominate the south
a. Required a violent conversion experience
b. Evangelicals learned to live with slavery
C. African American Christianity
1. Slaves embraced Christianity and made it their own
2. Eventually, blacks separated themselves from segregated churches and
formed their own distinctly black churches
D. Black Republicanism: Gabriel�s Rebellion, 1800
1. A well-planned conspiracy to overthrow Virginia�s slave regime
a. Gabriel hoped to create a truly democratic republic
-The plan failed and leaders were executed or transported out of Virginia