American History: A Survey (Brinkley), 13th Edition

Chapter 10: AMERICA'S ECONOMIC REVOLUTION

Primary Sources

1
Few places better reflected the growth and diversity of the United States than the city of New York. With the opening of the Erie Canal, New York City became the gateway to the West, and its size grew with its importance. The following account of the city was written by James Silk Buckingham, an Englishman who visited America between 1837 and 1840. What impressed him most about the city? How did his English experience seem to shape these impressions? What evidence did Buckingham find of social customs and distinctions being different from those of Europe? What do you feel accounted for this?

What accounted for New York's growth and diversity? What forces combined to make it America's principal city? Considering the nationalistic spirit of the age, how would Americans have responded to Buckingham's description? Assuming that his assessment was accurate; would they have pointed with pride to the city? Why?

James Silk Buckingham

2
The growth of American industry was one of the more remarkable aspects of the pre-Civil War era, and the town and factory of Lowell, Massachusetts, became known as the finest example of what American ingenuity could accomplish. One of those impressed by what he found at Lowell was the frontiersman and folk hero David Crockett, who left the following account. Before you read what Crockett describes, reread the section on Lowell and on northern industry in the previous chapter and the section on the growth of commerce in the Northeast in this chapter.

What impressed Crockett most about the factory at Lowell? How did what he witnessed differ from the economy of the section from which he came? What did Crockett see as the general benefit of an operation such as the one at Lowell? With which political party did his views seem most closely associated?

What gave rise to the "prejudices against these manufactories" Crockett mentions as being held by the West and the South? What was taking place at the time this was written (1834) that would ease the prejudices in the former and heighten them in the latter?

David Crockett

3
In spite of what Crockett implied, there were also northerners who had a "prejudice" against the industrial expansion of the United States. Even the railroad, the lifeline of the northern economy, was not free from criticism, as this excerpt from Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, indicates. Why did Thoreau object to the railroad? Consider Thoreau's social philosophy—how did he think that the railroad would alter society, and what effect would that have? What did Thoreau see as the ultimate outcome of the growth of the railroad?

Henry David Thoreau

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