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How Did The Market Revolution Affect The American Society

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The Market Revolution:

The Market Revolution was a rise in development of manufacturing and improved farming that had such a profound effect on the American Society. The Market Revolution changed forever the way that the American people of all classes earned a living as well as the shape of the nation’s economy. The major changes revolved around a large array of different things that helped improve the economy but specifically the change in manufacturing, development and farming had the biggest effects.

One of the first major innovations of the Market Revolution came from a man named Eli Whitney. Eli Whitney was an American inventor who developed the Cotton Gin, a device that could do what the slaves did for cotton but at a much faster …show more content…

As a result of Congress not re-instating the Bank of the United States, the new state charter banks were able to issue more currency than previously done by the Bank of the United States and the state banks while it was around. By 1815, “there were 256 state chartered banks and almost $70 million in their bank notes in circulation.” (Shmoop, 2008) which in comparison to the Bank of the United States who back in 1809 only had $6 million in circulation in their bank notes. Later the Bank of the United States was re-instated but only took over some of the nation’s money supply, and even after its reinstatement the value of the circulating bank notes reduced to $45 million which was still a vast improvement to the $6million before the new state chartered banks. The state chartered banks made capital available to a larger audience than ever before and had such a critical impact on the American …show more content…

The Erie Canal being one very famous example of how this all changed. The Erie Canal was proposed in 1808 but wasn’t completed until 1825, it was a canal that linked the waters of Lake Erie to the Hudson River. The Erie Canal at the time was engineering marvel to the world, partially because of the 568 foot rise from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, it used a large amount of aqueducts and locks to do so. The Canal by 1830, had carried more than $15 million worth of goods and product annually. The Canal eventually had to have an increase in size from what was originally 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide into a massive 70 feet wide and 7 feet deep, allowing boats to also increase load size from the usual; 30 tons of freight to a whopping 240 tons of weight. In the time between 1836 to 1862 is when the enlargement occurred, and by 1850 the annual figure rose from $15 million to $200 million. Giving it a large impact on the flow of economy through transportation.

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