THE MARKET REVOLUTION Essay

The Market Revolution

The market revolution was an extension of the market that occurred in America in the early nineteenth century. The building of numerous new roads, footpaths, and canals, which would finally connect communities that are far apart, was the primary cause of the revolution. Several American states made significant investments in the transportation industry, largely motivated by the Erie Canal’s phenomenal success, which sparked a remarkable and previously unheard-of economic growth in the country. As will be discussed below, the market revolution completely overhauled the American economy, gave rise to new industries, sociological reformations, and a number of political ideological ideologies. The market revolution ushered in a new approach that would be adopted by the manufacturers and farmers to hugely expand their work and earn more profits (Foner 24). They could have proper access to distant markets for their produce implying that they could produce for the market as opposed to personal. Those entrepreneurs, craftsmen, and farmers that understood how to work benefited more from the market revolution. New methods for securing capital, arranging for transportation of material and finished goods, advertising drives and better ways of distributing goods led to the success of several business personalities. Small business holders and artisans were reduced to simple wage earners with no hopes of occupational mobility mainly by the emergence of merchant capitalists.

Technological Advancements and Industrialization

The revolution led to the birth of technologies and methods of manufacturing that transformed regional markets into national markets. Amongst some of these technological advancements included the agricultural explosions in both the west and south, the textile boom in Northern parts of America that further strengthened the American economy as it ushered in a new wave of globalization (Foner 67). But the cotton gin credited to Eli Whitney and the pioneering metal works in mechanics were probably the most evident contributions to industrialization in the economic boom. The cotton mill ushered in technology that was capable of removing seeds from the short-staple cotton thus enabling farmers to plant cotton on a large scale throughout the entire south.

Economic Expansion and Transportation Improvements

Due to the introduction of that technology, America’s production of cotton grew to 93 million pounds in 1815 up from 3 million pounds in 1790. As domestic manufacturing increased, there was a decreased dependence on imports leading to an increase in wage labor (Tindall et al. 357). The growth in the banking sector also improved people’s trust in the economy as alternative ways of safely keeping money and borrowing were brought it. Other improvements in transportation, for instance, construction of roads, railways, and canals eased the movement of merchants and goods across regions and states further leading to economic expansion.

Sociological Impact

The revolution led to the development of several political philosophies and religious ideologies in America. The grassroots revivalism was a form of religion in which evangelists, without seminary training in most cases, preached about God’s grace that they claimed was freely abundant to all. The Finneyite revivalism, on the other hand, developed messages that often-provided tools for social cohesion through community reconstruction. The Mormon church by Joseph claimed to have discovered revelation and preached the gospel of millennial imminence and universal salvation.

The Shakers and Millerites

The Shakers introduced a new form of economic communism aimed at self-sufficiency arguing that private possessions should not be too much. As the Mormons provided strategies for facing the new market, shakers offering a communal escape from it, Millerites by William Miller provided rather extreme strategies for escaping the market economy. Miller provided ecclesiastical interpretations of biblical prophecy that claimed that Jesus was to return and save people from suffering and economic burdens of the market economy between March, 21st 1843 and March, 21st 1844.

Works cited

Foner, Eric, ed. Voices of Freedom: A Documentary History. Vol. 2. WW Norton & Company Incorporated, 2008.

Tindall, George Brown, and David E. Shi. America: A narrative history. WW Norton & Company, 2016.