The Lowell Mills were 19th-century textile mills that operated in the city of Lowell, Massachusetts , which was named after Francis Cabot Lowell ; he introduced a new manufacturing system called the "Lowell system", also known as the " Waltham-Lowell system ".
95-552: Francis Cabot Lowell sought to create an efficient manufacturing process in the United States that was different than what he saw in Great Britain. His vision relied on his "great faith in the people of New England " and employees "would be housed and fed by the company and remain employed only a few years rather than form a permanently downtrodden underclass". After a trip to London in 1811 during which he memorized
190-523: A century until the industry shifted to the Midwest and the South. By the close of the nineteenth-century the United States had a thriving textile industry for home consumption and for export. In 1798, Lowell married Hannah Jackson, daughter of Jonathan Jackson and Hannah Tracy. They had four children; John Lowell Jr. , benefactor of Lowell Institute ; businessman Francis Cabot Lowell, Jr.; Edward Lowell,
285-644: A few forts in Florida , notably San Agustín (present-day Saint Augustine ) in 1565, it sent few settlers to Florida. Colonists moving north from Mexico founded the San Juan on the Rio Grande in 1598 and Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1607–1608. The settlers were forced to leave temporarily for 12 years (1680–1692) by the Pueblo Revolt before returning. Spanish Texas lasted from 1690 to 1821, when Texas
380-412: A gradual increase in immigration was recorded. More complete immigration records provide data on immigration after 1830. Though conducted since 1790, the census of 1850 was the first in which place of birth was asked specifically. The foreign-born population in the U.S. likely reached its minimum around 1815, at approximately 100,000 or 1% of the population. By 1815, most of the immigrants who arrived before
475-558: A lawyer; and Susanna Lowell, who married her first cousin John Amory Lowell . Lowell was originally buried with his wife and step-mother Rebecca at the Central Burying Ground on Boston Common in tomb 36. In 1894 his tomb was one of 900 discovered when Boston constructed the underground subway line on Tremont Street. His body was moved to Forest Hills Cemetery where it remains today. Francis Cabot Lowell
570-480: A merchant ship carrying cargo to various places including Basque Country in Spain and Bordeaux , France. He went to learn about shipping and being a merchant, but used the trip to learn about France. He spent a year touring France, gripped in revolution . In July 1796, he returned to Boston and set up as a merchant on Long Wharf. Between 1798 and 1808, Lowell was actively involved in overseas trade, specializing in
665-466: A new source of labor in the Irish immigrants who were flocking to Massachusetts in 1846 to escape Ireland 's Great Famine . These immigrant workers were mostly women with large families who were willing to work longer for cheaper wages. They also often forced their children to work as well. This reliance on immigrant workers slowly turned the mills into what they were trying to avoid—a system that exploited
760-554: A notable German-American population, contributing to the state's development and growth. Between 1820 and 1930, 3.5 million British and 4.5 million Irish entered America. Before 1845, most Irish immigrants had been Protestants . After 1845, Irish Catholics began arriving in large numbers that were largely driven by the Great Famine . After 1880, larger steam-powered oceangoing ships replaced sailing ships, which resulted in lower fares and greater immigrant mobility. In addition,
855-661: A profitable cash crop , many plantations were established along the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia and Maryland . The colonists were met with hard times including famine, illness, and their relationship with the local Native American tribes . There were several historic events that took place in Jamestown between the settlers and the Native American tribes. When the settler John Rolfe married Pocohontas , there
950-833: A region-wide system to sell the cloth manufactured by the BMC. Their success in Waltham motivated them to look for other locations. They found a site in East Chelmsford, renamed for Lowell after his death. The end of the War of 1812 was a severe threat to the budding domestic textile industry as the British dumped cheap cotton cloth on the American market. In 1816, Lowell traveled to Washington to successfully lobby for protective tariffs on cotton products that were subsequently included in
1045-722: A small but steady trickle of later arrivals continued. Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of European settlers known as the pilgrims who had left Europe to separate from the Church of England and wanted religious freedom. They sailed from England on the Mayflower and arrived in 1620. Plymouth was part of the New England Confederation , made up of four Puritan colonies: Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Haven. The colonies formed an alliance to protect themselves from attacks from Native American tribes,
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#17327754036491140-553: A state in 1850 with a population of about 90,000. Between 1850 and 1930, about 5 million Germans migrated to the United States, which peaked between 1881 and 1885, when a million Germans settled, primarily in the American Midwest . The Dakota Sioux had signed several treaties with the U.S. government, including the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux (1851) and the Treaty of Mendota (1851), which ceded large portions of their land to
1235-546: A steady flow of new immigrants, mostly from Central England and the London area, kept the population growth. As early as 1630, initial areas of settlement had already been largely cleared of Native Americans by major outbreaks of measles , smallpox , and bubonic plague decades before European settlers began arriving in large numbers. The leading killer was smallpox, which arrived in the New World around 1510–1530. Initially,
1330-453: A total of 599,000. They included about 207,000 Irish, who started to emigrate in large numbers after Britain's easing of travel restrictions, and about 152,000 Germans, 76,000 British, and 46,000 French, the next-largest immigrant groups of the decade. Between 1841 and 1850, immigration nearly tripled again and totaled 1,713,000 immigrants, including at least 781,000 Irish, 435,000 Germans, 267,000 British, and 77,000 French. The Irish, driven by
1425-838: Is named. He was instrumental in bringing the Industrial Revolution to the United States. Francis Cabot Lowell was born in the city of Newburyport, Massachusetts . His father was John Lowell , a member of the Continental Congress and judge for the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts . His mother was Susanna Cabot . He had an aptitude for mathematics in his youth. In 1786, Lowell graduated from Phillips Academy . In 1793, he graduated from Harvard College . In July 1795, after graduation, Lowell set out on
1520-614: The Lowell Offering . They even petitioned the Massachusetts state legislature to pass a law limiting the workday to ten hours. The petition was unsuccessful but it showed mill owners that their employees had become too troublesome. By the mid-1840s, a "new generation of mill managers was in charge", for whom "profits rather than people seemed their primary, even sole, concern". Furthermore, mill owners, who were convinced that their employees had become too troublesome, found
1615-621: The American Revolution in 1775. Settlements grew from initial English toeholds from the New World to British America . It brought Northern European immigrants, primarily of British, German, and Dutch extraction. The English ruled from the mid-17th century and were by far the largest group of arrivals remaining within the British Empire . Over 90% of those early immigrants became farmers. Large numbers of young men and women came alone as indentured servants . Their passage
1710-607: The Boston Manufacturing Company at Waltham, Massachusetts , using the power of the Charles River . The BMC was the first "integrated" textile mill in America in which all operations for converting raw cotton into finished cloth could be performed in one mill building. Lowell hired the gifted machinist Paul Moody to assist him in designing efficient cotton spinning and weaving machines, based on
1805-471: The Charles River in Waltham , Massachusetts, in 1814. Unlike the prevailing system of textile manufacturing at the time—the "Rhode Island System" established by Samuel Slater —Lowell decided to hire young women (usually single) between the ages of 15 and 35, who became known as " mill girls ". They were called "operatives" because they operated the looms and other machinery. The Lowell system, also known as
1900-512: The East Anglia ( Norfolk , Suffolk , Essex ), and settled in Boston, Massachusetts and the adjacent areas from around 1629 to 1640 to create a land dedicated to their religion. The earliest New English colonies, Massachusetts , Connecticut , Rhode Island , and New Hampshire , were established along the northeastern coast. Large-scale immigration to this region ended before 1700, but
1995-577: The Great Famine (1845–1849), emigrated directly from their homeland to escape poverty and death. The failed revolutions of 1848 brought many intellectuals and activists to exile in the U.S. Bad times and poor conditions in Europe drove people out, and land, relatives, freedom, opportunity, and jobs in the U.S. lured them in. 2. The number of foreign born in 1830 and 1840 decades are extrapolations. Starting in 1820, some federal records, including ship passenger lists, were kept for immigration purposes, and
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#17327754036492090-601: The Hudson River in present-day New York State starting about 1626. Wealthy Dutch patroons set up large landed estates along the Hudson River and brought in farmers, who became renters. Others established rich trading posts to trade with Native Americans and started cities such as New Amsterdam (now New York City) and Albany, New York . After the English seized the colony and renamed it New York, Germans (from
2185-629: The Palatinate ) and Yankees (from New England) began arriving. The Dutch initially settled in territories that we refer now as New York, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New Jersey. The Dutch controlled New Netherland for forty years, an area now known as New York. In 1664, the Dutch settlement area was taken over by the English. In 1696, almost 30,000 people lived in the Province of New York. There were many farm products because of
2280-469: The Tariff of 1816 . He died on August 10, 1817, at the age of 42 from pneumonia only three years after building his first mill. Lowell left the Boston Manufacturing Company financially healthy. In 1821, dividends were paid out at 27.5% to shareholders. The success of the BMC at Waltham exhausted the water power of the Charles River . To expand the enterprise, in 1822, Lowell's partners moved north to
2375-860: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , concluding the Mexican War, extended U.S. citizenship to approximately 60,000 Mexican residents of the New Mexico Territory and 10,000 living in Mexican California . An additional approximate 2,500 foreign-born California residents also became U.S. citizens. In 1849, the California Gold Rush attracted 100,000 would-be miners from the Eastern United States, Latin America, China, Australia, and Europe. California became
2470-511: The 1790s. Recent debates have focused on the southern border (see Illegal immigration to the United States and Trump wall ) and the status of "dreamers", people who illegally migrated with their families when they were children and have lived in the U.S. for almost their entire lives (see Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ). In 1607, the first successful English colony settled in Jamestown, Virginia . Once tobacco had been found to be
2565-518: The 1830s as well as immigration greatly affected the Lowell mills in a negative effect. Overproduction during the 1830s caused the price of finished cloth to drop and the mills' financial situation was exacerbated by a minor depression in 1834 and the Panic of 1837 . In 1834, the mills cut wages by 25%, which led the girls to respond by staging an unsuccessful strike and organizing a labor union called
2660-489: The 18th century. The following were the countries of origin for new arrivals to the United States before 1790. The regions marked with an asterisk were part of Great Britain. The ancestry of the 3.9 million population in 1790 has been estimated by various sources by sampling last names from the 1790 census and assigning them a country of origin. The Irish in the 1790 census were mostly Scots-Irish. The French were primarily Huguenots . The total U.S. Catholic population in 1790
2755-477: The American Revolution had died, and there had been almost no new immigration thereafter. Nearly all population growth up to 1830 was by internal increase. Around 98% of the population was native-born. By 1850, that shifted to about 90% native-born. The first significant Catholic immigration started in the mid-1840s and lowered the population from about 95% Protestant to about 90% by 1850. In 1848,
2850-734: The British expulsion, and they settled largely in the Southwest Louisiana region now called Acadiana . Their descendants are now called the Cajuns and still dominate the coastal areas. Additional French-speaking refugees entered the area from Saint-Domangue after the Haitian Revolution . Another cultural identity born from French immigrants is the Creole . About 7,000 French-speaking immigrants settled in Louisiana during
2945-542: The British models, but with many technological improvements suited to the conditions of New England . Lowell and Moody were awarded the patent for their power loom in 1815. To raise capital for their mills, Lowell and partners Aidan and Merquack pioneered a basic tool of modern corporate finance by selling $ 1000 shares of stock to a select group of wealthy investors, such as Senators James Lloyd Jr. and Christopher Gore , Israel Thorndike Sr. and Harrison Gray Otis . This form of shareholder corporation endures to this day in
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3040-503: The Carolinas (post-1663), and Georgia (post-1732). Even there, the immigrants came mostly from England and Scotland, with the exception of Pennsylvania's large Germanic contingent. Elsewhere, internal American migration from other colonies provided nearly all of the settlers for each new colony or state. Populations grew by about 80% over a 20-year period, at a "natural" annual growth rate of 3%. Over half of all new British immigrants in
3135-620: The Dutch, and the French. The Pilgrims were a small group of people from Scrooby , England . They originally left England to go to Holland because they wanted separation from the Church of England , and they eventually ended in North America, where they began a new life. In the early 1600s, the Church of England was controlled by King James and the government. When King Henry VIII left
3230-565: The European Powers and the Embargo of 1807 severely disrupted trade between the United States, Great Britain, France and Asia. Lowell reached the conclusion that to be truly independent, the United States needed to manufacture goods at home. In June 1810, he went on a two-year visit with his family to Britain. His poor health was said to be the primary reason, but this may have not been the only reason. Lowell developed an interest in
3325-461: The European factory system as "inherently corrupt and abusive". In order to persuade these young women to work at a mill, they were paid in cash once "every week or two weeks". Additionally, Lowell devised a factory community: women were required to live in company-owned dormitories adjacent to the mill that were run by older women chaperones called "matrons". In addition to working 80 hours a week,
3420-647: The Factory Girls Association. In 1836, they went on another unsuccessful strike when their housing rates were increased. Conditions continued to deteriorate until 1845, when the Lowell mill girls formed the Female Labor Reform Association, which joined forces with other Massachusetts laborers to pass laws aimed at improving working conditions in the state, which the mills simply ignored. The women responded by going out on strike and published magazines and newsletters like
3515-828: The Puritans and their beliefs but wanted them to adapt to their religious ways. The puritans felt that it was their calling to spread the word of the Gospel to the New World, which led them to America. The New English colonists were the most urban and educated of all their contemporaries and had had many skilled farmers, tradesmen and craftsmen among them. They started the first university , Harvard , in 1635 to train their ministers. They mostly settled in small villages for mutual support (nearly all of them had their own militias) and common religious activities. Shipbuilding, commerce, agriculture, and fishing were their main sources of income. New England's healthy climate (the cold winters killed
3610-578: The Roman Catholic Church and appointed himself as the head of the Church of England, the church quickly deteriorated. It was against the law to own of copy of the Word of God, but the Puritans could read the Bible in their own languages and so understood how the Church of England was corrupt. If the Puritans were caught worshipping in secret, they could be put in prison. The Netherlands was open to
3705-589: The South initially arrived as indentured servants , mostly poor young people who could not find work in England or afford passage to America. In addition, about 60,000 British convicts who were guilty of minor offences were transported to the British colonies in the 18th century, with the "serious" criminals generally having been executed. Ironically, those convicts are often the only immigrants with nearly complete immigration records, as other immigrants typically arrived with few or no records. Although Spain set up
3800-458: The U.S. frontier to the Pacific by 1848. Most immigrants came long distances to settle in the United States. However, many Irish left Canada for the United States in the 1840s. French Canadians , who moved south from Quebec after 1860, and Mexicans , who came north after 1911, found it easier to move back and forth. Excluding enslaved Africans (see slave trade in the United States ), there
3895-641: The U.S. in exchange for promises of annuities, supplies, and reservations and by 1862, the U.S. government failed to uphold its end of these agreements and the Dakota were facing horrible economic conditions. When the Dakota uprising ignited the US government used the opportunity to clear the land and make way for more European settlement. Germans were significant settlers in Minnesota, with communities established in cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul. By 1860, Minnesota had
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3990-576: The U.S. permanently. In some groups, like the Southern Italian contadini , it was common to return to their place of origin, which about half of them did. Others, like 90% of Eastern European Jews who immigrated to the United States, stayed permanently. Within the first decade of the 20th century, 14.7 percent of Americans were born in a different country, 22 percent of the population settling in urban areas. Their urban destinations and numbers and perhaps an antipathy towards foreigners, led to
4085-524: The United States in 1848 in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo , which ended war between Mexico and the United States. When the former Mexican territories joined the United States, Californios in California numbered about 10,000 and Tejanos in Texas about 4,000. By 1820, Spanish-speaking immigration to the U.S. probably did not exceed 175,000 people. New Mexico had 47,000 Mexican settlers in 1842; Arizona
4180-545: The United States, Californios in California numbered about 10,000 and Tejanos in Texas about 4,000. New Mexico had 47,000 Mexican settlers in 1842. Arizona was only thinly settled. Only a small minority of those settlers were of European descent. As in the rest of the American colonies, new settlements were based on the casta system. Although all could speak Spanish, it was a melting pot of mostly Native Americans with some Spanish, Portuguese, Basques, Jewish, North African Berbers, and Africans. Former Mexican territories joined
4275-444: The United States, these mills combined the textile processes of spinning and weaving under one roof, essentially eliminating the " putting-out system " in favor of mass production of high-quality cloth. It completely revolutionized the textile industry and "eventually became the model for other manufacturing industries" in the United States of America. Lowell solved the problem of labor by employing young women (usually single) between
4370-472: The Waltham-Lowell system, was "unprecedented and revolutionary for its time". Not only was it faster and more efficient, it was considered more humane than the textile industry in Great Britain by "paying in cash, hiring young adults instead of children, and by offering employment for only a few years and providing educational opportunities to help workers move on to better jobs". For the first time in
4465-427: The ages of 15 and 35, who became known as "mill girls". Unlike European industries, which had access to "large, landless, urban populations whose reliance on the wage system gave them few economic choices", American companies had to grapple with a small labor supply because the population was small and most preferred farming their own land and the economic independence that came with it. Additionally, many Americans viewed
4560-510: The boat and all their personal belongings were searched at the Halifax port to ensure that no contraband was being smuggled out of Great Britain. Lowell had memorized all the workings of British power looms without writing anything down. In 1814, he enlisted the support of his three brothers-in-law, Charles, James and Patrick Tracy Jackson , and obtained the financial backing of the merchants Nathan Appleton and Israel Thorndike to establish
4655-415: The bulk of the U.S. industrial labor pool, which allowed the emergence of such industries as steel, coal, automotive, textile, and garment production and enabled the United States to leap into the front ranks of the world's economic giants. More than 23 million people immigrated to the United States from 1880 to 1930 alone. Although many of these immigrants settled in urban centers, not all of them stayed in
4750-572: The cost of transoceanic transportation by becoming indentured servants in which the new employer paid the ship's captain. In the late 19th century, immigration from China and Japan was restricted. In the 1920s, restrictive immigration quotas were imposed but political refugees had special status. Numerical restrictions ended in 1965. In recent years, the largest numbers of immigrants to the United States have come from Asia and Central America (see Central American crisis ). Attitudes towards new immigrants have fluctuated from favorable to hostile since
4845-499: The design of power looms , Lowell founded the Boston Manufacturing Company in 1813 along with Nathan Appleton , Patrick Tracy Jackson , and the other so-called " Boston Associates ". This group of Boston-area merchants were "committed to the ideals of the original Protestant ethic and Republican simplicity " but were nevertheless "shrewd, far-sighted entrepreneurs who were quick to embrace...new investment opportunities". The Boston Manufacturing Company built its first mill next to
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#17327754036494940-514: The early 18th century and often preferred to settle in the back country and the frontier from Pennsylvania to Georgia, where they mingled with second-generation and later English settlers. They enjoyed the very cheap land and independence from established governments common to frontier settlements. The mostly-agricultural Southern Colonies initially had very high death rates for new settlers because of malaria , yellow fever , and other diseases, as well as skirmishes with Native Americans . However,
5035-547: The emergence of the second wave of organized xenophobia. By the 1890s, many Americans, particularly from the ranks of the well-off, white, and native-born, considered immigration to pose a serious danger to the nation's health and security. In 1893 a group formed the Immigration Restriction League, and it and other similarly-inclined organizations began to press Congress for severe curtailment of foreign immigration. Irish and German Catholic immigration
5130-541: The expansion of a railroad system in Europe made it easier for people to reach oceanic ports to board ships. Meanwhile, farming improvements in Southern Europe and the Russian Empire created surplus labor. Young people between the ages of 15 and 30 were predominant among newcomers. In this wave of migration, constituting the third episode in the history of U.S. immigration, nearly 25 million Europeans made
5225-514: The first stage of industrialization. The Irish Catholics were primarily unskilled workers who built a majority of the canals and railroads and settled in urban areas. Many Irish went to the emerging textile mill towns of the Northeast, but others became longshoremen in the growing Atlantic and Gulf port cities. Half of the Germans headed to farms, especially in the Midwest (with some to Texas), and
5320-535: The former servants founded small farms on the frontier. By the early 18th century, the arrival of Africans forced to become slaves became a significant component of the immigrant population in the Southern colonies. In fact, between 1700 and 1740, a large majority of the net overseas migration to those colonies were Africans. In the third quarter of the 18th century, the population of that region amounted to roughly 55% British, 38% black, and 7% German . In 1790, 42% of
5415-435: The grown, single women who had been used to earning their own money ended up using their education to become librarians, teachers, and social workers. In this manner, the system was seen as producing "benefits for the workers and the larger society". Francis Cabot Lowell (businessman) Francis Cabot Lowell (April 7, 1775 – August 10, 1817) was an American businessman for whom the city of Lowell, Massachusetts ,
5510-425: The importation of silks and tea from China, as well as hand-spun and hand-woven cotton textiles from India. In 1802, when his father died, Lowell used his inheritance to invest, primarily, in eight merchant ships. Starting in 1802, with Uriah Cotting, Harrison Gray Otis and others, Francis Cabot Lowell developed India Wharf and its warehouses on Boston Harbor , which became the center of the trade with Asia. Later,
5605-714: The largely middle-class and Protestant membership was fragmented over the issue of slavery and had most often joined the Republican Party by the time of the 1860 presidential election . European immigrants joined the Union Army in large numbers, including 177,000 born in Germany and 144,000 born in Ireland, a full 16% of the Union Army. Many Germans could see the parallels between slavery and serfdom in
5700-472: The long trip. Italians, Greeks, Hungarians, Poles, and other Slavs made up the bulk of this migration, with 2.5 to 4 million Jews being among them. Each group evinced a distinctive migration pattern in terms of the gender balance within the migratory pool, the permanence of their migration, their literacy rates, the balance between adults and children, and the like. However, they shared one overarching characteristic: they flocked to urban destinations and made up
5795-460: The lower Delaware River , with immigrants of Swedes and Finns . Those colonies were absorbed by 1676. The Middle Colonies were scattered west of New York City (established 1626; taken over by the English in 1664) and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (established 1682). New Amsterdam/New York had the most diverse residents from different nations and prospered as a major trading and commercial center after about 1700. From around 1680 to 1725, Pennsylvania
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#17327754036495890-408: The lower classes and made them permanently dependent on the low-paying mill jobs. By the 1850s, the Lowell system was considered a failed experiment and the mills began using more and more immigrant and child labor. In the 1890s, the South emerged as the center of U.S. textile manufacturing; not only was cotton grown locally in the South, it had fewer labor unions and heating costs were cheaper. By
5985-417: The mid-20th century, all of the New England textile mills, including the Lowell mills, had either closed or relocated to the south. By 1840, Lowell, Massachusetts , had 32 textile factories and had become a bustling city. Between 1820 and 1840 the number of people who worked in manufacturing increased eightfold. Although most of the original Lowell mill girls were laid off and replaced by immigrants by 1850,
6080-450: The more powerful Merrimack River and named their new mill town at the Pawtucket Falls on the Merrimack River "Lowell," after their visionary leader. The Waltham-Lowell system , pioneered by Lowell and first introduced at the Waltham mill, was expanded to the new industrial city of Lowell and soon spread to the Midwest and the South. The mechanized textile system, introduced by Francis Cabot Lowell, remained dominant in New England for
6175-424: The mosquitoes and other disease-bearing insects), small widespread villages (minimizing the spread of disease), and abundant food supply resulted in the lowest death rate and the highest birth rate of any of the colonies. The eastern and northern frontier around the initial New England settlements was mainly settled by the descendants of the original New Englanders. Immigration to the New England colonies after 1640 and
6270-442: The old fatherland. Between 1840 and 1930, about 900,000 French Canadians left Quebec , migrated to the United States, and worked mainly in New England . About half of them returned. Since the population of Quebec was only 892,061 in 1851, that was a massive exodus. 13.6 million Americans claimed to have French ancestry in the 1980 census. Many of them have ancestors who emigrated from French Canada since immigration from France
6365-419: The other half became craftsmen in urban areas. Nativism took the form of political anti-Catholicism directed mostly at the Irish, as well as Germans. It became important briefly in the mid-1850s in the guise of the Know Nothing party. Most of the Catholics and German Lutherans became Democrats, and most of the other Protestants joined the new Republican Party. During the Civil War, ethnic communities supported
6460-401: The places in which historically, northern English, Scottish and Scots-Irish Protestants settled: in the interior of the South , and the Appalachian region. Scots-Irish American immigrants, were made up of people from the southernmost counties of Scotland who had initially settled in Ireland. They were heavily Presbyterian, and largely self-sufficient. The Scots-Irish arrived in large numbers in
6555-641: The plantations established in these colonies were mostly owned by friends (mostly minor aristocrats and gentry) of the British-appointed governors. A group of Gaelic-speaking Scottish Highlanders created a settlement at Cape Fear in North Carolina, which remained culturally distinct until the mid-18th century, when it was swallowed up by the dominant English-origin culture. Many settlers from Europe arrived as indentured servants and had their passage paid for, in return for five to seven years of work, including free room and board, clothing, and training, but without cash wages. After their periods of indenture expired, many of
6650-796: The population in South Carolina and in Georgia was of African origin. Before 1800, the growing of tobacco, rice, and indigo in plantations in the Southern colonies had relied heavily on the labor of slaves from Africa. The Atlantic slave trade to mainland North America stopped during the American Revolution and was outlawed in most states by 1800 and the entire nation in the 1808 Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves , but some slaves continued to be smuggled in illegally. The Thirteen Colonies differed in how they were settled and by whom, but they had many similarities. Nearly all were settled and financed by privately organized British settlers or families using free enterprise without any significant royal or parliamentary government support. Nearly all commercial activity
6745-653: The profits of Lowell's Boston Manufacturing Company , and were "more easily controlled than men". Additionally, his tight rein on his employees "cultivated employee loyalty, kept wages low, and assured his stockholders accelerating profits". In line with the Boston Associates ' worldview, the mill girls were encouraged to educate themselves and pursue intellectual activities. They attended free lectures by Ralph Waldo Emerson and John Quincy Adams and read books they borrowed from circulating libraries. They were also encouraged to join “improvement circles” that promoted creative writing and public discussion. Economic instability in
6840-525: The same group of investors developed the Broad Street area for the retail trade. To enlarge his fortune, Lowell bought a rum distillery, importing molasses from the Caribbean sugar-producing islands. Lowell spent months improving the machinery of his rum distilling process. Despite political independence, the United States remained dependent on imports for manufactured goods. The conflicts between
6935-625: The start of the English Civil War decreased to less than 1% (about equal to the death rate) in nearly all of the years prior to 1845. The rapid growth of the New England colonies (approximately 900,000 by 1790) was almost entirely from the high birth rate (>3%) and the low death rate (<1%) per year. The Dutch colonies, which were organized by the United East Indian Company , were first established along
7030-443: The textile industries of Lancashire and Scotland, especially the spinning and weaving machines, which were operated by water power or steam power. He was not able to buy drawings or a model of a power loom . He secretly studied the machines. In Edinburgh he met fellow American Nathan Appleton who would later become a partner in the Lowell mills. As the War of 1812 began, Lowell and his family left Europe and on their way home,
7125-404: The total white population of just under 3.2 million in 1790, approximately 86% was of British ancestry (60%, or 1.9 million, English, 4.3% Welsh, 5.4% Scots, 5.8% Irish (South), and 10.5% Scots-Irish). Among those whose ancestry was from outside of British Isles, Germans were 9%, Dutch 3.4%, French 2.1%, and Swedish 0.25%. Blacks made up 19.3% (or 762,000) of the U.S. population. The number of Scots
7220-536: The war and produced large numbers of soldiers on both sides. Riots broke out in New York City and other Irish and German strongholds in 1863 when a draft was instituted, particularly in light of the provision exempting those who could afford payment. Immigration totaled 8,385 in 1820, with immigration totals gradually increasing to 23,322 by 1830; for the 1820s, immigration more than doubled to 143,000. Between 1831 and 1840, immigration more than quadrupled to
7315-425: The well-known form of public stock offerings. In 1814, the Boston Manufacturing Company built its first mill beside the Charles River in Waltham , housing an integrated set of technologies that converted raw cotton all the way to finished cloth. Patrick Tracy Jackson was the first manager of the BMC with Paul Moody in charge of the machinery. The Waltham mill, where raw cotton was processed into finished cloth,
7410-419: The women had to adhere to strict moral codes (enforced by the matrons) as well as attend religious services and educational classes. Despite being "highly discriminatory and paternalistic compared to modern standards, it was seen as revolutionary in its day". Indeed, hiring women made good business sense; not only did women have experience weaving and spinning, they could be paid less than men, thereby increasing
7505-600: The woods and grasslands, which provided feed for the animals. The Hudson River was used to ship farm products and furs. Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware formed the Middle Colonies . Pennsylvania was settled by Quakers from England and Wales, followed by Ulster Scots (Northern Ireland) on the frontier and numerous German Protestant sects, including the German Palatines . The earlier colony of New Sweden had small settlements on
7600-472: Was 200,000; Irish and Scots-Irish 625,000. The overwhelming majority of Southern Irish were Protestant, as there were only 60,000 Catholics in the United States in 1790, 1.6% of the population. Many U.S. Catholics were descendants of English Catholic settlers in the 17th century, and the rest were Irish, German and some Acadians who remained. In that era, the population roughly doubled every 23 years, mostly by natural increase. Relentless population expansion pushed
7695-465: Was a moment of peace between the two cultures. Prior to the union, Algonquian tribes battled the settlers. The year 1609 was known as the " Starving Time " since over 100 settlers died from starvation and illness. John Rolfe introduced a new type of tobacco seed from the West Indies , and the Jamestown society began to improve. Thus began the first and longest era of immigration that lasted until
7790-470: Was around 27% descendants of Dutch settlers, about 6% African, and the remainder mostly English with a wide mixture of other Europeans. New Jersey and Delaware had a British majority, with 7–11% Germans, about 6% Africans, and a small contingent of the Swedish descendants of New Sweden. The fourth major center of settlement was the western frontier , in the inland parts of Pennsylvania and south colonies. It
7885-462: Was carried out by small, privately owned businesses with good credit both in America and in England, which was essential since they were often cash poor. Most settlements were largely independent of British trade since they grew or manufactured nearly everything that they needed. The average cost of imports per household was 5–15 pounds sterling per year. Most settlements consisted of complete family groups with several generations present. The population
7980-712: Was controlled by the Quakers. The commercial center of Philadelphia was run mostly by prosperous Quakers and was supplemented by many small farming and trading communities, with a strong German contingent located in villages in the Delaware River Valley. Around 1680, when Pennsylvania was founded, many more settlers started to arrive in the Middle Colonies. Many Protestant sects were attracted by freedom of religion and good cheap land. They were about 60% British and 33% German. By 1780, New York's population
8075-465: Was governed as a colony that was separate from New Spain . In 1731, Canary Islanders (or "Isleños") arrived to establish San Antonio . Very few of the few hundred Texan and New Mexican colonizers in the Spanish colonial period were Spaniards and criollos . California, New Mexico, and Arizona all had settlements. In 1781, Mexican settlers founded Los Angeles. When the former Spanish colonies joined
8170-507: Was mainly settled from about 1717 to 1775 by Presbyterian farmers from Northern England border lands, Scotland , and Ulster who were fleeing hard times and religious persecution. Between 250,000 and 400,000 Scots-Irish migrated to America in the 18th century. The Scots-Irish soon became the dominant culture of the Appalachians from Pennsylvania to Georgia . Areas whose 20th-century censuses reported mostly " American " ancestry were
8265-557: Was only thinly settled. In the late 17th century, French expeditions established a foothold on the Saint Lawrence River , Mississippi River and Gulf Coast . Interior trading posts, forts, and cities were thinly spread. The city of Detroit was the third-largest settlement in New France . New Orleans expanded when several thousand French-speaking refugees from the region of Acadia made their way to Louisiana after
8360-773: Was opposed in the 1850s by the nativist movement , originating in New York in 1843 as the American Republican Party (not to be confused with the modern Republican Party ). Nativism was empowered by popular fears that the country was being overwhelmed by Catholic immigrants, who were often regarded as hostile to American values and controlled by the Pope in Rome . Active mainly from 1854 to 1856, it strove to curb immigration and naturalization , but its efforts met with little success. There were few prominent leaders, and
8455-519: Was paid by employers in the colonies who needed help on the farms or in shops. Indentured servants were provided food, housing, clothing and training but did not receive wages. At the end of the indenture (usually around age 21, or after a service of seven years), they were free to marry and start their own farms. Seeking religious freedom in the New World, 100 English Pilgrims established a small settlement near Plymouth, Massachusetts , in 1620. Tens of thousands of English Puritans arrived, mostly from
8550-790: Was posthumously inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame. History of immigration to the United States#1790 to 1849 The history of immigration to the United States details the movement of people to the United States from the colonial era to the present day . Throughout U.S. history , the country experienced successive waves of immigration , particularly from Europe (see European Americans ) and later on from Asia (see Asian Americans ) and Latin America (see Hispanic and Latino Americans ). Colonial-era immigrants often repaid
8645-417: Was probably less than 5%. The Native American population inside territorial U.S. boundaries was less than 100,000. The 1790 population reflected the loss of approximately 46,000 Loyalists , or "Tories", who immigrated to Canada at the end of the American Revolution, 10,000 of whom went to England and 6,000 to the Caribbean. The 1790 census recorded 3.9 million inhabitants (not counting American Indians). Of
8740-441: Was relatively little immigration from 1770 to 1830. There was, however, significant emigration from the U.S. to Canada, including about 75,000 Loyalists as well as Germans and others looking for better farmland in what is now Ontario. Large-scale immigration in the 1830s to the 1850s came from Britain, Ireland and Germany, and most were attracted by the cheap farmland. Some were artisans and skilled factory workers who were attracted by
8835-502: Was rural, with close to 80% owning the land on which they lived and farmed. After 1700, as the Industrial Revolution progressed, more of the population started to move to cities, as had happened in Britain. Initially, the Dutch and German settlers spoke languages brought over from Europe, but English was the main language of commerce. Governments and laws mainly copied English models. The only major British institution to be abandoned
8930-590: Was the aristocracy , which was almost totally absent. The settlers generally established their own law courts and popularly elected governments. The self-ruling pattern became so ingrained that for the next 200 years, almost all new settlements had their own government up and running shortly after the settlers' arrival. After the colonies were established, their population growth comprised almost entirely organic growth, with foreign-born immigrant populations rarely exceeding 10%. The last significant colonies to be settled primarily by immigrants were Pennsylvania (post-1680s),
9025-541: Was the forerunner of the 19th-century American factory. Lowell also pioneered the employment of women, from the age of 15–35 from New England farming families, as textile workers. These women became known as the Lowell mill girls . Women lived in company run boarding houses with chaperones and were involved in religious and educational activities. The Waltham Machine Shop attached to the BMC made power looms for sale to other American cotton mills. Nathan Appleton established
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