ABSTRACT

Arguing for a protective tariff in 1843, Abraham Lincoln reflected on the goods of all kinds imported from domestic and foreign sources that were available to the inhabitants of Illinois. In 1851, the minister Horace Bushnell spoke of the rapidity of economic change and “the complete revolution of domestic life and social manners” that accompanied the “transition from mother and daughter power to water and steam-power.” 1 They were addressing profound changes that had occurred in the preceding decades: the nation’s demographic and territorial expansion; the growth of commerce and business institutions; the development of new systems of production and transportation; and the expansion of towns and cities. The United States between Independence and 1840 experienced not only rapid population growth and the spread of European settlement, but also a significant reorientation of production and wealth creation. In 1774, mean income per capita was highest in the South and lowest in New England. By 1840 the regions’ relative position had been reversed. 2