Evaluate the impact of the market revolution on the various regions of the United States from 1815 to 1860.

The Market Revolution from 1815 to 1860 in the United States had a large social, economic, and political impact on all regions of the new nation. The Market Revolution redefined technology, transportation and commerce throughout the country, which also had a profound impact on Europe and their trade relationship with America.
Starting in the late 1700s, Eli Whitney’s cotton gin created an agricultural explosion in the south, which increased the supply of cotton exponentially. This also, unfortunately, increased the demand for slave labor in the southern states. This abundant supply of cotton, coupled with new technological innovations in the north, created a large domestic manufacturing industry, effectively decreasing the country’s dependence on European finished products like textiles. America’s industrial revolution, which began in the early 1800s, was marked by growth in factories, urban centers (mostly located on the Eastern Seaboard), and a shift from cottage home industries to the mechanized efficiency of the assembly line and interchangeable parts.
While the north enjoyed an increase in factories and heavy industry, the south stayed largely agricultural, as this was their tradition. Southern plantations were making profits manufacturing raw materials like cotton and thus had no great desire to change their way of life. Profits generated from the high demand for raw materials in Europe and the American Northeast, coupled with free slave labor, made for big profits. This marked lack of industry, however, would hinder their strength and might during the Civil War.
Other technological innovations also created new markets in the rapidly expanding American West. John Deere created a horse-pulled steel plow that replaced traditional and less efficient oxen-driven wooden plows that had been the norm for centuries. This innovation made it possible to produce larger agricultural yields. As America continue to expand westward and gain more arable land from the Native Americans, they were able to make large profits from crops like wheat.
In the early 1800s, Congressman Henry Clay founded the American System, meant to bolster American industries and encourage the growth of the economy. One of the ways he planned to accomplish this was to put tariffs (taxes) on imported goods from Europe. For a long time, Americans had been buying goods from Europe (like textiles) because those products tended to be cheaper than American-made finished goods. England had undergone their industrial revolution beginning in the early 1700s, and their machinery was quicker and more efficient than the technologies of the Northeast, allowing for goods to be produced more cheaply and sold for lower prices. The manufacturers of the American Northeast couldn’t compete with these prices, and thus many Americans, especially southerners, would purchase imported goods that cost less. Tariffs on finished products were intended to make European goods more expensive than American-made products, thus bolstering the American economy by incentivizing Americans to buy American-made goods.
Another key component of the American System was a strengthening of the federal government and the creation of more roads, canals, and railroads to allow for quicker and more efficient transportation of goods across the nation. For example, the Erie Canal was completed in 1825. This canal, or man-made waterway, provided a shortcut from the Hudson River in New York to Lake Erie in the Great Lakes region. This engineering marvel allowed easy transportation between the rich agricultural markets of the Midwest with the bustling trade centers of the Northeast. New York City quickly became the most important trading center in America, allowing for easy trade with Europe, which was just across the Atlantic Ocean.
Likewise, the US invested in railroads for the transportation of goods (perhaps the most efficient means to transport goods available). The most important railroad of the period was the Ohio Railroad, connecting Baltimore to the Ohio River. National roads were also built, such as Cumberland Road, the first federally constructed highway. However, by the time the Civil War rolled around, the American South had much fewer miles of railroad and roads as compared to the North. This would impede their ability to transport goods, weapons, and supplies.
Overall, the Market Revolution was a melding of new technologies, transportation options, and commercial markets that converged to make America an industrial, economic, and social powerhouse beginning in the 1800s.