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Market Revolution Timeline

(1790s–1840s)

The Market Revolution was the major economic transformation in the United States from the late eighteenth century through the mid-nineteenth century. New transportation networks, communication systems, mechanized manufacturing, and commercial farming connected regional economies and encouraged rapid urban and industrial growth. Less

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Economic transformation

Postwar market reorientation begins

1816

Following the War of 1812, the United States began shifting away from an economy dependent on European imports toward greater internal production and domestic commerce.

Internal production expands after the War of 1812

1816 - 1820

The postwar period encouraged increased American production and commerce as the country sought a more self-sufficient economy.

James Monroe replaces James Madison

1817

In 1817, James Monroe replaced James Madison as president of the United States. The Democratic-Republicans continued policies begun during Alexander Hamilton's administration.

Image source: James Monroe

James Monroe replaces James Madison

Democratic-Republican economic policies continue

1817 - 1825

During James Monroe's presidency, Democratic-Republican leaders continued economic policies associated with the national development program begun in Hamilton's administration.

Image source: Democratic-Republican Party

Democratic-Republican economic policies continue

Population shifts reshape the Union

1817 - 1847

Population movement accompanied national growth, helping create new states and changing the geographic distribution of economic activity.

Missouri petitions for statehood

1819

When Missouri petitioned for statehood in 1819, the question of slavery was thrust onto the national agenda, linking territorial growth to a major political conflict.

Slavery enters the national agenda

1819 - 1820

Missouri's statehood petition made slavery a central national issue during a period of territorial expansion and population change.

Image source: Missouri Compromise

Slavery enters the national agenda

Capital gains access to global markets

1820 - 1847

The market revolution connected American economic development to global markets for capital as well as labor and goods.

Goods gain access to global markets

1820 - 1847

American goods increasingly participated in global factor markets as production, commerce, and transportation expanded.

Labor gains access to expanding markets

1820 - 1847

The developing market economy expanded access to global factor markets for labor, connecting American production more closely to international economic networks.

Capital reaches American production

1820 - 1847

Capital became an increasingly important force in American production, helping transform workshops and agriculture within the developing market economy.

Agricultural regions enter wider markets

1820 - 1847

Western and southern commercial agriculture increasingly reached markets beyond local communities as transportation and commerce expanded.

State expansion accompanies population growth

1820 - 1847

The addition of land and the movement of people brought new states into the Union, expanding the geographic scope of the developing American market.

The Northeast reaches toward regional markets

1830 - 1847

During the second half of the nineteenth century the Northeast market would incorporate western and southern sections; the earlier market revolution established the connections that made this integration possible.

Household goods become more affordable

1840 - 1847

The falling price of manufactured goods illustrated the market revolution's effect on ordinary life: a mattress that cost fifty dollars in 1815 cost five dollars in 1848.

Transportation and mobility

National mobility becomes a policy priority

1816 - 1820

The transportation problems revealed by the War of 1812 helped create a national need for greater mobility, encouraging investment in roads and waterways.

Road construction expands

1816 - 1830

The government increased production of early roads as part of a broader effort to connect regions and facilitate the movement of people and goods.

Canal building becomes central to economic development

1816 - 1840

Extensive canals were developed along navigable waterways, improving connections among producing regions, commercial centers, and markets.

Early transportation networks link markets

1820 - 1830

Roads and canals increasingly connected local economies, supporting the movement of agricultural products, manufactured goods, labor, and capital.

Railroad networks begin expanding

1830 - 1847

Later in the transportation transformation, elaborate railroad networks began extending national mobility beyond roads and canals.

Canals support an integrated national market

1830 - 1840

Canal networks helped connect western and southern agricultural regions with northeastern markets, supporting the development of an integrated national economy.

Image source: Canal

Canals support an integrated national market

Agriculture and industry

Technology reshapes production

1820 - 1847

Technological innovation increased output and helped alter the organization of production during the nineteenth-century market transformation.

Commercial agriculture spreads through the South

1820 - 1847

Southern agriculture became increasingly commercial, contributing to the growing integration of regional economies.

Commercial agriculture spreads westward

1820 - 1847

Commercial agriculture spread across the West, increasing the region's participation in a wider system of production and exchange.

Mechanized production increases output

1830 - 1847

The spread of mechanized factories substantially increased productive capacity and marked the industrial dimension of the market revolution.

Workshops begin converting to mechanized factories

1830 - 1847

Capital and technology converted enough central workshops into mechanized factories to transform the market revolution into a highly productive industrial revolution.

Image source: Industrial Revolution

Workshops begin converting to mechanized factories

The steel plow improves farm production

1837 - 1847

The horse-pulled steel plow represented the use of technology to make agricultural work more efficient and to support the expansion of commercial farming.

John Deere develops the steel plow

1837

John Deere invented the horse-pulled steel plow, replacing the difficult oxen-driven wooden plows that farmers had used for centuries.

Image source: John Deere (inventor)

John Deere develops the steel plow

Historical interpretation

Charles Grier Sellers popularizes the term

1981 - 1991

Historian Charles Grier Sellers widely popularized the term Market Revolution in his interpretation of Jacksonian America.

Sellers publishes The Market Revolution

1991

Charles Grier Sellers's book The Market Revolution: Jacksonian America, 1815–1846 portrayed the transformation as a highly negative development and as the triumph of capitalism over democracy.

Sellers defines the transformation as historic

1991

Sellers argued that the market revolution was among the most significant transformations in the first half of nineteenth-century America, describing it as the evolution from an agrarian to a capitalist society.

Image source: Charles Grier Sellers

Sellers defines the transformation as historic

Howe places the market revolution earlier

2007

Daniel Walker Howe challenged a strictly nineteenth-century chronology by arguing that the market revolution had begun much earlier, in the eighteenth century.

Key Facts

  1. Canals, steamboats, railroads, and improved roads lowered transportation costs and connected farmers, manufacturers, and consumers across the country.
  2. The factory system expanded, especially in textile production, shifting work from small households and workshops into centralized workplaces.
  3. The telegraph, introduced in the 1840s, greatly accelerated long-distance communication and supported national markets.
  4. Commercial agriculture grew as farmers increasingly produced crops such as cotton, wheat, and corn for sale rather than only for household use.
  5. The Market Revolution increased economic opportunity for some but also widened class divisions, intensified wage labor, and contributed to the expansion of slavery in the cotton South.

Source

This Market Revolution timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

We work hard to keep these timelines accurate, but mistakes do get through. If you spot one, email us at [email protected] and we'll fix it for future visitors.

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