Market revolution.
Definition
The dramatic economic transformation in the United States during the early to mid-1800s in which subsistence farming gave way to a market-oriented economy driven by new transportation (canals, railroads), communication technologies, and the growth of factories. It created regional economic specialization and expanded the wage labor system.
Examples
Real-world.
- 1 The Erie Canal (1825) connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic and reducing shipping costs
- 2 The cotton gin increasing Southern cotton production and the demand for enslaved labor
- 3 The rise of Lowell, Massachusetts, textile mills employing young women