In the late 1700’s and early 1800’s the United States was in a transformation from the Jeffersonian vision of an agricultural nation, into Alexander Hamilton’s vision of an industrial America. The book Sam Patch, the Famous Jumper gives a good idea of what America was like during the Early Republic period. The industrial life would turn America into a country that is dependent on the work of manufactories. Sam Patch came from a long family history of farming and shoemaking. His father Mayo Greenleaf Patch, married into a wealthy family after his family’s name went under with their bankruptcy. The marriage would allow him to possess resources his family had lost such as land, housing, workshop, etc. Greenleaf Patch was loaned the
Sam wore the same outfit at almost every jump, his mill spinner work clothes.
One of the jumps he is most famous for is his first jump at Clinton Bridge at Passaic Falls. Timothy Crane had taken a popular area for the working class to go after a long day of work, Passaic Falls, and remodeled it into a scenic view with vendors lined up and charged a toll to get in. The working class did not like the fact that they had to pay to go somewhere that was once a free place to go for everyone. The opening day of the Clinton Bridge at Passaic Falls Sam Patch jumped from the bridge into the water below him as a protest against what Timothy Crane had done.
The Industrial Revolution may have been a good economy boost for America but it was also creating dependency on the Mill factories. Mill factories beat out work such as farming and family run businesses, forcing people to find jobs in factories to provide for their family but only making pennies a day. Because of the low pay and the dependency on the Mills, whole families would work together just to make it by. The working class was basically the lowest of the low and higher authority figures disposed of them which caused a lot of protest and strikes.
America during the Early Republic period was a country of new ideas, especially if the new ideas would bring in more money. Because of the money hungry owners of the industries and factories America was a total chaos. Children worked all day for low