Frontier capitalism: The market revolution in the antebellum lower Missouri River Valley, 1803--1860

This dissertation tackles one of the greatest questions in nineteenth-century American history: the impact of capitalism on the United States. It explores the introduction and evolution of a commercial society in the counties along the Missouri River during the first six decades of American settlement and focuses on how rural Americans responded to market expansion. American immigrants to central Missouri brought with them a commercial worldview that contrasted starkly with the more communal attitudes of earlier Native American and European residents. This individualistic ideology served as the foundation for the later economic transformation.; Initially, farm families were forced to carve a mostly subsistence living from the land. But, few immigrants remained outside the growing market economy along the Missouri River, as the lure of partial commercial farming and the opportunity to improve a family's standard of living was too great to ignore. Both Southerners and Northerners took part in this emerging commercial world with enthusiasm, demonstrating cultural acceptance of capitalism in both regions. The labor of farm women was crucial to the survival of family farms. The income they earned from the sale of eggs, chickens and butter helped their families in the gradual transition toward increased commercial activity. Other factors, including steamboats, market towns, westward migration, the Santa Fe trade, and a continually growing population helped stimulate regional economic growth.; By the late antebellum period, residents of central Missouri had changed their production and consumption patterns in response to market growth. Families purchased many items they had previously made at home, such as butter, candles, or whiskey, as well as mass-produced goods and luxury items that improved their lives. They also produced far more farm goods, such as corn and hemp, for market sale to earn income or credit to spend at local stores. By the Civil War a thriving commercial economy had developed in the region and the area had been transformed by American immigration. A large majority of settlers eagerly embraced commercial opportunity and enjoyed higher standards of living because of their participation in the market economy.