45 pages • 1 hour read
Paul E. JohnsonSam Patch, the Famous Jumper
Nonfiction | Biography | Adult | Published in 2003A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context: Jacksonian Democracy and the Election of 1828
Jacksonian democracy was an American political philosophy associated with the election and presidency of Andrew Jackson. The presidential election of 1828 was the first in which a majority of white men over the age of 21 across the United States were eligible to vote: In prior elections, voting rights had been restricted to property-owning white men who paid taxes in their state. The expansion of voting rights was unpopular with the growing financial and industrial classes, and Jackson’s election was largely powered by new voters, who appreciated his populist and anti-elitist politics. As a political philosophy, Jacksonian democracy was characterized by an aversion to the idea of an American aristocracy, expanded voting rights, and opposition to banking. The concept of manifest destiny—the belief that American farmers should settle the West and expand control from the Atlantic to the Pacific—was also central to Jacksonian democracy. Sam Patch died early in Jackson’s presidency, but he became a potent symbol of Jacksonian democracy in his afterlife.
Geographical Context: The Erie Canal
The Erie Canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Completed in 1825, the canal runs between the Hudson River near Albany, New York to the Niagara River at Lake Erie near Buffalo, New York. Prior to the construction of the canal, the transportation of goods and travelers westward from New York was made both expensive and difficult by the northern Appalachian mountains. The canal was proposed by flour merchant Jesse Hawley and championed by New York Governor DeWitt Clinton. Although opponents criticized the canal as expensive, the canal made back its construction debts within a year and had a dramatic impact on the economy of towns along the canal, including Rochester and Niagara, towns frequented by Sam Patch. The canal also attracted wealthy tourists from New York and across the world who visited the canal to admire its technological achievement and visit newly accessible American wildernesses. Johnson argues that the development of the Erie Canal complicated Americans’ relationship with the natural world.
Historical Context: The Rhode Island System of Milling
The Rhode Island System, also known as the Slater system, was a system of mills and factories developed by English-American industrialist Samuel Slater in the late 1790s. Slater began working in a textile mill in Derbyshire at the age of 10, and was familiar with all aspects of the English systems of textile production. At the age of 21, he left England for the United States, breaking British laws by bringing the exclusive English system with him. At the center of the system was a watermill, which used flowing water to power machines that spun yarn and wove textiles. Slater expanded on this system by building factory towns around the mills for the families who worked in them, including churches and schools. Slater’s first mill in the United States was in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Sam Patch began working at Slater’s mill at a young age: The mill was the site of his first jumps and the beginning of his career as a boss spinner in the mills.
Related Titles
By Paul E. Johnson
