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Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Creation of a Legacy
3. A Legacy Transformed
4. The Virtues of a Middle Class
5. Vested Interest
6. Trading on Conventions
7. Institutionalism Triumphs
8. Lasting Images
9. Conclusion

Trading on Conventions

Americans celebrated their health and nationhood into the nineteenth century. Political and religious divisions became self-evident; transportation and communication networks continued to develop and expand, railroads began to move people and commodities and the postal system became more sophisticated. Institutionalism began to assert itself among all levels of society and in many professions. Immigration to the United States began to dramatically increase. Factory labor emerged as an active component in the business of America, and the domestic arts became a comprehensive sensibility as home became separated from worklife.

Reform movements flourished between 1800 and 1850, and given to splendid humanitarian outbursts. The new nation held itself in high esteem regarding the discharge of benevolent responsibilities. Temperance regarding alcohol use was one of many issues that traded on self-discipline, moral support, and a way of gaining control over an identifiable uncivilized action in a rapidly changing environment. Generally the reformist trend was to solve society's ills through the power of cooperation. The goal was to hurry along the slow and inevitable pace of progress. On the other hand, there were elements that proposed the definitive elimination of social ills such as alcohol. Prohibition versus moderation was a controversy that would not be ignored (Waiters 1978).

The new times of the first half of the nineteenth century could not be denied, and the older values and qualities of life required new forms to accommodate the spirit and direction of America. New proprietary cure-alls for many of the daily stresses of the period were developed and offered to the public. The United States Pharmacopeia was published in 1820 as the standard for purity and strength of medicinal drugs. Many proprietary recipes continued to be based on accessible Pharmacopeia criteria, just as eighteenth century proprietary medicines were appropriated and "improved" upon from the Pharmacopeia Londiniensis (Young 1961).

The prosperity of the times was reflected not only by the increase in proprietary drug manufacturing, but in advertising as well. Marketing techniques continued in the same bold and exaggerated vein as eighteenth-century drug advertising. Increasing technological resources yielded greater distribution possibilities, as well as more sophisticated promotional opportunities. Entire almanacs were published by proprietary drug entrepreneurs and freely dispensed. The development of the lithographic printing processes created a more defined printed poster. Budding advertising agencies transferred copy from the entrepreneur to newspapers and magazines. The role of middle man increased. Special interest groups such as religious, mercantile, and political organizations sponsored their own newspapers, and there was a rapid growth of popular magazines which targeted women as primary consumers in the increasingly industrial middle-class society. Local markets began to give way to national markets because of canal, steamboat, and railroad enterprises. Competition continued to increase, and salesmen continued as agents creating and maintaining markets as America expanded westward. Government-sponsored patenting -- not of the formula, but of the packaging provided a sense of credibility of the product, the business owner, and a hedge on the competition (Young 1961).