The American economy was greatly influenced by advancement in the 1800’s, which caused many changes in society and regional identities. Some of these advancements were in the areas of technology, agriculture and commerce. In this period we saw inventions such as the sewing machine, the waltham-lowell factory system, and railroads sweep the nation, and drastically alter the United States economy. The first advancement that impacted the nation was the sewing machine.
With the American Industrial Revolution in full swing, the shift in society was prevalent. In the late 19th century the growth of the industry moved Americans from rural farms to factories. This shift in mass production, made production faster and cheaper. Although the United States prevailed as the powerhouse of production, it came with some sacrifices. The factory worker was unskilled and paid a low wage.
Automobiles. Telephones. Lightbulbs. These were some of the major technological innovations created during 1865 to 1920. These creations impacted many Americans, even to this day.
In 1860 through 1900 America experienced a huge period of industrial growth. This was due to 3 reasons. The first was that there was a huge tide of immigrants coming to America, second is that there was a lot of new inventions, and third being that the Civil War stimulated mass production techniques. Immigrants provided big companies with cheap labor, and lots of it. From 1880 to 1921, 23 million immigrants came to the U.S looking for work and opportunity.
Four factors helped the United States industrialize quickly after 1860. There was growth of cities, abundance of natural resources, supply of capital, as well as the American free enterprise system. The growth of cities has led to a massive increase in urban population, providing for workers and consumers. In 1860, most Americans lived on farms or in small towns. Most women spend much of their day preparing meals since there are no frozen foods and few canned foods.
Begun in England in the early second half of the 1700s, the Industrial Revolution did not reach America till the late 18th century. This revolution brought about a great many changes in American Society. The surge of new ideas, techniques and technologies that was the Industrial Revolution had a great impact on America, not only economically, as one would typically expect, but also socially, politically, and morally. The bringing of the textile mill to America by Samuel Slater was one event that had a great impact on many aspects of American society.
Textile manufacturing in New England expanded and Northerners invested more capital in factories. The plantation economy expanded westward and agriculture remained the mainstay of the Southern economy. To add on, the machines to spin and weave cotton fueled the Industrial Revolution. Due to these machines, demand increased for manufactured goods and employment opportunities increased for unskilled workers. Even the steamboat helped contribute to the growth of the economy because it was crucial to transporting raw materials and finished products.
This revolution, which originated in Great Britain during the 1700s, involved the replacement of human labor with machines in production processes. The production of coal and iron led to the creation of larger furnaces and steel plants, while the textile industry was revolutionized through the introduction of weaving machines. The economy was further transformed with the advent of modern transportation systems like steam engines, railroads, and steamboats. During the period of 1816-1830, the United States underwent its first industrial revolution, marked by the emergence of industrial capitalism, the adoption of a factory system, and the growth of a wage-labor economy. This transformation was further reinforced by the alliance of northern manufacturers and farmers, which played a significant role in the development of the industry.
The late 1800s marked the start of the Industrial Revolution for the United States. Prior to the rapid industrialization, people lived in rural communities and manufacturing was done largely by local craftsmen. After the Civil War, certain needs were emphasized such as the need for faster production, transportation, and better communication. All of these needs were met by the Industrial Revolution due to technological advancements. These advancements had great effects on the structure of cities at the time.
All of these opened up new opportunities for labor and economic expansion. According to the American Yawp, chapter 18, on his visit to Chicago in 1889, British author Rudyard Kipling saw a city emerging with new technologies and was “blinded by greed.” As Kipling visited hotels, he saw they were “crammed with people talking about money, and spitting everywhere.” He visited extravagant churches and spoke with their congregants, Kipling comments, “I listened to people who said that the mere fact of spiking down strips of iron to wood and getting a steam and iron thing to run along them was progress, that the telephone was progress, and the network of wires overhead was a progress (qtd. in The American Yawp).
Even though the Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain, it did not stay there. Eventually, this change in manufacturing spread throughout Europe and to the United States (U.S.). In the United States, production of goods first changed in the New England area. One of the first changes happened in Pawtucket, Rhode Island when Slater's Mill opened in 1793. Samuel Slater was an English-American industrialist.
Between the year of 1865 and the year of 1920, the United States moved towards becoming a more industrialized and developing society. With this change taking place, resulted in improvement with how people live with family and earned money differently. The three major aspects of industrialization during the 1865 and 1920 that influenced the politics, economy and society of the United States are: entrepreneurship, technology, as well as transport and communication network. Entrepreneurship: the period after the Civil War from 1865 to 1920 was characterized by fast economic growth in the country.
The gilded age was one of the most important times historically for America. There were many technological advancements which played a key role into how our lives are now. Some of these advancements were electricity, better railroad systems, and mass production. The first technological advancement of the gilded age was electricity. Electricity allowed factories to power new machines which could produce their products faster than people.
The Industrial Revolution during 1820 to 1870 was of great importance to the economic development of the United States. Without the original support from Britain, Americans began to feel the pressure to industrialize in order to keep up with the demands of Americans. The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain, a country who played a lead role in the United States of America’s transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy. Industrialization was very beneficial to American business owners. The new inventions had led to new thriving industries.
In both the early and late 19th century there were a lot of things that contributed to the growth of America. Economically, during this point in time there was extreme growth. Up to the end of the Civil war, the way people went about life was about to change even more than what has already changed in the last fifty years. Post-Civil war, over 4 million slaves were freed. They migrated and assimilated towards the pacific coast and towards northern states.
