How Did Henry Ford Change American Society

Through his innovations, Henry Ford changed America forever. His innovations are the reason that many Americans’ desires are so readily accessible. Henry Ford’s innovations had a significant effect on American society in the early 1900s and continue to impact twenty-first-century American life. In the early 1900s, the Model T provided affordable and dependable transportation for the average American. Henry Ford’s dream was to build a motor car for the great multitude. It will be large enough for the family but small enough for the individual to run and care for. It will be constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise. But it will be so low in price that no man

One-hundred forty people worked the 150-foot assembly line in which all Ford cars including the Model T and most Ford cars thereafter were built (Goss). Because of the assembly line, Henry Ford was able to reduce the Model T’s cost from eight hundred fifty dollars in 1908 to only two hundred sixty dollars in 1924. Eight hundred fifty dollars and two hundred sixty dollars are equal to twenty-one thousand dollars and three thousand five hundred dollars today, respectively. The common man could not afford the first Model T, but more and more Americans could afford the Model T as time passed (Goss). Assembly-line production also brought in a multitude of new jobs, including jobs for disabled citizens, African Americans, and women that many companies did not originally hire. The new job offers made many families more successful in America because workers in Ford’s factories earned additional income. More families could be successful because the assembly line did not require the labor of experienced workers to operate it (Wicks). Even with the benefits of the assembly line offering many jobs and requiring no prior education, a job on the assembly line was not very interesting and quickly became repetitive. The job caused some workers to give up their jobs and go to work at places that did not use assembly lines. Even with new workers,

The mass production of cars on the assembly line is a major cause of pollution in America today. According to Frank Wicks, Henry Ford’s empire “was built upon the internal combustion engine” (Wicks). The Model T ran on an internal combustion engine, and most cars still do. With these internal combustion engines everywhere they become pollution factories because of the carbon dioxide gas that they release (Curators). On the contrary, the Model T was a positive innovation in putting vehicles’ steering wheels on the left. Before the Model T, every vehicle had right-hand steering. Henry Ford decided to move the steering wheel to the left side because it “gave the driver a better view of oncoming or overtaking traffic when passing or turning left” (Curators). Forthwith, Henry Ford is also a major factor in the development of today’s middle class. Because of the five-dollar work day, Henry Ford’s workers could afford more than economic-class citizens, but they did not have as much money as the upper class. The middle class back in the early 1900s evolved into today’s middle class (Wicks). Today, many average-income people drive luxury cars that are reasonably priced. Without the assembly line, people may not be able to enjoy driving novelty cars. More Americans would most likely be walking and cycling everywhere (Labadie).