Industrial Revolution Dbq

The Industrial Revolution was a time when the world was experiencing new inventions very often. In the late 1700s, the Industrial Revolution came to America with a man named Samuel Slater, who had memorized a design for a new technology. Slater introduced America to the textile-making industry, building America's first textile mill on Rhode Island. After this, many new inventions and processes surfaced, helping America rise to the top in global economy. This new system of manufacturing overturned America's old agricultural based economy, which means that the Industrial Revolution really was a revolution. This revolution had important effects on the United States, including new manufacturing processes like mass production, and new technologies

Production was relatively slow, as most factories employed skilled workers whom it took days or even weeks to make a single item, such as a shoe. In 1798, this changed forever. Eli Whitney helps develop the idea of interchangeable parts. This is where identical parts that could be swapped for each other were placed in machines. This almost completely replaced the practice of custom-making each part and product, and repairs were much easier. This almost immediately led to mass production, or making as many items quickly at a low labor cost. Each worker made a single part of the whole product, and workers could be less skilled and still work faster than a craftsman. In the steel-making industry, Henry Bessemer came up with the Bessemer process, which removed impurities from iron and steel. This enabled factories to mass produce lightweight steel that was demanded for construction. Mass production of steel gave the United State's an edge on the world market, passing Britain as the world's largest producer. Economically, the value of America's manufactured goods increased to over 13 billion a year, and socially, a large amount of jobs opened up for unskilled workers to mass produce products. The new processes that surfaced in the Industrial Revolution changed the way Americans worked and provided the means for new technologies for

Employers could hire unskilled, common people to make products faster and ultimately cheaper than a skilled craftsmen could. New inventions in manufacturing and industry helped make the South's most important crop cotton, improving trade with Britain tremendously. The steam engine for steamships also cut down time for moving goods from place to place, even fast upriver travel was possible. One of the biggest impact on day to day lives was the improvement of transportation. Besides the steamboat, railroad tracks crossed the country in millions of miles of rails. Railroads moved goods, people, and messages from place to place faster than someone could walk. The development of city subway systems helped people commute, get from one location to another on a regular basis. Overall, the Industrial Revolution changed lives forever, in society and economy terms, classifying it as a revolution. The inventions of the Revolution set the basis for new innovations and improvements to