Economic Revolution: The First Half Of The 19th Century

Numerous factors brought unity to an adolescent nation which prevailed the confidence Americans needed for self-identity. As rapid mass-communication and transportation became easily available, any individual had the luxury of pursuing a life with personal freedoms just a grasp away. Moving west was made attractive for numerous reasons. For example, shipping products such as beaver fur enable a fashionable trend which sparked a demand in garments. The construction of the Erie Canal in 1825 that connected the Great Lakes with the Hudson River boomed the motivation, whether it was cost effective or not, completing miles into small distances, according to a journalist, “In thirty-six minutes we had passed near three miles, and reached the east of an embankment about 136 chains long across the valley of the Sedaqueda creek”. This economic process boomed with new opportunities for average Americans during the Era of Good Feeling. The early republic also had more busted effects from internal

The late nineteenth century of America was marked by a period of rapid territorial expansion and new urbanization. With innovations such as the telegraph and telephone, companies and businesses were instantly able to communicate across the country and the Atlantic Ocean. By the 1890’s, the five transcontinental railroad lines made it possible for factories and farmers to ship their products all over the United States. America was a leading nation for industrial output, surpassing nations like Great Britain, France and Germany. Due to the rise of factories and railroad demand, two thirds of Americans worked for wages instead of working on a farm, owning a business, or a craft shop.

Towards the end of the late 1700's, America was no longer under custody of Britain, instead it was a large market for industrial goods and without the doubt the world's major source for cotton, tobacco, and other agricultural products. The Market Revolution during this time was a harsh change in manual labor system originating in the south and later spreading world wide. The War of 1812, fought against Great Britain, was a time of rapid improvement in transportation, continuously growth of factories, and important development of new technology to increase agricultural production. A labor evolvement started to occur in America throughout the early 1800's, a drastic shift from an agricultural

Taking place after the Civil War was one of the fastest and most profound economic revolutions that anyone else had ever seen. The Gilded Age, taking place from the 1870’s to the 1890’s, marked a truly remarkable advancement of society to how we know it today. An expanding market for manufactured goods, an abundance of natural resources, availability of capital investment and a growing supply of labor are all reasons that lead to the intense boom within the economy. This, in turn, led to the rapid expansion of factory production as well as mining and railroad construction everywhere in the nation except for the south. America had turned from its old ways of small farms and artisan workshops to a maturing industrial society.

The Industrial Revolution during the years of 1815-1840 in America was the process of moving from handcrafted goods to the production of goods through mass production and machine work. The Industrial Revolution changed the operation of the North, transforming small towns along waterways into booming mill cities but carried negative consequences. These changes came with new opportunities for those who were in search of new work due to the decline of farm work. These people in need of jobs found work in the mills, allowing the mills to mass produce items, bringing in profit for the mill owner to expand to other booming cities. With the new form of life, came many social consequences for mill workers.

Between 18-19th centuries after the Civil War, a chain of events occurred that brought about several changes in the way that people lived and worked in the United States.This period ranges from the time when cities started growing rapidly because human hand labor was drastically changed to machine labor. These events started the American Industrial Revolution, which later affected African American socially, economically and politically. However, many of these changes brought by Industrial Revolution also affected several groups like Workers, Immigrants, and Children e.t.c. This paper will analysis three major effects the Industrial Revolution had on the Society, Economy and Politics of America as well as the above mentioned groups (Backer, n.d)

In 19th century America there were many changes in industrialization and capitalism which impacted the working class. One such change was the rise of unskilled labor; before the industrial revolution most people if not employed in agriculture relied on skilled trade. Meaning people had to have training and skill in order to create merchandise of a higher quality. However, with the rise of industrialization large factories began to take over the production of goods. These big businesses also began to turn to unskilled labor due to the fact that it was easier than hiring skilled laborers. Factories employed unskilled laborers because they were cheap and easily replaceable. This allowed factories to significantly grow in size and dominate the market. Such domination of the market forced the majority of smaller business to close their doors due to the fact that the factories could produce a higher quantity of goods for a smaller price. This affected the working class because their options for employment quickly decreased to the extent that their only option was to work for these big businesses. Due to the fact that unskilled laborers were easily disposable, large factories began to take advantage of their employees. Big businesses would take advantage of their workers by forcing them to work in unsanitary, unhealthy, and even dangerous conditions for very little pay. The life of a working class citizen was a difficult one, and the lives of these workers are reflected in the

The industrialization that occurred in the northern United States during the mid-to- late 1800's drastically changed the face of the working class and the urban landscape. "These years were some in which science and invention progressed rapidly and created a base for growth in all phases of the economy – transportation, communication, agriculture, mining, and manufacturing" (Axinn & Stern, 2005, p. 84). During the war there was an increase in the output of war goods and an increase in prices of food and clothing which encouraged industrialization. Since the demand for labor increased, there was influx of both immigrants from other countries and migrants from rural to urban areas. Industrialization, in conjunction with territorial expansion

Robert Fulton Steamboat Clermont first sailed from New York to Albany in 1807 demonstrating the potential of steampowered commerce, and by 1811 there were steamboats on the Mississippi. The introduction of steamboats set off a mania for canal building between 1800 and the Depression of 1837 which put a halt to most construction, more than 3,000 miles of canals were built. And no state was more instrumental in the canal boom then New York which in 1825 completed the 363 mile long Erie canal linking the Great Lakes, with the Hudson River, which made New York the nation’s premier port. Nathaniel Hawthorne once said that, “the canal is like fertilizer causing cities to spring up along side it (The Canal Boat: Nathaniel Hawthorne Travels the Erie Canal.) The most important new transportation at the turn of the 19th century however was the railroad. The first commercial railroad The Baltimore and Ohio was begun in 1828 and by 1860 there were more than 30,000 miles of rails in the United States (Transportation Developments in the Early Republic.) This improvement is transportation increased demand and supply, and as more people needed more goods the industry of America as we know it now, began to grow.

This made it very hard for the individual states to come up with the money. Usually private investors took care of this issue (Roark, 260). Canals were another way for an increase in transportation. They would connect cities, such as the Erie Canal, which covered the area between Albany and Buffalo and connecting New York City to the area of the Great Lakes (Roark, 261). Railroads also came into the picture with the first railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio in 1829 (Roark, 262).

was awash in an abundance of natural resources from its newly acquired territories, a growing supply of labor immigrating from Europe, and the migration of emancipated African Americans North and West, an expanding market for manufactured goods, and the availability of capital for investment.” Engelman also states, “The Second Industrial Revolution took local communities and their new products out of the shadow of large regional agricultural based economies which was assisted by new labor forces and production techniques.” Throughout the Second Revolution a lot of new transportation inventions came about, such as steamboats, roads, railroads, and the Eerie Canal. These new transportation methods open a whole new door to the American economy because of being able to transport products greater distances. Engelman states, “The transportation revolution opened up new markets for farmers, industrialists, and bankers who could now bring crops cotton in the Mississippi River Valley, wheat in the Midwest, and manufactured goods in upstate New York into a global market based on credit.” Additionally, the development of the railroad caused a decline in the money and time it took to move heavy imports. This opened a new door for wealth being that most Americans lived in farms. A women’s role in society was to stay at home and center their life around their husband, children, and household duties. Turner states, “Second in importance to motherhood was a woman’s

During the 1800s people around the globe began experiencing a different lifestyle and workforce. Before this time, people worked on farms in small villages without any form electricity to be able to provide for their families. All of this began to change when an agricultural revolution, lead by the Dutch, arose. From that point on invention after invention and discovery after discovery was brought into the evolving world. It was a rapid change that really never stopped. To this day, scientists build off the ideas that first commenced in the 19th century.

In the late 1800’s, a thing called Industrialization started to occur. Industrialization is when our economy went from an agriculture (farming) economy to an industrial (manufacturing) economy. There were many very important leaders in the industrialization movement in the late 1800’s. Andrew Carnegie, George Eastman, Henry Ford and J.D Rockefeller were all Captains of Industry and had a big impact on the industrialization movement and made it more positive than negative. Industrialization had a positive impact on American society. The Transcontinental Railroad, the steel industry and the automotive industry all had big advantages during this industrialization movement.

The factory system was gruesome. Samuel Slater established America's first factory in 1790.It was based on an outwork system. The first large-scale American factory was constructed in 1814 at Waltham, Massachusetts. The American System of manufactures relied on the mass production of interchangeable parts that could be rapidly assembled into standardized, finished products. The girls who worked in the mills were called "Mill Girls."Early New England textile mills largely relied on female labor. The growth of immigration was getting pretty popular at this time. Economic expansion fueled a demand for labor, which was met, in part, by increased immigration from abroad. Ireland and Germany were popular states people were immigrating from. Many settled in the northern states. Numerous factors inspired this massive flow of population across the Atlantic. Also, while all this was happening, the introduction of the ocean-going steamship was happening. American religious and political freedoms also attracted many Europeans fleeing from the failed revolutions of 1848. The Irish were refugees from disaster, fleeing the Irish potato famine. They filled many low-wage unskilled jobs in America.

In the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century of England, the Industrial Revolution occurred. It is marked as an important movement in history because it introduced steam-driven machinery, large factories, and a new working class. With new manufacturing, job opportunities opened up. As the demand for employees rose, that is when the working class also began to rise. However, it not only included adults but children as well. The main reason for children to work is because it benefits the employers and their families economically. Employers made profit by having children work for low wages, and the money the children made would go towards the family income and necessities to survive. The low adult wages would not suffice for a neutral family or extended, so children had no choice but to work and help support their family. Although in need of money, there were too many dangers involved when the children were working. As a result of this, the state legislation had Acts passed for the children’s safety. The Industrial Revolution had many upsides in modernizing England, but it also uncovered that children should not be seen as workers needing money, but as young human beings that need education and protection, and the only way to initiate this is with the involvement of the state.