How Has Fordism Changed America?

There is no doubt that Henry Ford had a strong impact on America during the Progressive Era. His Ford Motor Company revolutionized mass production and consumerism through his development of the assembly line. However, many people were opposed to the routinized unskilled labor he employed that caused many of the workers to be easily replaceable. Despite this, Henry Ford still contributed heavily to society. Ford employed thousands of workers at salaries that were unprecedented for that day to those who he thought qualified for them thereby redistributing his own fortune and improving the lives of the lower class. The gospel of wealth describes how “people of great wealth… had not only great power but also great responsibility to use their riches

Other manufacturers were content to target the wealthy American could buy, not even considering the middle or lower class. Ford developed a design and a method of making the cars that steadily and continuously reduced the cost of the car, the car being the Model T. Instead of pocketing the money from the cars Ford used it to make better and more efficient ways to build a car. As a result, Ford Motor Company sold more cars and steadily increased its earnings. Henry Ford somehow managed to change people from the looking at an automobile as a luxury, and more like a convenience

The document “The Social Influence of the Automobile” was written in June of 1922 by Allen D. Albert. In this article Albert is saying that since the creation of automobiles the life has shifted for the better. “…almost without a pause in our thinking have we adjusted our lives to these factors new since yesterday”1 while automobiles brought a drastic change in life as it was, people adjusted to it quickly. In 1920’s cars were available to the general public at an affordable price, therefor offering the public a better, faster way of getting from place to place. Most importantly according to the document cars brought a change in the social aspects of life. With the help of a car travel times were decreased. Cities were now in reaching distance.

1916 Person of the Year: How Henry Ford Changed America In 1896, when the people of Detroit saw a noisy self-propelled vehicle rolling down the street, no one knew that the driver would go on to change the lives of Americans forever. In 1876, 32 years before creation of the Model T, and 38 years before the announcement of the five-dollar, eight-hour day, Henry Ford was 13, fixing things on his farm and his neighbors’ watches, and intrigued by steam engines. Exactly twenty years later, he had built his first car. Just five years later, he was building racing cars and winning races, and in 1902, he had formed his first successful company, Ford and Malcomson, Ltd. How did Ford go from a simple tinkering mechanic to a competitive businessman in just twelve years?

The trip could take days.” This proves that it took a long time to travel before people could afford the Model T. People did not move very far very often so they had to live close to their school or work. The automobile created positive changes in American lives. “With their new

He theorized that the U.S. economy was heavily inefficient and as a result was beginning to slow down. He instituted many new government policies that were built upon this idea. Brave New World demonstrates this efficiency policy into the society’s main economy. The government controls most enterprises and believes that inefficiencies would slow down the economy. Automation and technology are utilized whenever possible.

Henry Ford revolutionized the way people traveled throughout the nation of the United States. A short time after the first model T rolled off of the assembly line, Mr. Ford found the need to create a vehicle that would ease the burden of caring for the horses that pulled the wagons and saved time for his fellow workers. The model T pickup was born! No more horses to care for, no more strapping the carriage to the horse, and defiantly no more poop to scoop. How did Mr. Ford create so much value for the people? By recognizing there was a need to take care of, a want to fulfill, and a demand to meet.

Second, the development of new public transit systems, was important in shaping the design of our cities and the growth of our cities by enabling people to move further away from the inner city. Early on, large cities had very little and inadequate transportation. Their main source of transportation were horse drawn wagons and walking. As a result, most people lived or took housing near downtown, which was where most of the working establishments were located. This made the big cities very congested. However with the breakthrough of the “el”, electric streetcars, and subways, around 1867, cities began to open up more. Those who were fortunate enough to move out of the slums and into better surrounding neighborhoods, did so. The more affluent of the white-collar classes moved into the suburban areas. In contrast, many of the very wealthy continued to live in city mansions. The new transit systems in most cities allowed people to escape the chaos of urban life and provided potential for growth of our cities.

Henry Ford decided to take the risk of pursuing his dream of machines when he left the family farm in 1879 to work at a car company in Michigan. He believed he had more of an interest in machines than he did in farming, but his father thought differently. Ford’s father wanted him to follow his footsteps on the farm, but unfortunately, it did not turn out in his

First, mass motorization and increased road standards were results of inappropriate urban planning. Every two households in the US had one registered automobile on average in the mid 1930s, which is earlier than many European countries. According to this high rate of motorization, high road standards were developed by planners and engineers quickly, and cities adopted to this pattern easily. After the mortgage policies in the 1950s (1), the interstate systems destroyed urban neighborhoods and created divided urban systems by using wide big roads, so urban sprawl increased. Also, low vehicle taxes and gasoline prices reduced the cost of driving, and increased this car travel demand over time. Additionally, the government subsidized most of the gas taxes, tolls, and registration fees, and the result was the lack of public transportation in many US cities. Especially after World War II, privately owned transit systems increased ticket prices, cut services, and prompted people to own a private car. In 1970s, some of the US cities started to promote walking and cycling with appropriate amenities (1), but it was not enough to change people’s travel behaviors. Lastly, maybe most importantly, zoning laws do not allow mixed land-use planning which facilitates shorter trips between amenities in most of the US cities. Zoning laws, also requires a minimum number of parking lots per usage, rather than the maximum numbers of limited parking such as most European

The automobile industry put American citizens into action. Mass production was a big component in the success of automobiles. Although successful, it became very repetitive. Skilled workers who were once worshipped, were no longer needed. Henry Ford was described as racist, bitter, but he brought success to citizens in the 1920s. Ford started the Ford Motor Company in 1903 with the help of a limited amount of workers in a shed. It was not until 1914 where custom-made cars turned into many cars, such as the Model T, moving down an assembly line. The Model T was a very popular car that benefitted cheap labor and easy mobility for its owners. Ford became a billionaire from the help of the federal government’s actions. At this point, the government decided that funds should be spent more on roads. Automobiles introduced

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the automobile was considered an expensive, custom made, consumer product that only the wealthy could afford to dazzle themselves with. In fact, in 1895 there was a report of only 300 cars in the United States, but that number grew dramatically in the years to come to nearly 1.7 million by 1914 (Car History, n.d.). This increase was due in part by two major shifts in the American society; the new consumer economy and the ideas that every family in America should be able to afford an automobile. Henry Ford was a large contributor to this massive increase in the United States and would make changes to the automobile industry that

Second, the development of new public transit systems, was important in shaping the design of our cities and the growth of our cities by enabling people to move further away from the inner city. Early on, large cities didn’t really have public transportation. Their main source of transportation were horse drawn wagons and walking. In conclusion, most people lived near on in the downtown area, where most of the working establishments were located. Because of this, it made big cites crowed and congested. With the breakthrough of the “el”, electric streetcars, and subways, around 1867, cities began expand more. Those who were fortunate enough to move out of the dirty cities and into better neighborhoods surrounded outside the city, did so. The new transit systems in most cities allowed people to escape the chaos of urban life and provided potential for growth of our cities.

A man that went by the name of Henry Ford, once said, “I invented nothing new. I simply assembled the discoveries of other men behind whom were centuries of work…” The Ford Motor Company is an American continental automobile maker founded by Henry Ford on June 16, 1903. During the 1920s, this firm marketed automobiles that were reliable, low-cost, easy-to-operate and easier-to-fix device for the masses (Rise of the Automobile). In addition, the Ford Motor Company led the world into the expansion and refinement of the assembly line; revolutionizing our society to greater heights through its mobile products. Meanwhile, the company’s contributions benefited society through the means of the renovation of the suburbs and the invention of new services. Like no other during the 1920s, the Ford Motor Company supplied to the boom of innovations; marking its footprint to a superior society.

Henry Ford was a man who came from a farming family in Michigan. He felt that the best people were the “simple, plain, hard-working people”(American). In all of his actions, we see him as a man who takes care of those like himself. However, the worst people were those who he felt were in control, in this case, the rich. In his eyes, the common man contributed the most to society.His love for the everyday people fueled his desire to help them live a better life, this can be seen in both positive and negative ways. For one Ford created the Model T to be affordable, at only $850 and of quality material, many ordinary people wanted and could afford to buy his cars. He also shorten the workday, from 9 to 8 hours, and gave workers better pay, a $5.00 wage increase(American). On the other hand, we see that he felt he knew what was best for people. To make sure workers were living proper American lives, the Ford Sociological Department, a division of the company used to pry