Analysis Of David R. Meyer's The Root Of American Industrialization

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David R. Meyer, in his paper “The Root of American Industrialization,” discusses the rise of industrialization and how it ties to agriculture. Meyer claims that agriculture and industry coexist very well with each other, even though it may seem like they should not. One of his arguments for this is that farms, and other working people, provide the demand for manufactured goods as well as creating capital that is utilized by the manufacturers. On the other hand, Meyer argues that railroads and canals played only a small role in industrialization; however, that is not the case. Railroads and canals were important for industrialization because they offered cheap, long distance shipping, and allowed fast and easy transportation of people. Farms …show more content…

Wagons may provide a direct connection between origins and destinations, but they lack the speed of trains. Wagons also can not travel as far as trains, being constrained by the driver and the horses or other animal used to pull the wagon. Trains can, with enough fuel, travel as far as there are rails. Additionally, over longer distances, trains were more economical than wagons. Trains also allowed those goods to reach people long distances away from the factory. Despite the majority of the richest agricultural and industrial areas being relatively close to cities, there were still many people living in more rural areas. Trains would allow manufacturers to more easily reach those

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