The industrial revolution reshaped America’s cities, society and way of life in the 1800’s. America is what it is today because of this shift from farmers, craftsmen, and merchants to factory workers, working middle class, and the wealthy class. News ways of transporting goods by using canals, steamboats and trains helped jump start the revolution. The invention of the cotton gin reshaped American slavery, shifting it to the Deep South. The rise of factories led to a new working class of semi-skilled and unskilled workers. All three of these things are responsible for the industrial revolution and bring America in the modern world of today. The industrial revolution first began in the late 1700’s in Great Britain then after a year decades …show more content…
Cities grew simply because that’s where the jobs were. Poor immigrates settled into cites looking for work and often took low end factory jobs to get by. Between 1840 and 1860 4.2 million immigrates moved to the United States, mostly Irish and Germans (Lecture 11). The Irish, who were fleeing the great famine, came to America looking for a new start (Lecture 11). Arriving with little money and no skills, outside of agriculture skills, had to take low paying factory jobs and live in the slums (Lecture 11). The Irish took jobs native American didn’t want like building the railroad and canals, common laborers, servants, longshoremen and factory operators (Give Me Liberty 335). While the Germans who were fleeing political upheaval, arrived with a little more money in their pockets were able to buy land and start their own business (Lecture 11). They established themselves as craftsmen, shop keepers, and farmers and lived in tight knit communities in eastern cities (Give Me Liberty …show more content…
A class system began to appear with a well-defined wealthy class, middle class, and working class. The wealthy class replaced gentry’s, and now you could rise to wealth instead of being born into it. In 1850 the wealthy class, which was 10% of the population, controlled 70% of the wealth. (Lecture 11). A distant middle class made up of lawyers, doctors, teachers, clerks, accountants, and other office employees, appeared during this time (Give Me Liberty 348). The middle class had women who stayed at home and manage the household and men were expected to work (Lecture 11). The middle class was often drawn to evangelical religions and were the driving force of the temperance movement (Lecture 11). The working class made up the rest of the class systems, these were the low wage, unskilled workers, mostly made up of immigrates and blacks (Lecture
In the middle of the nineteenth century, several factors contributed to the growth and expansion of cities in the United States. The 1850s saw a fantastic peak in the immigration of Europeans to America, and they quickly flocked to cities where they could form communities and hopefully find work1. The rushing industrialization of the entire country also helped to rapidly convert America from a primarily agrarian nation to an urban society.
(Bailey) Overall, the Industrial Revolution brought more money to North America which caused the country to flourish and it kept the country alive and helped it grow to what it is today. The Industrial Revolution, in my belief, was the most important thing that ever happened to America. The country needed money and the Industrial Revolution brought the money it needed. The cities began to grow because of the people moving to the factories. The number of jobs also grew and this was good for the society.
The Industrial Revolution was the major advancement of technology in the late 18th and early 19th century that began in Britain and spread to America. The national and federal government helped the United States grow into a self reliant nation with improvements in transportation, technology, manufacturing and the growth of the population. Americans had an economy based on manual labour, which was replaced by one dominated by industry and the manufacture of machinery. It began with the expansion of the textile industries and the development of iron-making techniques, and trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways. One of the first to kick off, was the textile industry.
The Industrial Revolution has brought a major transformation to the American society. New technologies and advancements changed the way Americans viewed their world. Gender issues, social class, immigration, relations with Native Americans, and slavery were either positively or negatively impacted by the revolution. Nevertheless, the United States’ huge step toward progress during the Industrial Revolution made a lasting impression in American society.
The industrial revolution was a huge thing in the 1800’s. The industrial revolution was when there were many new technological breakthroughs, such as medicine and new inventions that helped people. There were many new things that people could use that would change the way that these people lived their lives. Because the industrial revolution happened, Americans today can still use these inventions and use that knowledge and innovate them to make it better. One such device is the cotton gin patented by Eli Whitney in 1794.
The Industrial Revolution was a time of great inventiveness and insight which would change the world, forever. Machines were being developed that did not require manpower or horsepower, and did work at a far greater output than its human counterparts could ever hope match. Likewise, thanks to the inventions of mass transit resources, products, and people were being transported across the country in greater numbers, at far greater rates. Of course, this in turn had great impact, not only on the American’s whose world was built through these new machines and factories, forged in the Industrial Revolution, and who, themselves, came to enjoy the products of such inventions; It also had tremendous effect on how American society came to view
The Industrial Revolution was a time for prosperity and a multitude of technological advancements throughout America. Through good and bad times that this period brought America displays true success through many different aspects. New technology and key inventions were important at the time such as the spinning jenny, steam engine and power loom, these inventions allowed for work to be done more efficiently and eventually factorie were developed to house these machines as more developed. As factors were created and become more popular the urbanization of cities came about, pulling more people into cities to work. More jobs were offered and the population in cities rose due to the high demand for workers in the newly created factories.
In the 18th to 19th century the American Industrial Revolution took place changing the American people’s lives for generations to come. Before the Industrial Revolution took place most American jobs were mainly not within the industrial field. Most Americans were farmers, carpenters, millers, blacksmiths, and apothecaries. This meant that most of the jobs were hands on and hard work, rather than being industrial and machinery work. Industrial change brought many Americans more job opportunities as well as a possible increase in income. This change, brought on by the Industrial Revolution, shaped America to be a large technologically advanced country, made the American society change immensely, and changed the American economic standing for
By industrializing, we can focus and work more on the efficiency of certain processes, and make things easier to do, as well. Out of this came new inventions from all over the United States. Some of these inventions were the steam engine (improved by James Watt), and the cotton gin (by Eli Whitney). These two inventions in particular allowed for faster transportation and a much faster agricultural harvest, allowing for
The American Industrial Revolution was a big turning point that changed the United States citizens from agricultural people to industrial. They moved to the city and they work in factories and on machines. This transition led to reduce the cost of production caused a dramatic change in the nation’s economic history, reducing the cost of production leading to mass and cheaper items for Americans.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, America’s society experienced drastic changes that transformed the country as a whole. Some of the changes that occurred during this time included migration and immigration, changes in the roles of the government, and the rise of imperialism. However, while these changes caused major impacts on the United States, industrialization impacted America more drastically than any other change that occurred. Industrialization changed the lives of citizens during this historical period of time, and the changes that occurred can still be seen in the way America functions as a society today. Therefore, industrialization was the aspect of American society that changed the most during the 19th and 20th centuries due to
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, transport, and technology had a profound effect in North America. The industrial revolution marked a major turning point in history because it changed every aspect of life in America and the country as a whole. People started replacing ploughs and other tools for machines that could do twice the work. While others moved to large cities and started working in factories and other businesses. Huge industries such as the textile, steel, and coal industry came out and had a profound effect on the industrial revolution but, they would not have been extremely successful if it was not for railroads. The railroads played a vital role in the development and success of other industries. The railroads triggered the biggest leap in transportation in history. Through technological and entrepreneurial innovations and the creation of steam-powered locomotives, the development of trains as public carriers of passengers and freight, brought forth the railroad. The railroad industry changed the nature of production because it became an important energy source that replaced human and animal power. Due to the important role of the railroads, workers became more productive, items were being shipped more quickly, and resources were becoming available to everyone including the working and middle class and not only the wealthy. The railroads became to be known as one of the biggest leaps of transportation in history. This is because it set up the next fifty years of America’s prosperity. The railroads became extremely popular and useful during the 1800’s to millions of people and other large companies. Although there were many indu...
The industrial revolution of 17th and 18th centuries saw the transformation of Britain from a Neolithic nation into an industrious nation. However, this spread quickly throughout the world, introducing the modernisation of agriculture, revolution in power and manufacturing of textile.
Social Consequences: Although the Industrial Revolution caused a drastic increase in the industrial production, the impact was not as positive socially. The two most significant social consequences of the First Industrial Revolution are the impact on the families and the hardships of relocating to find employment. In the first 60 years of the Industrial Revolution the quality of life for many people decreased.
In the U.S., the period between 1820 and 1840 marked the introduction of the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution marked a significant technological change for Western Europe and the United States. It meant the big switch from an agricultural society to a modernizing society based on factory production. This switch obviously meant the introduction of machines into the workplace, and the transformation of labor to fit the operation of these machines.