How Did The Industrial Revolution Affect The American Worker

As Stephen Gardiner once said, “The industrial revolution was another one of those extraordinary jumps forward in the story of civilization.” The Industrial Revolution was in fact an extraordinary jump in the development of the U.S. It created a foundation for what the U.S is today socially, economically, and politically. The Industrial Revolution played a major role in the industrialization and modernization and still has effects to this day. These effects lead to more trade, better transportation, and modernization. It also had had many negative effects on America and England as well. These effects mainly focus on the social side of the Industrial Revolution. These effects include child labor, unfair wage, poor living conditions and poverty. When both the positive and negative effects are put together as a whole, the positive effects outweigh the negative. Mainly because they had a bigger effect on America and the world as a whole, and still affect us today. Because of the Industrial Revolution wages are more fair, living conditions are better, Manufacturing has drastically improved and children are no longer allowed to work in factories.

Later on, in 1844, we have Fredrick Engels who wrote the book, The Condition of the Working Class in England, in which he argues that the industrial revolution left workers far worse than before. This was a period of mass immigration into cities, it was a period of people wanting work, and also a period of new machines. Many people came to cities looking for new jobs in factories but in reality, came to cities filled with thousands of people and brand new machines who were doing the jobs once done by humans. Engels first talks about spinning and weaving before machinery and how the whole house hold would help in creating clothes. He explains that a man could get on fairly well with their wages because there was no competition really. Then Engels

Being an industrial worker in the late 19th-century in America was not a simple life. Even at the best times the pay was small and the time spent at work was long in dangerous conditions. Most of the money derived in America went to the actual workforce. Women and children suffered the most however, making up the majority of the workers and only receiving a small percentage of what a man could make. Different periods of economic crises tokk the nation by storm, also breaking down the amount of wages from industrial work and increasing the total population of the unemployed.

However the industrial revolution was not all good. The working class had no other option but to turn up at the factories for work. The factory system resulted in over-crowding and unhygienic conditions and also the development of slum areas. Many factory owners who needed cheap, unskilled labour, profited greatly by using children and women to run the machines and because they were small and could fit in tunnels as well not only that they were more suited for factory life because they could adopt more quickly and easily than men. By the age of 6, many children were already working twelve hours a day in factories. These children had no free time to do anything plus they earned low wages. Hardly any of the children went to school they had to work in factories to earn money. Quite a lot of the people who worked at factories got sick and died because of the toxic fumes in the factories. While others were severely injured because the machines didn't have safety guards so many children got killed by machinery when they fell asleep and got caught up in the machines. Many of the children who were orphans, hired by the employers would

The Industrial Revolution occurred in Britain and America around the late 1700’s to 1900. This revolution improved the production of goods using new mechanisms and machines. Human labor was in high demand in order for the highest production rates. Factories employed low to middle-class people that were as young as three years old (Document 9). These workers were benefited with money, shelter, and clothes, but the working and living conditions were not satisfying. The average industrial worker experienced a variety of factors that can be classified as good or bad, including the positive effects of labor, like the shelter, money, and food they were given; and the negative effects of the factory,

The Industrial Revolution that took place throughout the 18th and the 19th centuries had major effects which influenced every aspect of society and life such as, urbanization, imperialism and nationalism. The industrial revolution had an unfathomable effect on shaping the modern world to what it is today. Before the revolution, society revolved around farming and agriculture. There were only two social classes, the nobility and the working class. Little did they know, that their lives were about to change dramatically and continue changing for the next generations to come.

By 1860 the manufacturing industry was growing fast, there were approximately 140,000 factories mostly located in the north with about 1.5 million factory workers. Each worker made a median of 2 real dollars in income per week. As can be seen, 2 dollars isn't much to keep an average family size of 5 persons afloat. Due to this all family members needed to work, including children.Furthermore, Women were happily employed by factory owners because companies could pay them less. Due to their size, children were willingly employed to fix arduous places to approach in factory machines. As a result of all the people

Working in factories was extremely difficult because the work was very monotonous. More or less nine hundred thousand women worked in the textile Industry. The Sweated trade also engaged large numbers of women, the figure almost climbing to a million. Most employers were unbearable in their attitudes towards these working class women and therefore paid very low salaries.

They needed to learn how to adapt to very low pay because they were “ hanging always on the verge of starvation” and if they didn't, they would starve to death. The factory owners treated their workers very poorly, and would have made them work so hard that they suffered greatly from the intense labor the job required In this system of capitalism, Sinclair discussed how it related to slavery; the poor would always be controlled by the rich. The rich tried their best to maintain their high positions by exploiting their workers for lower wages so that they won't be able to save money and break “the system of chattel slavery.” The businessmen and politicians took advantages of the lack of regulations there was. The workers felt oppressed of this system because they were not able to express themselves truly or strike against the factories because they were threatened to lose their

This is when unions came into play, one being The Knights of Labor, the main goal of these unions was to raise wages up to a fair amount so that those who had a full time job would make enough money to survive and not barely scrape by, this is where the idea of “Minimum wage” stems from in our country. Also to increase the work conditions. The working conditions in factories during early industrialization were so piss poor that dying on duty was not an uncommon thing, people were also losing limbs and spreading diseases rapidly through these factories. And if that was not enough they had children working in these jobs as

The Industrial Revolution changed the world forever. From the Industrial period, we had some good outcomes. The Revolution helped by making things faster and not as much hand made items. This led up to the invention of a machine and that helped us advance in technology. There were new advancements in medicine. It increased the wealth and power in Europe and the United States. While

The rise of producing manufactured goods gave birth to the high demand for factory workers. At this time, many families struggled to make ends meet. It was almost mandatory to work in a factory because there were very limited options. The industrial age allowed businesses to replace skilled laborers in an attempt to keep labor costs at a minimum. Although pay varied by gender and age, typical employees made about $6 a week.

There were no labor laws at this time which meant factories could make their own policies and workers were powerless and had no rights. This meant that women and children worked They worked under horrible conditions. It was unsanitary and very dangerous working in factories. All the machines would spit out smoke and, workers got covered in black soot which was bad for their health. Most suffered from lung diseases.

The Industrial Revolution changed the ways by how the world produced its goods. It was the era when the use of power-driven machines was developed. It also changed our societies from a mainly agricultural society to one in which industry and manufacturing was in control. This had many effects on people’s lives.

Though many people know that the working conditions were not particularly great, not all factories were hard on the workers. In an excerpt from a letter written by a young girl working in a textile factory in Lowell, Massachusetts it is stated that she has sufficient food and a good place to sleep. Mary Paul clearly states, to her father, that she enjoys where she works. “I think that the factory is the best place for me and if any girl wants employment, I advise them to come to Lowell.” (Paul, 1846) She says she likes where she works and she likes her boss. This just shows that not all conditions were bad. Some, as a matter of fact, were very good. These good conditions set a basis for other factory workers to compare their working conditions to. They eventually fought for the right to better conditions which then increased the standards