Industrialization in America Essay

Railroads were faster and cheaper than canals to construct, and they did not freeze over in the winter. Steamboats played a vital role in the United States economy as well. They stimulated the agricultural economy of the west by providing better access to markets at a lower cost. Farmers quickly bought land near navigable rivers, because they could ship their products out to other countries. Due to the foreign trade it helped strengthen the trade relationship between New England and the Northwest. The transportation development had many positive economic changes in the United States.

The phrase ‘Rise Of Smokestack America’ is often used in reference to the industrial revolution during which America’s industrial growth led to the growth of factories and modern cities, the development of social classes due to division of labor and race. During this period, the American labor force transformed tremendously as the nation evolved from a largely agricultural society into a relatively modern society.

America had a huge industrial revolution in the late 1800”s. Many changes happened to our great nation, which factored into this. The evidence clearly shows that advancements in new technology, a large wave of immigrants into our country and new views of our government, helped to promote America’s huge industrial growth from the period of 1860-1900.

America has been expanding and growing since its birth out of Great Britain. The Industrial Revolution has been an influence in the American life since it first began in the 1700s. Many of the effects resulting from the revolution still affect America to this day. The entrepreneurs of this time and their industry still are around, although they have molded and shaped themselves into better products their still known from the originality of it all. Although the Industrial Revolution began hundreds of years ago it has affected everything on a global scale with other nations adapting from the innovations of this era. Economically speaking its increased money for the nation tremendously although the nation in debt to other nations to this day;

Between 1865 and 1920, industrialization caused significant changes in many people’s lives. First, the development of a new railroad system help settle the west and made it more accessible to people. Second, public transit systems in big cities provided an outlet from congested cities. Last, the discovery of a method for transmitting electricity helped to light up our daily lives. I feel that these are three of the most important changes in people’s lives caused by industrialization.

One of the most important goals of transportations in the 1800s was the advancement of industrial growth. Henry Clay, a senator for Kentucky had an economic plan called the American System, with plans for a national bank, improved tariffs, and most importantly, a canal system. The canal system was quickly dominated by railroad, however the canals paid for themselves quite quickly. This was due to the canal's ability to connect the midwest and east coast and cut costs for transporting goods across the US. Steamboats not only allowed for the mass transport of goods on the canals, but they also for human transport, as they could travel from Albany to NYC in around thirty-two hours. As rivers and canals became the commonplace and most efficient way to transport goods cities along the rivers prospered and grew in population and power. Cincinnati for example had its population quadruple in size from 10,000 to 40,000 from 1820-1840 and Louisville's population grew from 10,000 to 60,000 from 1830-1850. Eventually though, canals were made obsolete by development of railroads.

The first steamboat, which came to be known as the Clermont, was constructed by Robert Fulton in 1807. This development in transportation was huge. People could now ride rivers upstream as well as downstream, regardless of winds, waves, or tides. Steamboats were an important invention because they played a vital role in the opening of the West and the South, both of which had many easily navigable rivers. Towns soon began to develop along the banks of often-traversed rivers. Now farmers could ship in and out their produce and any manufactured necessities at a much lower cost.

Transportation began to fuel the American economy during the Market Revolution by adding many different ways to transport goods and to get around the country. These roads were made of mud, which happened to be quite an issue during the different seasons. In the spring,all roads turned to mud, in the summer all roads were dust and in the winter these roads were snow and ice which made it difficult to travel on. The national road was made and was the only road funded by the national government, all of the other roads were funded by private investors. The national road opened up travel through the East and the West, which began to help foster a national community. Canals were starting to expand from not only running North and South, but creating ways to get East and West as well.The farmers began an eight year long project, which was taken over by Irish immigrants and they created the Erie

During the rise of industrialization, the United States had just ended the Civil War and was starting to move on. People had an aspiration at this time to make a more than decent living for themselves, and the economy was at the right spot for this to be possible. This time period in American History is referred to as the Gilded Age, termed by the famous author Mark Twain, which simply means covered in gold; however, Twain did not necessarily mean this in a good way. He believed right under the surface of this gold plating was still problems with the American society that didn’t look so appealing. This essay will discuss how practices during the rise of industrialization during the Gilded Age shaped the American work and labor force.

Surely this was not the first time this came across the governments mind. In 1803 Ohio joined the union the federal government decided that they should help finance road construction, creating a national road from the Potomac River to the Ohio River was an idea Purposed by Albert Gallatin after being delayed numerous times the construction building of this road begun in 1818. When completed their were high tolls but despite that Conestoga wagons, private carriages also cattle’s were taken across the mountains and cost lower than ever to do so. Subsequent to this there steam powered shipping was expanding quickly. Robert Fulton helped make the steam boat come into a reality even if he did not invent it by 1816 river steamers were going up and down the Mississippi and Ohio River all the way to Pittsburgh being be to hold a greater quantity of cargos than what the flatboats, barges and more all combined together. The river steamers motivate the agricultural economy of the west and the south, contributing much easier access to the markets and allowing the eastern manufactures to send good over to the west. Although the steam boats and the roads are running on good progress there were gaps because when the Britain cut the blockade across the Atlantic the roads started to produce

Soon other lines followed throughout the country. Railroads affected almost every aspect of American life. The rapid spread of the railroads provided the basis for a tremendous westward movement of population. It also carried raw material to, and finish product from factories to consumers in a more efficient way (The USA online, n.d.). The railways became highly profitable business for their owners.

In the early 1820s in Early America, water transportations such as the steamboat were becoming the cheapest way of transportation. Robert Fulton and Robert R. Livingston created the Clermont, the first successful steamboat. This was an important technological innovation because it allowed ships to make downstream and upstream trips, unlike the flatboats, which had to be taken apart after reaching their downstream location. Soon, more and more steamboats started to appear, allowing America to save money since they were no longer destroying the ships that they had paid people to build, and by creating a transcontinental market and an agricultural empire, which all improved the nation's economy. Around the 1830s, railroads were starting to replace the use of steamboats and canals.

The United States has always housed two types of people: those who embrace change and those who resist it. From loyalists and revolutionaries in the eighteenth century to democrats and republicans in the twenty-first, changing economic tides and social conditions often spark factions in this nation. In the case of the Antebellum period, new technology and working environments caused turmoil. In a few short decades, the country would be locked in a civil war. However, before that came a series of religious and reform movements. Some of these movements would grow into national conversations, but began first with small groups. In Antebellum America, industrialization caused a breakdown in social structure, especially norms of class, gender, and race. This led to middle and upper class men in the North and the South using similar strategies to resist social change. Industrialization also allowed alternative voices to advocate for entirely new dynamics of power surrounding class, gender, and race.

The American industrial growth is often viewed as a time where many advancements were made in many different fields. While this is true, there were also some terrible occurrences and treatments, which also sparked many positive things, such as the labor conditions and the introduction of new labor laws. Many positive effects, such as rapid advancements and jobs, also had disadvantages, such as the filth in the streets and the terrible living and working conditions of the time. The American industrial growth contributed to the growth of cities, as well as many things such as the railroad industry.

Next introduced were steamboats. Shipping by steamboats was cheaper and faster. If one used a wagon, there was the cost of lifting the cargo off the ground and keeping it there as well as the cost of moving the vehicle forward. A water vessel had the advantage of only having the cost of moving forward because the water lifted the cargo. The shallow draft steamboat, however, could carry large amounts of cargo even against the flow of a river. Robert Fulton's Clermont proved the practicality of steamboats in 1807. The Enterprise was introduced by Henry Shreve in 1814 and proved to be the answer to transportation across shallow western waters. By 1820, there were 60 steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and countless others elsewhere.