A Connecticut minister, Horace Bushnell, once said that the industrialization of the United States north produced a “complete revolution” in Americans’ “life and manners.” The complete revolution that Bushnell speaks of was an era of industrialization triggered by a population growth, an increase in literacy rates, and the development of labor-saving technologies in the northern region of the United States. This dramatic economic and social transformation instigated a series of outcomes, both positive and negative, for the United States during the early to mid nineteenth century. Many aspects of life for United States citizens were changing, such as the growing population in the north. In addition, women and people of color were finding …show more content…
Factories enabled a large number of people to be supervised together and replaced hand tools with power-driven machinery. The availability of factory jobs in the north caused a great influx of workers to the region during this era. One group of people, immigrants, particularly met the demand for labor in the north. Between 1840 and 1860, over 4 million people entered the United States. About 90 percent of these immigrants headed for the northern states where job opportunities were abundant. The new advancements in railroads and steamboats, the increase in commercial farming, and the development of large factories triggered the relocation of multitudes to northern cities. Each one building upon another, the events that took place in the north during the 1800s instigated an extreme growth of cities and urban societies, proving population growth to be a key effect of the industrialization in the United States north. With the center of production moving from households to mass-production, women in America had to alter their way of life. A great number of women followed labor opportunities to the mills, factories, and workshops. For the first time in history, large numbers of women left their homes to participate in the public world. “Mill Girls” were typically young, unmarried women who lived together in boarding houses provided by the factory for which they worked. Lucy Larcom recalls,
Industrialization changed the Northern section of America in unbelievable ways. Americans would gain more jobs in factories, mills and banks, city life was booming, and both woman and men being employed in the cities. Money revenue would be generated and profited in mass production. Transportation became easier with the production of making parts or materials to build roads, steamboats, and railroads. Industrialization would trigger people to become invertors. Inventors seek new ideas of everyday use products to be easier or improve the machines to work faster and longer.
Until the late nineteenth century, the United States was still an agrarian community. As factories sprouted to process the products obtained from agriculture and to manufacture farm equipment, there rose
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.
Industrialization after the Civil War was a period where Industrial city were being built, there were jobs for people and the political aspect was having corruption. In this paper the main points in this paper discussed the major aspects of the Industrialization Revolution, such as groups that were affected by the Industrial society, and the affects the life of the average working American. While the Industrial Revolution was a great turning point in the history of mankind, it led humanity to great technological advancements, middle and lower class, African American rights,
Women’s history in the United States has always been represented as a struggle for rights. Wealth and status were tied to either their fathers or husbands. In the early 1900s, women were afforded the traditional roles of society. The majority of women worked in the home. If they were of the 18% young or poor women, they also worked in factories as laborers, manufacturing items for the booming industrial revolution (U.S. Department of Labor, 1980). During this time period the workplace was not in compliance with current safety standards. There was no minimum wage yet, work conditions were horrible and they worked long hours, “In 1900, the average workweek in manufacturing was 53 hours,” (Fisk, 2003). Women took “pink
Woman along with the children were affected while working during the industrial revolution. During 1834 and 1836 Harriet Martineau, a British feminist and abolitionist, visited America and enthusiastically embraced the social implications of the Industrial Revolution, (DTA, 223). Martineau compared the lifestyle of women to slaves and said the United States contradicted the principles of the Declaration of Independence. She did believe though with some progress that it could become New England’s new industrial order. One of the Mill factories Martineau visited, Waltham Mill, was a prime example of the scheduled lifestyle of women mill workers. Women Mill workers of all ages worked at Waltham Mill, which I compared to a boarding school because of their strict schedules. The ladies had a time to wake up, to be at work, to eat, and to go to school. A lot of women did not mind the harsh conditions they lived and worked in because they fought for their equality of rights for a long time now.
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.
They seeked to work with men in various different trades, professions. and commerce [Document 7]. In addition to women changing the American industrial landscape, manufacturing revolutionized it. At the beginning of the time period, artisanship was mainly how people manufactured goods. They would use their skill from the comfort of their home, with their family [Document 5]. Rising out of innovation, however, was the birth of large manufacturing plants [Document 5]. This produced a cheaper, and faster way to manufacture products; at the expense of weaker, more limited and dependent workers [Document 2]. With this new work class coming to lead the American industrial system, it increased inequality between the worker, and the
In Document A, the majority of the 10,000 workers were young, unmarried women from farm families. The women took on a significant role in the mills; tending the spinning machine and producing cotton textiles. The owners of the mills offered housing and education to increase the interest for women to work. In document C, Sally Rice, a young woman from Vermont, went to look for her own job away from the farm her family owned. She found work as a domestic servant in New York, and then found another job weaving in a cotton mill in Blackstone Valley. She wished to earn her own money and become more independent. In her letters to her family, she describes how great her work is. She said, “I have one of the best homes and good society which is a good deal better than I can have there [at home].” In both of these examples the women became more independent, accepted more responsibility, and untimely became
The Second American Industrial Revolution was a time of great social improvements and advances in technology. It was also a time of great turmoil for the workforce and the lower class. Industrialization allowed the growth in gross national product of the United States, which helped improve the economy (doc 1). The period of advancements that dramatically aided in the growth of America occurred between 1780 and 1860. This growth included movement from rural areas to urban areas. In 1870, 70% of the population lived in rural areas, but by 1910, only 54% lived in rural areas (doc 1). The flight from the farmland and the immigration movement overpopulated the cities. It affected both rich and poor, both natives and immigrants. The Industrial Revolution
After the Civil War, the United States went through a period of rapid industrialization which affected the nation dramatically. Industrial growth, the spread of railroads, the rise of big businesses, and the appearance of labor unions during these decades created a modern industrial economy, and American workers and farmers faced new challenges in adapting to these changes.
Industrialization in the North caused social upheaval with the assistance of transportation innovation and the commercialization of agriculture. Paul E. Johnson uses Rochester, New York in the Antebellum period as a microcosm of the changes occurring in the North. He explains, “The loss of social control began, paradoxically, with the imposition of new and tighter controls over the process of labor.” This control over the process of labor sparked from the need to manufacture more goods
“I shall not stay here… Up before day, at the clang of a bell and out the mill by the bell - just as though we were so many living machines” (Hopkinson 37). Many girls, between the ages of fifteen and thirty-five, worked at textile mills during the Industrial Revolution for eleven to twelve hours a day, with little time to catch their breath and fresh air. The Industrial Revolution started in Europe in the eighteenth century and spread to America during the nineteenth century. Eli Whitney’s invention of interchangeable parts and mass production helped lead the American Industrial Revolution, which started after the War of 1812 and peaked during the 1870’s. During this time period, many factories, mills, and factory cities were constructed, one of which was Lowell, Massachusetts, and employed women because their salaries were lower and therefore cost less. The conditions of the mills and boarding houses that the girls lived in were unpleasant and crowded, and they could easily become ill. Eventually, after the height of the Industrial Revolution, women fought for their rights and better conditions in their workplaces. The Industrial Revolution changed women’s roles in society, as it made jobs that were filled by girls, put them in challenging settings, and united them to work for change in the workforce.
Mark Twain once called Industrialization an, “Era of incredible Rottenness.” Industrialization had both negative effects and positive effects on city life. While big businesses thrived, the gap between the rich and poor grew larger day by day. Progressive reformers sought to close this gap and bring together the nation.
There is no question that the Industrial Revolution had an enormous impact on American society between 1870 and 1940, but the question is what kind of an impact did it have during this period. The overall effect of the Industrial Revolution turned out to be a positive push towards modernization in America. As Stephen Gardiner, a British architect and writer during the 20th century, said, “The Industrial Revolution was another one of those extraordinary jumps forward in the story of civilization.” While Gardiner hit the nail on the head with his quote, the part of the story that most people tend to forget is just how quickly we Americans, made that extraordinary jump forward. There were Americans, who, at one point in their life were