The United States Became an Industrial Power

- Used business strategy called vertical integration, which a company would control every stage of industrial process, from mining the raw material to transporting to product.

Vertical integration is a concept in which a company develops or acquires production units for outputs which are

In the 20th century working conditions were less than favorable. This led to a multitude of strikes and walkouts putting employer against employees. Employers wanted to pay their workers as least as possible all while working them as much as possible. As

Andrew Carnegie, for one, built a giant steel empire using vertical integration, a business tactic that increased profits by eliminating middlemen from the production line. Conversely, John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company used horizontal

Vertical integration is a business growth strategy for economics of scale. It is typified by one firm engaged in different parts of production example; growing raw materials, manufacturing, transporting, marketing, and/or retailing to expand business in existing market for the firm. It can function in two directions both forward integration and backward integration.

The working conditions in early American factories often cost people their limbs or their life. People were severely underpaid, received no benefits or breaks, and forced to work 18+ hours per day without rest. Marxism brought forth new ideas of business structure, and Josiah Wedgewood cornered the market with ideas of vertical integration. Worker’s rights and labor laws became not just desirable, but necessary. The Knights of Labor attempted to reform the entire business model and economics of marketing structures, while Trade Unions fought for rights and regulations to make the current system workable. After the Haymarket Square Riot the Knights of Labor fizzled out after being blacklisted from industry. Though the trade unions suffered a temporary slump, ultimately the numbers prevailed. Times were tough for most people, but it is the struggles of the revolution that led to the labor laws, sanitation laws, women’s rights, and social structures we have today.

The workers had began to rise up; this event seemed to be the final piece to push society together. It was shown that every citizen yearned for their slice of equality and freedom. The authors of Mechanics’ Union Preamble had started the first pretion to raise workers wages, regain the respect of craftsmen embedded in the desensitization from the Market Revolution and obtain equality for all manual laborers. The workers wages were below a sustainable lifestyle, they were unable to support their families or buy the clothes they produced. The low pay came from the business owners taking a large portion of the profits to live in luxury. This separation between luxury and poor started a shift in republican values. The shift caused a feeling of disconnect and inequality in all of the citizens builded from the advancement of technology. When taxes were implemented, the price of travel and food grew. The business owners pockets grew but the worker never received a pay raise. This large divide along side hours of working created tired and unhappy citizens. It also disconnected the workers from their families from long days and exhaustion. The Ten-Hour circular petitioned in the want of ten hour days for happiness and higher quality products. Except the business owners had begun to slander works; saying that more free time will allow their workers to become “drunkards” and

Before the late 1800s, a company could be formed with an owner and possibly have family to take over after they died. But if there were no family members, usually the business died out or just ran out of money. During the late 19th century, corporations began to form. Corporations are made up of many people cooperating and they function legally as a person. Vertical integration requires acquiring all means of production. This is a pricey investment, but ultimately has a huge payoff, when you cease to have costs after that. To use horizontal integration, a company must buy all the other companies that produce the same product.

Nevertheless, workers’ complaints went beyond low wages, as they became increasingly upset at how much autonomy and control over the working process they had lost. This disappointed those who had previously took pride in their work, as well as those who had previously controlled their own working conditions. As a result of these new happenings, workers began forming and joining unions, or labor organizations, in hopes of advancing their cause through collective bargaining, and, if absolutely necessary,

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.

Throughout the American Industrial Revolution, child labor in industries such as textiles, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, laboring, street work, and domestic work was endemic in the United States. Several factors, including mechanization, urbanization, industrialization, poverty, labor shortages, and lack of regulation were the primary causes for this increase in child labor. Children, as young as three years old, worked from sunrise to sunset in factories, mines, fields, and mills where conditions were excruciating. The arduous work resulted in myriad deleterious effects, namely, afflictive injuries, pitiful deaths, and bleak futures. In order to curtail the abusive conditions, numerous people championed the rights of child laborers and ultimately achieved their concordant goal of gaining federal regulation of minimum employment ages, permissible types of jobs, and duration of work hours for youths.

The introduction of factories and assembly lines created more jobs and this intrigued and influenced Americans to move near local factories to begin working. The creation of jobs in textile factories lowered the unemployment rate of the nation, but also gave migrant workers a way of making a living as they could work for cheaper and this outraged the community searching for jobs in the South. With the amount of people desperate for jobs, factory employers could set wages as low as they wanted, knowing that they could always find workers to agree to their terms. With the introduction of high-efficiency assembly lines and factories came the dangerous working conditions that employees had to face while working in factories. Many factories had machines that spat out smoke and this created health risks for many workers as they were covered in black soot at the end of each workday. Even children had to work in these rough factories and many of them developed deformities due to the lack of exercise and sunlight. Another health-related issue of machinery in factories was the amount of machines that had no safety precautions, putting American workers at risk every time they used the machines. Along with these harsh and dangerous work conditions, employees were only allowed two breaks per day; one for lunch and one for dinner. These conditions led to labor unions and protests

“By the 1800s, people could earn higher wages in factories than on farms.” (Industrialization; Case study:Manchester, 723) Although these higher wages made in factories pushed the industrial revolution forward, by being able to afford resources such as coal, factory life damaged its workers and the community by created border between classes. For example, working conditions. Working conditions during this time were extremely poor, and on average, a worker would spend 14 hours a day in factories. Factories were unsanitary, unsafe and generally not enjoyable. “Factories were seldom well lit or clean. Machines injured workers. A boiler might explode or a drive belt might catch an arm. And there was no government program to provide aid in case of injury.” (Industrialization; Case

During the Industrial Era, there were twelve million immigrants who longed for the idea of freedom and to live among the free. Many immigrants came to America to live their lifelong dream, but instead they realized that America was not as utopian as it seemed from afar. America had been a countryside agricultural nation and had transformed into an industrial, urban, fast paced life in the city. There was a sudden change from farms to factories in a matter of years. Immigrants traveling from all over the world to California, New York, Chicago, Florida, and New Jersey, made these cities become the most popular unauthorized populations in the United States of America. More than two-thirds of the immigrants landed in New York. Most of the immigrants came from either Ireland, Germany, or England. A big chuck of their people fleeted because of crops dying due to natural causes, not enough land or job for works, famine, or religious and political persecution. Since 1880 the number of foreign born immigrants increased to nearly 14 million. These immigrants had to work tremendously hard in order to receive a small paycheck in the end of the day to support themselves or their entire family. Rather than being received with welcoming arms, along with a wealthy lifestyle, these immigrants instead found themselves living in a vicious cycle of poverty.

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 in the 1700s. “Most families did not have enough to sell at the market- they had just enough for their own needs.” Up until the factories started booming and employment rates skyrocketed, people really couldn’t become wealthy and live a decent life. As the ways of farming grew the English at the time began to use up more and more land efficiently. “Unusable swamplands could be drained and used for crops.” That’s absolutely amazing that in this era they could turn swamps into areas to raise more crops so they can naturally make more money at the markets and become a bit wealthier. Farming is one of the most important lively hoods of mankind; no matter what argument anyone tries to make. If we didn’t have farming and agricultural production we wouldn’t have all the different sorts of food products we do, nor would they be as abundant. Life would be like it was before the Industrial Revolution came about and most of us would still be growing our own food and barely scraping by in life. With all this agricultural expansion of the time population in England start expanding drastically as well. Thanks to population growth people started to worry more about new inventions and producing stuff for us to make our day to day lives easier than we could have ever before. With all the technological advancements leading up to