James Masinelli

Professor Hebertson
History 1700

The Industrial Revolution in the United States.

Frist beginnings:
The Industrial revolution: the totality of the changes in economic and social organization
characterized chiefly by the replacement of hand tools with power-driven machines, as the power
loom and the steam engine, and by the concentration of industry in large establishments.
(Source 1 Websters dictionary.) (Refer to sources page for full citation information) The United
States industrial revolution happened shortly after the British industrial revolution. It was the
movement of the manufacturing and industry from the home to industrial manufacturing centers.
These centers were powered by new forms of energy: coal, steam, and water. In America the
industrial revolution happened at the end of the eighteenth century. The first industrialist in
America: Samuel Slater, an apprentice in Brittan, built the first yarn spinning factory in the
United States. Founded in Beverly Massachusetts in 1793, the mill was built out of Slaters firsthand knowledge of similar mills in Britain. (Source 2 loc.gov.) In Britain they called Samuel
Slater: Slater the traitor, because he brought the more or less secret techniques to the united
states stopping Brittans monopoly on many products. (Source 2 loc.gov.) As a business man he
was able to profit from this mill and the other twelve he opened latter making him 1.2 million in
todays money. The mill was able to produce much more yarn than any normal spinning wheel
because it was powered by a stream in Beverly making it able to spin yarn day or night. This is a
strong characteristic of the industrial revolution. The movement of industry from man or beast
power to other forms of energy made things easier and cheaper to produce. (Source 2 loc.gov.)

James Masinelli
Professor Hebertson
History 1700

Inventions crucial to the industrial revolution:

The period historians say was the United States industrial revolution was from 1820 to
1870 with a series of very important invention leading up to and through it. One very important
invention was Eli Whitney's cotton gin, reducing the labor and price in cotton. It made the
tedious process of removing seeds from cotton fiber nearly labor less. (Source 3 History.com)
This enabled profitable cultivation of short staple cotton (a type of cotton easy to grow in
America but hard to clean.). Making it possible to be grown in the interior uplands and processed
on the farm for resale. Resulting in a dramatic expansion of cotton cultivation throughout the
Deep South. (Source 3 History.com.) Another very important invention was the steam engine.
The steam engine is an engine that uses heated water to perform work. In 1781 James Watt
patented a steam engine that produced a continuous spinning motion. (Source 4 thomasnet.com)
This was not the first steam engine invented but is considered the first steam engine made for
manufacturing purposes. Watt's ten-horsepower engines enabled a wide range of manufacturing
machinery to be powered. The engines could be taken and run continuously as long as a source
of coal or wood, and water could be found. By 1883, engines that could provide 10,000 horse
power had become possible. Steam engines could also be applied to vehicles such as carriages
and railway locomotives. The stationary steam engine was a key component of the Industrial
Revolution, allowing factories to be located where water power was unavailable. (Source 4
thomasnet.com) Lastly the spinning jenny was invented in 1764 by James Hargreaves in
Stanhill, Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire England. (Source 5 softschools.com) It allowed multiple
spindles of thread to be made at once and when multiple jennies were strung together and
powered by a motor production increased exponentially.
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James Masinelli
Professor Hebertson
History 1700

Start of the industrial revolution and Industrialists:

During the first half of the nineteenth century the United States doubled in size and
became very rich in natural resources. Families grew larger and cheap labor was abundant from
young Americans and slaves. Brittan was coming out of its industrialization and needed raw
materials, pumping cash into farmers and the United States as a whole. The abundances of
capital and labor created a rich environment for an entrepreneur to start new businesses with the
new industrious inventions recently created. The American industrialists were ready to take
risks to make their businesses successful. Andrew Carnegie established the first steel mills in the
U.S. to use the British Bessemer process for mass producing steel, becoming a titan of the steel
industry in the process. (source 2 loc.com) Other industrialists, including John D. Rockefeller,
merged the operations of many large companies to form a trust. American inventors like
Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Alva Edison created a long list of new technologies that
improved communication, transportation, and industrial production. Edison made improvements
to existing technologies, including the telegraph while also creating revolutionary new
technologies such as the light bulb, the phonograph, the kinetograph, and the electric dynamo.
Bell, meanwhile, explored new speaking and hearing technologies, and became known as the
inventor of the telephone. (source 2 loc.com) Cornelius Vanderbilt was born on May 27, 1794,
in the Port Richmond area of Staten Island, New York. He provided the first rail service between
New York and Chicago. When he died in 1877, Vanderbilt had amassed the largest fortune
accumulated in the U.S. at that time. Vanderbilt is deemed one of America's leading
businessmen, and is credited for helping to shape the present-day United States. (Source 6
Bio.com)
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James Masinelli
Professor Hebertson
History 1700

Working through the industrial revolution:

The industrial revolution changed Americans lives forever. Previously, they might have worked
for themselves at home, in a small shop, crafting raw materials into products, or being a
substance farmer. When Americans took the new industrial jobs, they were working for a large
company. The repetitive work often involved only one small step in the manufacturing process,
so the worker did not see or appreciate what was being made furthermore the tedious task made
people susceptible to repetition injuries. (Source 2 loc.com) The work was often dangerous and
performed in unsanitary conditions. Some women entered the work force, as did many children.
Child labor became a major issue. Dangerous working conditions, long hours, and concern over
wages and child labor contributed to the growth of labor unions. In the decades after the Civil
War, workers organized strikes and work stoppages that helped to publicize their problems.
(Source 2 loc.com) Similar episodes occurred more frequently in the following decades as
workers organized and asserted themselves against perceived injustices. The new jobs were in
the cities. Thus, the Industrial Revolution began the transition of the United States from a rural to
an urban society. Young people raised on farms saw greater opportunities in the cities and moved
there, as did millions of immigrants from Europe. Providing housing for all the new residents of
cities was a problem, and many workers found themselves living in urban slums; open sewers
ran alongside the streets, and the water supply was often tainted, causing disease. These
deplorable urban conditions gave rise to the Progressive Movement in the early twentieth
century; the result would be many new laws to protect and support people, eventually changing
the relationship between government and the people. (Source 2 loc.com)

James Masinelli
Professor Hebertson
History 1700

The Industrial revolution

Americas economy changed very quickly during the industrial revolution in a revolving
cycle of supply and demand of labor, money and materials. The various industries grew out of an
abundance of, labor, raw materials, and machinery as a result the new manufactures took
advantage of all of those resources. To understand the economy we have to look at what was
going on in the world to affect the economy. As mentioned before Brittan was pumping money
into the United States buying raw materials allowing the banking, and investment sector to grow.
As the finance sector grew people like J.P. Morgan and others made billions of dollars
reinvesting his banks money in America. This influx of money helped spur the economy starting
our own industrial revolution. (Source 4 thomasnet.com) When Eli Whitney created the cotton
gen it allowed farmers to produce more cotton; making them more money. Because they could
create more usable cotton, cotton prices dropped. When cotton prices dropped Samuel Slater was
able to make yarn and fabric even more cheaply selling it to the general public and in bulk to
other clothing factories. These clothing factories made clothes cheaper than people could make
them at home stopping the need for this in home industry. Soon many products that were once
made in the home were cheaper to buy than make in home. So the demand rose. As the demand
rose for these products but the need to stay home and make them lessoned people moved to the
cities to find jobs to buy these products. As people had money to buy all the new cheap products
the demand rose again. They hired more factory workers, product demand rose again. Very
quickly all aspects of the economy grew substantially and made the United States economy a
driving economic force in the world. The industrial revolution changed our economy into the
well-organized, yet complicated system it is today. (source 2 loc.com)
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James Masinelli
Professor Hebertson
History 1700

Benefits Americans got from the industrial revolution:

As an effect of industrialization, many people prospered and increased in personal class and
wealth. America and Americans gained a spirit of creating your own path in the world everyone
started trying to better themselves rather than just being farmers or tradesmen. The new found
influence America had on the world increased our since of pride and patriotism. (Source 7
Apecsec.org.) Factories that produce quality products have increased in numbers rapidly. The
production rate is multiplied because of the innovation in machinery. Employment rate sky
rocketed feeding the never ending cycle of money and mixing of the economy. As a result of the
mass production of goods, the price of products decreased resulting in enhanced quality living.
It provides life full of comfort and convenience. (Source 7 Apecsec.org.) All aspects of
industry was changed to be more efficient and produce more helping America grow in power
every day. The industrial revolution also helped connect both ends of the country together
through railroads and telegraph lines. People could travel across the country in 7 days compared
to months of travel. Internal combustion engines were created along with cars and motorcycles.
The new forms of travel open new areas and opportunities to all people. Comfortable, strong
and cheaper houses were built every day. Cheaper and fashionable clothes were designed. New
appliances were invented and upgraded slowly as time passes by. It made peoples lives
infinitely easier. (Source 7 Apecsec.org.) The new products allowed many engineers and
inventors to work solely on making new inventions thus increasing quality of living or
production.

James Masinelli
Professor Hebertson
History 1700

Disadvantages America gained from the Industrial revolution:

The idea of productivity came into its own in the Industrial Revolution, which was a two-edged
sword, While making nations more productive than ever before, providing more and more
cheaper goods to people, leading naturally to the assembly line that Ford pioneered, it also
created appalling working conditions for people just in terms of time spent on the job and
expectations of productivity. The invention of electricity exacerbated this, making it possible for
people to work even longer hours, indeed, around the clock. As we all know now, this is simply
not good for anyone. Second, from an environmental perspective, the Industrial Revolution was a
disaster, with a direct line from that era to today's era of global warming. The use of fossil fuels
increased exponentially during this time, with no awareness of the consequences for our health
or for our planet. And in fact, right now, as we speak, other nations are experiencing their own
Industrial Revolutions, increasing their use of fossil fuels, further contributing to climate change
problems. We, of course, were able to have this revolution without guilt, since we did not know
any better, and now that we have reaped the benefits of it, it seems unreasonable to deny these
benefits to other nations, an interesting environmental quandary. (Source 8 enotes.com) The
Industrial Revolution brought huge numbers of people out of the countryside and into big cities
to work in factories. Their jobs were often dangerous. The cities were very dirty and dangerous,
in terms of health hazards and in crime. People were often disconnected from the extended
families who had previously helped them with their lives. (Source 8 enotes.com)

James Masinelli
Professor Hebertson
History 1700
Sources:

1. Gove, P., & Webster, I. (1993). Webster's third new international dictionary of the English
language, unabridged. Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster.
2.

The Industrial Revolution in the United States. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2015, from
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/primarysourcesets/industrialrevolution/pdf/teacher_guide.pdf

3. Cotton Gin and Eli Whitney. (2010). Retrieved November 19, 2015, from
http://www.history.com/topics/inventions/cotton-gin-and-eli-whitney
4. Industrial History: The History of the Steam Engine. (2011). Retrieved November 19, 2015, from
http://www.thomasnet.com/articles/custom-manufacturing-fabricating/steam-engine-history
5. Industrial Revolution Timeline. (2012). Retrieved November 19, 2015, from
http://www.softschools.com/timelines/industrial_revolution_timeline/40/
6. Cornelius Vanderbilt Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2015, from
http://www.biography.com/people/cornelius-vanderbilt-9515195#synopsis
7. Thomas. (2014, March 30). Apecsec.org. Retrieved November 19, 2015, from
http://apecsec.org/pros-and-cons-of-industrial-revolution/
8. aplan, L. (2014, November 24). What were the advantages and the disadvantages of the
industrial revolution? - eNotes.com. Retrieved November 19, 2015, from
http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/hello-every-body-could-anyone-please-tell-me-form427673