Industrial Development-

• A large concentration of many people in cities + transportation improvements + communication revolutions = more potential customers for a particular product

  • More demand = system of mass production (used new tech “labor-saving machines” to produce more, sold at a lower price to more people -> higher profits)

  • Water-powered mills and coal-powered steam engines- Industrial Revolution

  • Industrial Revolution- centered on the invention of the steam engine, important!!!

  • Before 1800, most products were made by hand by artisans, and the development of textile machinery (factories, mills, mines, industrial plants) began to replace many artisans.

• American Technology

  • During the 19th century- new inventions soared, US Patent office approved numerous new inventions by the 1850s compared to the 1800

  • Inventions generated dramatic changes

    • 1844- Charles Goodyear patented the process of vulcanizing rubber (making it stronger, elastic, water & winterproof)

      • Used in shoes, boots, seals, gaskets, hoses, and later tires

    • 1846- Elias Howe patented the sewing machine design, later improved on by Issac Singer (founded a company, initially produced only industrial sewing machines in textile mills, offered home use sewing machines, increasing the leisure time for many women (decreased time sewing)

  • Technological advances improved living conditions

    • Houses could be larger, have better heat, and illuminated

    • First sewer systems helped clean cities (rid of animal & human waste in streets)

    • Mechanization of factories- faster produced w/ less labor, machines produced standardized parts later assembled by unskilled wage workers

    • Machine-made clothes using standardized forms- fit better, were less expensive

    • Machine-made newspapers/magazines were more abundant and affordable (as well as clocks, watches, plows, guns, etc)

  • The Cotton GIn- by Whitney, drastically decreased the amount of time needed to separate cotton fibers from seeds

    • The increased importance of cotton- wealth to southern planters & merchants AND NE textile mill owners and NY shipowners and cotton traders.

    • Reduced the cost of producing cotton yarn, clothes affordable to everyone; cotton became America’s biggest export

    • Southern cotton boom benefited- development of textile mills in NE< expanded shipping fleets of NYC, made southern ports extremely profitable region and nation

    • Expanded slavery (Cotton = labor-intensive crop, needed people that were powerless in American society aka. enslaved people- who suffered through harsh conditions and abuse- enslaved people became more valuable.

  • Farming the Midwest-

    • More population lived west of the Appalachian Mts (flat fertile farmlands enticed farmers from rocky soils in NE and overused soils in VA

    • National Land Law of 1820 reduced the price of federal land (but westerners were unsatisfied)

      • They demanded “preemption” - the right of squatters to buy land at a minimum price and “graduation” - continuous reduction in the price of land that did not sell immediately

    • Preemption Act of 1830

      • Passed by Congress, squatters could get 160 acres at a minimum price

    • Graduation Act of 1854- prices of unsold land were to be lowered in stages over thirty years

  • Technology allowed greater agricultural productivity

    • Development of durable iron plows (instead of wooden ones)- Jethro Wood in 1819 introduced iron plow with separate, easily-replaceable parts

    • Vermonter John Deere’s steel plow (1837)- sharp edges to cut through tough grass in MW (became widely distributed and made by 1845)

    • Other tech improvements quickened the growth of commercial agriculture

      • mechanical seeders replaced the process of sowing seeds by hand

      • McCormick reapers- Virginian Cyprus Hall McCormick invented a mechanical reaper pulled by horses to harvest wheat

      • EXTREMELY SIGNIFICANT to the agricultural economy replaced muscle power with mechanical power- McCormick reapers sold extremely fast- transformed the scale of commercial agriculture.

  • Early Textile Manufacturers

    • Industrial capitalists who financed and built the first factories were significant bc they altered the nature of work and dynamics of workers’ communities (hours, work environment, supervision)

    • Mills and factories were initially powered by waterwheels, then coal-fired steam engines- water to coal as energy quickened the growth of industries and initiated Industrial Revolution that would end Britain’s domination in the global economy

    • Britain’s advantage was mainly the steam engine (1705), improved by James Watt (1765), and other carefully guarded inventions that mechanized the production of textiles (guarded industrial secrets, forbid the export of machines or publicans of descriptions, restricted emigration of skilled mechanics)

    • 1789, Samuel Slater arrived in England with a plan of a water-powered spinning machine, planning to build a mill in RI (worked by the “putting-out system”- women weave yarn into clothes at home

    • Output ⅙ of Britain, growth rate was slow until the embargo in 1807 (forced more domestic production)

    • After the war of 1812, British textile companies blunted America’s industrial growth with cheap cotton cloth to regain customers (nearly killed the textile industry in the US; delegate in NE demanded federal tariff to deter British from selling cloth for less in the US

      • Import tariffs forced consumers to pay a higher price for imported goods, but it would lead to them having to pay a higher price for domestic goods as well (businesses have opportunities to raise prices)

      • Tariffs helped against foreign competition, but… NE shipping companies opposed tariffs (reduced goods in their vessels); Southern planers opposed tariffs (fear of Britain and French tariffs on tobacco/cotton in revenge)

    • Congress passed the Tariff of 1816- a tax of 25 cents on every yard of imported cloth (impeded foreign competition = American manufacturers dominate the national market

• The Lowell System- Textile mills in which the mechanized processes of spinning yarn and weaving cloth were brought together

• 1822- Boston Associates led by Francis Cabot Lowell developed another cotton mill, which became a model for mill towns throughout NE

  • Sought to improve industrial efficiency and develop ideal industrial communities (avoid terrible conditions of overcrowded English textile mills- countryside plus flowerbeds)

  • Women = first factory workers, because of their skill with operating textile machines and enduring harsh, boring conditions with lower wages

    • Many men migrated west, and a lot of women in NE (where factories were), viewed jobs as temporary- women were paid to work, and provided food and boarding houses

  • The idea initially worked but grew corrupt due to the accumulation of unbelievable profits by owners- too many textile workers-> overproduction-> decreased prices -> decreased wages & quickened pace of work

  • 1834- Lowell women went on strike to protest wage cuts and deteriorating working and living conditions (women lost), two years later the workers walked out again to protest rent increases in boarding houses (owners backed out)

  • Over time, more hiring of Irish immigrants (many women)- desperate for jobs, rarely complained- mill owners also started hiring boys

• Lowell system or unable to build their mills close to cotton fields in the south because white people mostly resisted factory work, and planters refused to allow enslaved people to leave the fields

• Industrialization, Cities, and the Environment

  • The rapid growth of commerce and industry expanded cities and villages

  • Factory centers sprouted in NE, displacing frosts, farand ms, and villages while polluting

  • A profusion of fams (to harness water to turn mill wheels) flooded pastures, decreased fish populations, rapid urban growth- river pollution