In the United States from the late 18th and 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution affected the U.S. economy, progressing it from manual labor, farm labor and handicraft work, to a greater degree of industrialization based on wage labor. There were many improvements in technology and manufacturing fundamentals with results that greatly improved overall production and economic growth in the U.S.

The Industrial Revolution occurred in two distinct phases, the First Industrial Revolution occurred during the latter part of the 17th century through the first half of the 19th century and the Second Industrial Revolution advanced following the American Civil War. Among the main contributors to the First Industrial Revolution were Samuel Slater's introduction of British industrial methods in textile manufacturing to the United States, Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin, Éleuthère Irénée du Pont's improvements in chemistry and gunpowder making, and other industrial advancements necessitated by the War of 1812, as well as the construction of the Erie Canal, among other developments.[1][2]

History

Andrew Jackson labeled industrialist Samuel Slater "the father of the American Industrial Revolution"
Bethlehem Steel in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania was one of the world's leading steel manufacturers for most of the 20th century until 1982 when it discontinued most of its operations. It subsequently declared bankruptcy in 2001 and was dissolved in 2003.
A textile mill in Winooski, Vermont

18th century

As Western Europe industrialized in the mid-to-late 1700s, the United States remained agrarian with resource processing, gristmills, and sawmills being the main industrial, non-agrarian output. As demand for U.S. resources increased, canals and railroads became important to the economic growth as transportation necessitated and the U.S. population was sparse, especially in areas where resources were being extracted such as the American frontier. This made it necessary to expand technological capabilities, which led to an Industrial Revolution in America as entrepreneurs, businesses competed with and learned from each other to develop better technology, fundamentally altering the U.S. economy. Some technologies that advanced the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. were appropriated from British designs by ambitious British entrepreneurs hoping to use the technology to create successful companies in the U.S.[3][4][5]

Much of the Industrial Revolution in the U.S. originated in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, where iron ore, steel, textile, and industrial sectors experienced breakthroughs and emerged as global manufacturing leaders.[6]

One entrepreneur who is most associated with starting up the textiles industry in the U.S. and who initially brought the textile technology to the U.S. was Samuel Slater. Slater learned that Americans were interested in textile techniques used in England, but since exporting such technical designs were illegal in England, he memorized as much as he could and departed for New York City.

Moses Brown, a leading Rhode Island industrialist secured the services of Slater, with Slater promising to recreate British textile designs. After an initial investment by Brown to fulfill initial requirements, a mill successfully opened in 1793 being the first water-powered roller spinning textile mill in America. By 1800, Slater's mill had been duplicated by many other entrepreneurs as Slater grew wealthier and his techniques more and more popular with Andrew Jackson calling Slater the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution". But Slater also earned the pejorative "Slater the Traitor" from many in Great Britain who felt he betrayed them in bringing British textile techniques to the Americas.[7][8]

With the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1794, American slaveholders had the means to make cotton production significantly more profitable. The era of King Cotton was underway by the early 1800s to such an extent that by the mid-19th century, southern slave plantations supplied 75% of the world's cotton. The introduction of the cotton gin was as unexpected as it was unprecedented. British textiles had expanded with no change in ginning principles in centuries. For the American planter class, up front costs were higher but productivity improvement among their slaves were clear and Whitney's original 1794 gin design was copied by many and improved upon.[9][10]

The du Pont family emigrated to the United States due to repercussions from the French Revolution, bringing with them expertise in chemistry and gunpowder. E.I. du Pont observed that the quality of American gunpowder was poor, and opened Eleutherian Mills, a gunpowder mill on Brandywine Creek in 1802. The mill served as home for du Pont's family as well as a center of business and social life, with employees living on or near the mill. The company grew rapidly and by the mid-19th century had become the largest supplier of gunpowder to the United States military.[11][12]

In the late 1700s, Robert Fulton of Pennsylvania proposed plans for steam-powered vessels to both the United States and British governments. Having developed significant technical knowledge in both France and Great Britain, Fulton returned to the United States, working with Robert R. Livingston to open the first commercially successful steamboat operating between New York City and Albany. Fulton built a new steamboat sturdy enough to take down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, he was an early member on a commission to plan the Erie Canal, and Fulton designed the first working muscle-powered submarine, the Nautilus.[13][14]

In the 1780s, the Erie Canal was proposed, then re-proposed in 1807 with a survey being funded in 1808. Construction began in 1817 and the original canal was about 363 miles with 34 numbered locks from Albany to Buffalo. Prior to the Erie Canal, bulk goods were limited to shipping by pack animal, there were no railways and water was the most cost-effective way to ship bulk goods.[15][16] Use of this new canal was faster than using carts pulled by draft animals and cut transport costs by about 95%.

The canal gave New York City's port a significant advantage over all other U.S. port cities and contributed to a growth in population in New York state and regions farther west.[17][18] It inspired canals elsewhere, bringing a canal age.

Legislation

In response to British aggression against the U.S., Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807. The embargo was a cumulative addition to the Non-importation Act of 1806 (2 Stat. 379), which was a "Prohibition of the Importation of certain Goods and Merchandise from the Kingdom of Great Britain," the prohibited imported goods being defined where their chief value, which consists of leather, silk, hemp or flax, tin or brass, wool, glass, and paper goods, nails, hats, clothing, and beer.[19]

The prohibition of imports under the Embargo Act resulted in the expansion of new, emerging US domestic industries across the board, particularly the textile industry, and marked the beginning of the manufacturing system in the United States, reducing the nation's dependence upon imported manufactured goods.[20][21]

Labor and finance

The early Industrial Revolution, which lasted into the mid-19th century, was marked by shift in labor, from an outwork system of labor towards a factory system of labor. Throughout this period, much of the U.S. population remained in small scale agriculture.[22] Despite a small percentage of the population then working in industry, the U.S. government took action to promote the expansion of U.S. industry. An important example is Alexander Hamilton's proposal of the "American School" ideas which supported high tariffs to protect U.S. industry.[23] This idea was embraced by the Whig Party in the early 19th century with their support for Henry Clay's American System. This plan, proposed shortly after the War of 1812, promoted not only protective tariffs, but also canals and roads to support the movement of manufactured goods around the country.[24] As in Britain, the First Industrial Revolution in the United States revolved heavily around the textile industry. Early U.S. textile plants were located next to rivers and streams as they would use the running water to power the machinery in the plant. Thus, many of the factories of the First Industrial Revolution were in the Northeastern United States[25]

To aid the expansion of industry, Congress chartered the Bank of the United States in 1791, giving loans to help merchants and entrepreneurs secure needed capital. However, Jeffersonians saw this bank as an unconstitutional expansion of federal power, so when its charter expired in 1811, the Jeffersonian-dominated Congress did not renew it.[26] State legislatures were persuaded to charter their own banks to continue helping merchants, artisans, and farmers who needed loans, and, by 1816, there were 246 state-chartered banks. With these banks, states were able to support internal transportation improvements, such as the Erie Canal, which stimulated economic development.[27]

Impact of Industrial Revolution on the United States

Duplicating lathe
Blanchard lathe, powered by water, for creating stock identical to a pattern

The Industrial Revolution altered the U.S. economy and set the stage for the United States to dominate technological change and growth in the Second Industrial Revolution and the Gilded Age.[28] The Industrial Revolution also saw a decrease in labor shortages which had characterized the U.S. economy through its early years.[29] This was partly due to a transportation revolution happening at the same time, low population density areas of the U.S. were better able to connect to the population centers through the Wilderness Road and the Erie Canal, with steamboats as well as rail transport. This led to a phenomenon of urbanization which increased the labor force available around larger cities such as New York City and Chicago, lessening the classic American labor shortages of the time. Also, quicker movement of resources and goods around the country drastically increased trade efficiency and output while allowing for an extensive transport base for the U.S. to grow during the Second Industrial Revolution.[30]

Techniques to make interchangeable parts were developed in the US, and allowed easy assembly and repair of firearms or other devices, minimizing the time and skill needed to repair or assemble devices. By the beginning of the Civil War, rifles with interchangeable parts had been developed, and after the war, more complex devices such as sewing machines and typewriters were made with interchangeable parts.[31] In 1798, Eli Whitney obtained a government contract to manufacture 10,000 muskets in less than two years. By 1801, he had failed to produce a single musket and was called to Washington to justify his use of Treasury funds. There, he created a demonstration for Congress in which he assembled muskets from parts chosen randomly from his supply.[32] While this demonstration was later proved to be fake, it popularized the idea of interchangeable parts, and Eli Whitney continued using the concept to allow relatively unskilled laborers to produce and repair weapons quickly and at a low cost. Another important innovator is Thomas Blanchard, who in 1819 invented the Blanchard lathe, which could produce identical copies of wooden gun stocks.[33]

Interchangeable parts made the development of the assembly line possible. In addition to making production faster, the assembly line eliminated the need for skilled craftsmen because each worker would only do one repetitive step instead of the entire process.[34]

The first Industrial Revolution had a profound effect on labor in the U.S. Companies from the era, such as the Boston Associates, would recruit thousands of New England farm girls to work in textile mills. These girls often received much lower wages than men, though the work and pay gave young women a sense of independence that they did not feel working on a farm. The First Industrial Revolution also marked the beginning of the rise of wage labor in the United States. As wage labor grew over the next century, it would go on to profoundly change American society.[35]

References

  1. ↑ "The Industrial Revolution in the United States – Primary Source Set Teacher Resources – Library of Congress". www.loc.gov. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Significant Events of the American Industrial Revolution". About.com Education. Archived from the original on July 28, 2012. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
  3. ↑ Taylor, George Rogers (1969). The Transportation Revolution, 1815–1860. ISBN 978-0873321013.
  4. ↑ Chandler Jr., Alfred D. (1993). The Visible Hand: The Management Revolution in American Business. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674940529
  5. ↑ "Economic Growth and the Early Industrial Revolution [ushistory.org]". www.ushistory.org. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  6. ↑ Industrial strength: Lehigh Valley region played crucial role in Industrial Revolution," Times News, September 14, 2020
  7. ↑ "The First American Factories [ushistory.org]". www.ushistory.org. Retrieved May 22, 2016.
  8. ↑ Heath, Neil (September 22, 2011). "Samuel Slater: American hero or British traitor?". BBC News. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
  9. ↑ TeachingAmericanHistory.org "Cotton is King" http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=1722 Archived November 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ Effect of Eli Whitney's cotton gin on historic trends in cotton ginning https://aiimpacts.org/effect-of-eli-whitneys-cotton-gin-on-historic-trends-in-cotton-ginning/
  11. ↑ Brown, G.I. (1998). The Big Bang: A History of Explosives. Thrupp: Sutton Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-7509-2361-X.
  12. ↑ du Pont, B.G. (1920). E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company: A History 1802 to 1902. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 1-4179-1685-0.
  13. ↑ Burgess, Robert Forrest (1975). Ships Beneath the Sea. McGraw-Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-008958-7.
  14. ↑ Buckman, David Lear (1907). Old Steamboat Days on The Hudson River. The Grafton Press. Archived from the original on August 26, 2010.
  15. ↑ Finch, Roy G. (1925). "The Story of the New York State Canals" (PDF). New York State Engineer and Surveyor (republished by New York State Canal Corporation). Retrieved September 25, 2012. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ↑ "Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor".
  17. ↑ "Works of Man", Ronald W. Clark, ISBN 0-670-80483-5 (1985), Viking Penguin, New York
    quotation: "There was little experience moving bulk loads by carts, while a packhorse would [i.e., "could"] carry only an eighth of a ton [(1,250 long tons (1,270 t)]. On a soft road, a horse might be able to draw 5⁄8ths of a ton [(0.6250 long tons (0.6350 t)) or 5×]. But if the load were carried by a barge on a waterway, then up to 30 tons [(30 long tons (30 t) or 60,000 pounds (27,000 kg)) or 240×] could be drawn by the same horse.""...A 95% reduction is probably conservative, 250 lb/30 t is 0.4% the expenses, so reduction to 5% costs still indicates someone is taking a lot of profits.'
  18. ↑ Roberts, Sam (June 26, 2017). "200 Years Ago, Erie Canal Got Its Start as Just a 'Ditch'". The New York Times. Retrieved July 25, 2017.
  19. ↑ 2 Stat. 379 (1806) Library of Congress, U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875
  20. ↑ Smith, Ryan P., 'A History of America’s Ever-Shifting Stance on Tariffs: Unpacking A Debate As Old As The United States Itself', Smithsonian Magazine, 18 April 2018, retrieved 5 April 2023
  21. ↑ Rantakari, Heikki, 'The Antebellum Tariff on Cotton Textiles 1816-1860: Consolidation', 4 April 2003, retrieved 5 April 2023
  22. ↑ "Digital History". www.digitalhistory.uh.edu. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  23. ↑ "The American System of Economics | American Jobs Alliance". www.americanjobsalliance.com. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  24. ↑ "U.S. Senate: Classic Senate Speeches". www.senate.gov. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  25. ↑ "Economic Growth and the Early Industrial Revolution [ushistory.org]". www.ushistory.org. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  26. ↑ Henretta (2018). America's history: for the AP course. Hinderaker, Edwards, Rebecca, Self (Ninth ed.). Boston: Bedford/St. Martins. pp. 240, 241. ISBN 978-1-319-06507-2. OCLC 1076274245.
  27. ↑ "Economic Growth and the Early Industrial Revolution [ushistory.org]". www.ushistory.org. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  28. ↑ Vatter, Harold G.; Walker, John F.; Alperovitz, Gar (June 1995). "The onset and persistence of secular stagnation in the U.S. economy: 1910–1990, Journal of Economic Issues".
  29. ↑ Habakkuk, H. J. (1962). American and British Technology in the Nineteenth Century. London, U.K., New York, USA: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521094474
  30. ↑ Eugene S. Ferguson, Oliver Evans, Inventive Genius of the American Industrial Revolution (Hagley Museum & Library, 1980).
  31. ↑ "No. 1252: Interchangeable Parts". uh.edu. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  32. ↑ "Interchangeable Parts". HISTORY. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  33. ↑ "Thomas Blanchard" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  34. ↑ "On the Line Mass production forever alters the lives of workers and consumers". www.pbs.org. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
  35. ↑ "Economic Growth and the Early Industrial Revolution [ushistory.org]". www.ushistory.org. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
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