3 Key Elements of the Industrial Revolution in the U.S
3 Key Elements of the Industrial Revolution in the U.S.
Transportation, Industry, and Electrification Transformed the Nation
byMartin KellyUpdated September 12, 2017
The Industrial Revolution in the U.S. transformed the nation during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The technological advancements made during this period changed lives, made vast fortunes, and positioned the nation for its rise to global superpower.
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
There were actually twoIndustrial Revolutions. The first occurred in Great Britain in the mid-17th and early 18th centuries as that nation became an economic and colonial powerhouse.
The second Industrial Revolution occurred in the U.S. beginning in the mid-1800s.
Britain's Industrial Revolution saw the emergence of water, steam, and coal as abundant sources of power, helping the U.K. dominate the global textile market during this era. Other advancements in chemistry, manufacturing, and transportation helped Britain become the world's first modern superpower, and its colonial empire ensured that its many technological innovations spread.
The Industrial Revolution in the U.S. began in the years and decades following the end of the Civil War. As the nation rebuilt its bonds, American entrepreneurs were building on the advancements made in Britain. In the coming years, new forms of transportation, innovations in industry, and the emergence of electricity would transform the United States just as the U.K. had in an earlier era.
TRANSPORTATION
The nation's westward expansion in the 1800s was aided in no small part by its vast network of rivers and lakes.
In the early decades of the century,theErie Canalcreated a route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, thereby helping stimulate the economy of New York and making New York City a great tradingcenter.
Meanwhile, the great river and lake cities of the Midwest were thriving thanks to the reliable transportation afforded by the steamboat.
The nation's westward expansion in the 1800s was aided in no small part by its vast network of rivers and lakes.
In the early decades of the century,theErie Canalcreated a route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, thereby helping stimulate the economy of New York and making New York City a great tradingcenter.
Meanwhile, the great river and lake cities of the Midwest were thriving thanks to the reliable transportation afforded by the steamboat.
INDUSTRIAL IMPROVEMENTS
With the great advances of the Industrial Revolution, inventors continued to work throughout the rest of the 19th and early 20th centuries on ways to make life easier while increasing productivity. By the end of the Civil War, innovations such as the cotton gin, the sewing machine, the reaper, and the steel plowhad already transformed agriculture and textile manufacturing.
In 1794,Eli Whitneyinvented thecotton gin, which made the separation of cotton seeds from fiber much faster. The South increased its cotton supply, sending raw cotton north to be used in the manufacture of cloth. Francis C. Lowell increased the efficiency in cloth manufacture by bringing spinning and weaving processes together into one factory. This led to thedevelopment of the textile industrythroughout New England.
Eli Whitney also came up with the idea to use interchangeable parts in 1798 to make muskets. If standard parts were made by machine, then they could be assembled at the end much more quickly. This became an important part of American industry and the second Industrial Revolution.
In 1846,Elias Howecreated the sewing machine, which revolutionized clothing manufacture. All of a sudden, clothing began to be made in factories as opposed to at home.
Industry was transformed in the second Industrial Revolution by Henry Ford's pioneering use of the assembly line in the manufacturing process, which advanced on the development of another innovation, the automobile, first invented in 1885 by German Karl Benz.
At the same time, public transit was exploding, with electric streetcars aboveground and the first U.S. subway, in Boston, in 1897.
As the second Industrial Revolution advanced, metallurgists would develop alloys making steel (another 19th-century innovation) even stronger, allowing for construction of the first skyscraper in 1885 in Chicago. The invention of the telegraph in 1844, the telephone in 1876, and the radio in 1895 would all have profound impacts on how the nation communicated, further enhancing its growth and expansion.
All of these innovations contributed to the urbanization of America as new industries lured people from farm to city. Labor would also change, particularly in the first decades of the 20th century, as workers gained new economic and political power with major unions like the American Federation of Labor, founded in 1886.
A THIRD INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
It could be argued that we're in the midst of a third Industrial Revolution, particularly in the field of telecommunications. Television built on the advances of radio, while advances in the telephone would lead to the circuits that are in today's computers. Innovations in mobile tech in the early 21st century suggest that the next revolution may just be starting.