The Industrial Revolution in the United States Began in New England;

Lesson 6.01 Handout

Between 1790 and 1825, manufacturing in America changed the economy. Americans expanded on developments in transportation, power, and industrial processes. This Industrial Revolution changed the way goods were made. Samuel Slater worked as a mechanic in a textile factory. He memorized the plans of the textile machines. He traveled to New York using a false name and brought the Industrial Revolution to the United States.

The Industrial Revolution in the United States began in New England;

• Resource Proximity :Close to resources like coal and iron needed to power factories.
• Ports: Ports are needed to receive raw materials (like as cotton) and shipped finished products.
• Capital: Investors called entrepreneurs were willing to invest in the factories and machines.
• Workers: Unhappy farm workers created the labor force for the factories.
• Waterways: Rivers and streamswere available to power the machinery in the factories.

Inventors revolutionized methods in the textile industry. This led to time and money savings and more products produced. The inventions in this industry sparked other inventors to improve in the areas of processes, transportation, and communication.

Inventors with their Inventions:

Eli Whitney

• Cotton Gin: Before the Cotton Gin1 skilled slave could remove the seeds from 1 pound of cotton per day. After the Cotton Gin was invented, I unskilled slave could remove the seeds from 50 pounds of cotton per day. This made cotton profitable and increased the demand for slaves.
• Interchangeable Parts: This process made large quantities of uniform pieces. Interchangeable parts opened the way for producing many different goods through mass production. These advances helped promote the assembly line production.

Francis Cabot Lowell – Expanded the factory system by putting all stages of making cloth under one roof. This saved on production time, cost, and increased efficiency.

George Pullman – Rail sleeping car

Samuel F. B. Morse - Telegraph

Cyrus Field – Transatlantic cable

George Westinghouse – Air brake

Sarah E. Goode - Folding cabinet bed

Henry Ford- Assembly - line production

6.02 Handout

Early Factories preferred to hire children.

• It was cheaper to employ children. They earned 33 – 67 cents per week.
• Child Labor was not new. Children had always worked on family farms.
• It was not uncommon for entire families to work in a factory just to make ends meet.

Factory Conditions

• Mills were very loud.
• Windows were closed.
• Cotton filaments were in air.
• Lack of breaks / limited time to eat.

Factory workers worked very long hours for low pay. Average hours per week between 1830 – 1840 = 73.

Lowell System

• Lowell hired young (15 – 30) unmarried young woman to work in his mill.
• Lowell built boarding houses for the young women to live in.
• Woman viewed this as temporary job. Chance to get off the farm and for female companionship.
• Most worked in the factory for less than 4 years.
• Most left because they got married or because the pay, hours, and factory conditions got worse in the 1830s.