INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

(CA STANDARDS: 8.6.1; 8 .6.2; 8 .6 .3; 8 .7.1)

Mrs. Chen 8th grade U.S. History

INTRODUCTION

Before the Industrial Revolution, most people in New England worked on small farms and in their homes to produce goods such as furniture, clothing, and other household items. In the mid-1700s, the way goods were made began to change.

BRITAIN STARTS INDU STR IAL IZ ATION

British inventors created machines to perform some of the work involved in cloth-making. These machines ran on waterpower, making New England an ideal location to build factories since many rivers and streams run through the area.

New England also had the advantage of being a trading hub with its many port cities. Through these ports passed the cotton shipped from the Southern states to New England factories, which in turn became textiles that would be shipped and sold throughout the country.

THE COTTON GIN

Farmers in the South knew that cotton was a promising crop, but growers who experimented with it had a hard time making a profit. Before cotton could be turned in to yard for cloth, the seeds needed to be removed from the fibers. This took a lot of manpower and hours, making the production of cotton costly.

THE COTTON GIN CONT…

In 1793, Eli Whitney of Massachusetts had an idea. “If a machine could be invented that would clean the cotton with expedition [speed],” he wrote his father, “it would be a great thing…to the country.” Whitney set to work and six months later, he had invented the cotton gin (engine), a simple machine that quickly and efficiently removed seeds from cotton fiber. The cotton gin enabled one worker, usually a slave, to clean cotton as fast as fifty people working by hand.

“KING COTTON”Within ten years of the invention, cotton was the South’s most important crop. By 1860, sales of cotton sold overseas earned more money for the United States than all other exports combined. Whitney had hoped his invention would lighten the work load of slaves. Instead, slavery became more important than ever in the South. Planters soon pushed west in search of fresh, fertile soil. By 1850, cotton plantations reached all the way to Texas and as cotton spread westward, slavery followed.

LOWELL MILLSIn 1810, Francis Cabot Lowell visited England. There, he saw how mill owners were using machines powered by water to spin cotton into thread and weave the thread into cloth. He memorized the design of the British machines and when he returned home to Massachusetts, he built even better ones. By 1815, he had developed America’s first textile factory – a place where all the steps in the manufacture of a product were performed in one place to increase efficiency.

LOWELL MILLS CONT…

To run his machinery, Lowell hired young farmwomen, who were anxious to earn cash wages. The “Lowell Girls” worked for 12-15 hours each day, with only Sundays off. In addition, women workers were paid less than men. Women and men working in factories faced on-the-job dangers such as lost fingers and broken bones. In the summer, factories and mills were miserably hot and in winters, workers suffered through the cold. At the time, no laws existed to regulate working conditions and complaining workers could easily be replaced.

TRANSPORTATIONIn 1806, Congress had approved the funding of a road to connect the Northwest Territory (Ohio specifically) to the East. Construction of the road took many years but Congress saw it as a military necessity; otherwise, the federal government did not undertake road-building projects. Private companies began to build turnpikes, or toll roads which travelers paid fees to use. These fees paid for the construction of the roads.

TRANSPORTATION CONT…

River travel was much preferred to road travel since it was more comfortable and boats could carry more goods. However, boats depended on river currents to push them along and traveling upstream was slow and difficult. This changed when Robert Fulton developed a steamboat with a powerful engine. By 1807, Fulton’s steamboat was ready. Steamboats ushered in a new age in river travel. Shipping goods became faster and easier and soon river cities such as Cincinnati and St. Louis were growing rapidly. By 1850, more than 700 steamboats were in use.

TRANSPORTATION CONT…In the 1820s, Congressman Henry Clay prepared an ambitious program to improve transportation and strengthen the economy: the American System, included building canals and roads to link the South, Northeast, and West together. Clay believed the system would bring the United States “to that height to which God and nature had destined it.” Improved transportation meant that people could now buy goods produced in distant places. Communication via newspapers and postal delivery improved allowed more people to be involved in American democracy.

THE ERIE CANAL & RAILROADSIn New York, business and government officials led by De Witt Clinton developed a plan to link New York City with the Great Lakes region. They hoped to build a canal, an artificial waterway, across New York state; the canal would connect the Hudson River with Lake Erie. Thousands of workers, including many Irish immigrants, worked on the 363-mile Erie Canal for more than two years. The workers received fifty cents and thirty-two ounces of whiskey per day as payment.

THE ERIE CANAL & RAILROADSIn 1825, the Erie Canal opened. Crowds cheered in celebration. The East and the Midwest were connected. The canal cost $8.5 million to build, but it was a bargain. Boats immediately filled the canal, carrying goods to western markets and raw materials to eastern markets. For every pound of product and for every human on board, a toll was charged to use the Erie Canal. Everyone was shocked when, before a decade had even passed, the Erie Canal had collected more tolls than it cost to build in the first place. For decades, people relied on the Erie Canal.

THE ERIE CANAL & RAILROADS

Inspired by the success of steamboats, inventors developed stem-powered locomotives. Trains traveled faster than steamboats and they could go wherever tracks could be laid – even across mountains. So many railroad companies were laying tracks by the 1840s that railroads had become the North’s biggest business. By 1860, more than 20,000 miles of rail linked northern factories to cities hundreds of miles away.

IMMIGRATIONImmigration to the United States from northern Europe increased dramatically between 1840 and 1860.. Between 1846 and 1860, more than 1.5 million Irish immigrants arrived in the U.S. Irish immigration was caused by the Great Irish Famine, in which there was an extreme shortage of food caused by a devastating disease that destroyed Irish potato crops. Since they couldn’t afford to buy property, most immigrants took factory jobs in Northern cities. Factory owners welcomed the immigrants, who were willing to work for low pay.

IMMIGRATIONThe second-largest group of immigrants came from Germany. Some sought work while others left because of the failure of a democratic revolution in Germany in 1848. During this time, many German Jews came to the United States in search of religious freedom. One immigrant wrote in a letter: “Over there [Germany] common sense and free speech lie in shackles… I invite you to come over here, should you want to obtain a clear notion of genuine public life, freedom of the people, and sense of being a nation…”

IMMIGRATIONOver time, some native-born Americans began to resent immigrants because they sounded “different” and were Catholic (remember that America was founded by Protestants seeking religious freedom). People who were opposed to immigration were known as nativists. Some accused immigrants of taking jobs from “real” Americans while others accused them of bringing crime and disease to American cities. Still, immigrants came, attracted to “a new society with almost limitless opportunities open to all,” as one German newcomer put it.