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Using the section provided in your guided notes, take a moment to reflect on this cartoon. What
does it say about the consequences of the Industrial Revolution, both technological and
social?
An IntroductionThe United States went from an almost entirely agricultural nation to an industrial
force by the 1920’s, largely in part to the country’s wealth of natural resources, abundant labor supply found in its growing population, and business friendly government policies. A series of important innovations and inventions over the 19th and early 20th century would dramatically change the United States in ways that still impact us today. The Industrial Revolution is this period of the US’ increased ability to harness the power of its resources in the development of mass production, improved technology, and transformation of American society.
So what about the cartoon? The Industrial Revolution brought about signiEicant advances in technology, some of which would be used to create entirely new types of products, such as the example in the cartoon. It is amazing to think about how a loom could have possibly led to computer technology, but small improvements like this, changed our lives forever. Did you notice the man on the right, however? Technology advances production and makes things much easier to produce, but it has also made this man essentially obsolete. The Industrial Revolution changed many things for the better, but it also dramatically altered the lives of people in ways somewhat unintended. While we will explore the social, political, and economic consequences in greater detail in unit 2, please keep these factors in mind as we explore the products of the Industrial Revolution.
Industrialization-‐
Inventions that Transformed Society
The Cotton Gin
The cotton gin was one of the most important agricultural products created for the farmers in the South. Invented by Eli Whitney in 1793, the cotton gin sped up the processing of cotton, which meant more cotton could be picked from the fields and shipped to manufacturers faster than ever. This not only created a greater demand for cotton, but for the slave labor as well. This invention would greatly transform the Southern economy, which now boasted “King Cotton” as their new cash crop.
Inventions that Transformed Society
Factories (Not quite an invention, but an important step forward)
This cotton had to be shipped somewhere, and most of it went to manufacturers in the North for production of cloth for clothing and other goods. Most of the cotton was spun into cloth no longer in homes, as was the case for centuries, but in factories where groups of women could work at the same time spinning cotton into cloth with the help of the spinning jenny and later the spinning mule, which made cloth production faster. Factories began to pop up for the production of other manufactured goods, with new machinery that made skilled laborers unnecessary, which meant jobs could now be done more quickly and for a cheaper cost. (Think back to the cartoon). Factories would become much more prominent in the Northern economies than in the Southern.
Inventions that Transformed Society
The Steamboat
How would those raw and manufactured goods get from one place to another? Created by Robert Fulton in 1807, the steamboat would make shipping of both raw and manufactured goods quicker, allowing more to be shipped up and down rivers throughout the US, which in turn made shipping cheaper. What if they didn’t have a river? Canals were built instead. By the 1840’s over 3,300 miles of canals were created for this purpose.
Inventions that Transformed Society
Steam Trains and Railways
The steam engine was created in England, and improved by James Watt in the late 18
th century.
As a result of these improvements, the development of steam locomotives was made possible. The first US built steam locomotive was the Tom Thumb made by Peter Cooper in 1830. As trains began to improve, they became more and more useful in shipping, and as a result, the development of railroads began to take place. Laying track is usually much quicker than building a canal, land transportation is now much easier, and winter travel is possible. By the 1850’s over 9,000 miles of tracks were laid across the country, and by 1869 the transcontinental railroad AKA the Pacific Railroad is completed, running from Omaha, Nebraska to Sacramento, CA. Existing Routes from Nebraska connected the railroad to the East, and routes were constructed to link Sacramento to San Francisco.
The Tom Thumb didn’t prove to be very fast, losing in a race against a horse!
Inventions that Transformed Society
Telegraph and Morse Code
But railroads and trains don’t become very efficient, without the aid of the telegraph, invented by Samuel B. Morse in 1837. The telegraph allowed for almost instant communication across great distances that were connected by wire. Coded messages could be relayed back and forth via the Morse Code, named for Samuel, and translators of this code could now write down important communications. Businesses could now communicate prices, and railroads could keep trains moving regularly and warn engineers of potential hazards ahead.
Let’s take a Moment to Reflect
On your guided notes in the section provided take a moment to answer this prompt. Once you have written your answer, turn to a partner next to you and discuss what you wrote. We will discuss as a class when you are finished.
Since we have just completed our lesson on the Civil War, how influential do you think the Industrial Revolution was in the war’s outcome? In what ways did the Union enjoy an advantage over the Confederacy?
Did you Notice?
When thinking about the war did you notice the highlighted points?
During the Civil War the Union enjoyed more advantages, thanks to its industrial economy. While the South was rural and heavily reliant on agriculture, the North had factories, easily transformed for wartime production, more people, more food production (rather than tobacco and cotton), and a more extensive railroad system. The North could blockade the South and prevent them from receiving manufactured goods that had to be shipped in from outside. And Union riverboats could divide the Confederacy via the Mississippi River.
Let’s Take a Moment to Reflect
But what about the other way around?
We now know how industrialization impacted the war, using your own knowledge can you think of any ways the war itself had an impact on industrialization? Share your thought with your partner, write down anything you come up with together.
How About This?
War almost always creates improvements in technology, as both sides attempt to find advantages where they can, the Civil War was no exception. Some of the wartime innovations of the Civil War included the rifle, minie ball (more destructive than earlier bullets), improved hand grenades and land mines, as well as improved ironclad ships, which made wooden ships obsolete (could resist burning, splinter wooden ships, resist cannon fire).
Natural Resources
As I mentioned earlier, natural resources played an important role in the country’s ability to industrialize on a scale comparable, if not beyond Europe’s ability. The latter half of America’s industrial revolution would be dependent on these resources, and the processes to make them useful.
Natural ResourcesOil
The US had and still has oil, but its importance was not realized until the latter half of the 19th century. The ability to drill for oil in the earth via the steam engine (yes, another important use for the steam engine) thanks to Edwin L. Drake made drilling more practical. Oil was used to produce Kerosene, which was used to light lamps. Gasoline, a byproduct of oil refining, became indispensable once the automobile was popularized.
First Oil Drill, Titusville PA.
Natural ResourcesSteel and the Bessemer Process
Coal and iron was abundant in the US. When heated and injected with air, carbon and other impurities can be extracted from iron, and the resulting product is steel, which is lighter, stronger, and more flexible. The Bessemer process, developed by Henry Bessemer and William Kelly in the 1850’s would make the process of converting iron into steel much more efficient, and by 1880, 90% of steel was produced in this manner. Steel would be used to build railroads, barbed wire, agricultural machinery, and soon building. Bridges could be longer and stronger, while skyscrapers were now possible.
Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge
Bessemer Process
Natural ResourcesElectricity By the late 19th century, the ability to generate electricity with the aid of coal or water and harness that power would transform the United States forever. Businesses now had the ability to run machines using electric power and the creation of a system to disperse electricity across distances meant they were no longer restricted in where they could build their factories and cities could now spread out and grow.
West End Street Railroad Co.’s Central Power Station. Boston MA.
More Inventions that Transformed Society
As a result of harnessing electricity…
Telephone- The telegraph would eventually be replaced by the telephone, invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1867. The telephone advanced communication even further, as now communication by voice was now possible, and people no longer needed to rely on Morse code and translated messages. Communication became that much quicker.
Lightbulb- Electricity had been known about for years, but it didn’t mean much to the individual until Thomas Edison created the first working light bulb, which would slowly replace kerosene lamps and bring electricity into the home.
Let’s Take a Moment to Reflect
These are just a few of the products of industrialization of the United States. In our next unit, we will be revisiting some of these improvements, and how they continued to influence peoples’ lives in the 20th century.
So now, take a moment to make a prediction, as we have yet to really examine the impacts of these inventions in detail, based on your own knowledge and what we have examined today, how revolutionary was the Industrial Revolution? What are your predictions for the next unit? How do you think these will impact society, the environment/landscape, and business in the early 20th century? Site examples from the notes/lecture as well as your own knowledge.