The Industrial Revolutions in the US - Essay Example

The Industrial Revolutions in the

The essence of the Industrial Revolution lies in the change of thought from the midieval system of regulations covering production and distribution to the new mantra – ‘Competition’.The Industrial revolution in the US was one of the two great Industrial Revolutions. The fist happened in England in the eighteenth century and was primarily influenced by the four stages in thought that evolved in economics. The first of these was Adam Smith, who advocated that “The great object of political economy of every country is to increase the riches and power of that country”. Maltheus directed his thinking to understand the cause of poverty as opposed to the cause of wealth and found this in his theory of population. Ricardo’s principles of political economy and taxation, 1817 explored the principles of distribution of wealth. While Adam Smith demonstrated how wealth could be produced Ricardo showed how it could be distributed. It is here that we see the first glimpses of socialism beginning to creep into the thinking of the great economists of that time. John Stuart Mill’s ‘Principles of Political Economy’ drew the distinction between the laws of production and those of distribution and he attempted to answer the question of how wealth ought to be distributed. Competition heralded by Adam Smith is still the dominant idea of our times (Toynbee, 2004).

The American Industrial Revolution made a vital difference to the economic development of the and covered the period from 1820 to about 1870. The revolution that took place was centered round the basic principle of manufacturing activity which moved away from hand and home made to machine and factory made goods. Earlier goods were produced in the homes of the manufacturer who took some raw materials to his cottage (hence the name – cottage industry) and using just a few workers, if any, goods were produced. This took along time to produce any quantity and therefore the products were expensive, non standard and the supply was not dependable. From Eli Whitney’s mechanization of spinning and weaving, using machines that were operated by water and steam power, to the second revolution led by pioneers such as Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, and Robert Fulton changed the face of America to an urban industrialized country. The initial push to the revolution came from the passing of the Embargo Act in 1807 that stopped export of American goods and stopped the import of goods from other countries pushing the people to concentrate on production of all requirements within the country and manufacturing began to expand. A prime example of the revolution is the invention of the gin by Whitney enabling dispatch of larger quantities of cotton to the north; Francis Lowell brought spinning and weaving together in the same factory large volumes of cloth began to be manufactured. In 1846 Elias Howe invented the sewing machine and clothing now began to be manufactured in factories rather than at home and the textile industry was born.

Some of the major changes that took place during this time were (American History):

• Eli Whitney’s concept of machine-made, interchangeable parts that could be assembled at the end of a production line. Muskets were produced thus in 1798.
• The Invention of the steel plow and the reaper to revolutionize even agriculture. As industries and business began to gravitate towards the cities the population started migrating to the cities leading to overcrowding, disease and pollution.
• Communications improved with the invention of the telegraph in 1844 and the telephone 1876.
• Road transportation improved, the (now part of Interstate 40) was laid down in 1811. Movement of goods by river received an impetus with the development of the steamboat by . Railroad networks commenced being set up.
• Henry Ford’s creation of an assembly line totally revolutionized the way goods were produced. Now mass production at low cost of standard quality goods became possible and capitalism was born.

The revolution continued and many new inventions and discoveries changed the shape of the society dramatically. One change followed another at such rapid pace that society and the environment came under tremendous pressure. The second Industrial revolution was heralded by the harnessing of electric power. Faraday demonstrated how electric current could be produced and now power was available to provide light and to drive machinery. Communications improved with the discovery of radio waves and the radio. Telegraph and telephone systems had the power required to drive them

Petroleum and its derivatives began to find increasing use in generating power and to drive transportation. New discoveries such as Portland cement, vulcanized rubber, petroleum based products and inventions like the light bulb, internal combustion engine, the automobile, the steam engine and the first flight of the marked the second Industrial Revolution.

Medicine also saw a huge change and beginning in the 1760’s new medicines, vaccinations, and surgical methods developed. X-rays now helped doctors diagnose ailments much better. Pasteur discovered a way to eliminate all germs from milk thus delaying the fermentation or curdling of milk. Many chemicals were analyzed and processes developed to manufacture them, the art of metallurgy also saw great changes.

While the Industrial revolution brought about many changes in the technology and manufacturing processes it is essential to understand the downside of the process. Rousseau said "Civilization spoils people," but here was a case of people spoiling civilization. With the industrialization the congestion in the cities worsened and people were living in squalor, working unthinkable hours for very meager pay. Children and women were working under very harsh conditions while the capitalists flourished. It took many legislations and an element of socialism to step in and correct the way things were going.

Pollution and degradation of the environment and mindless destruction of natural resources was fallout of the Industrial Revolutions.

Robert Owen was one such thinker, who despite being a textile mill owner raised wages, stopped children from working and improved the working conditions for his workers. This had remarkable effect on productivity, crime and disease rates (American History).

While the changes that came about during the Industrial Revolutions were largely for the benefit of mankind the side effect also made irreversible changes in society and the business environment.