How Did Geography Spur Industrialization In The Northeast

It Made Travel More Affordable

In the 1860s, a six-month stagecoach trip across the U.S. cost $1,000 , according to the University of Houstons Digital History website. But once the railroad was built, the cost of a coast-to-coast trip became 85 percent less expensive. That made it possible for Americans to visit distant locales that previously they might only have heard about.

How The Industrial Revolution Changed America:

The industrial revolution caused rapid urbanization in America, with people moving from the countryside to the cities in droves. In 1800, only 6 percent of the population of America lived in cities but by 1900, that number had increased to 40 percent. By 1920, the vast majority of Americans lived in cities.

The industrial revolution also caused a rise in unskilled labor. Prior to the 19th century, most Americans who were not employed in agriculture performed a skilled trade. Industrialization made apprenticeships obsolete and commoditized labor itself.

The use of child labor also led to new labor laws, such as the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act.

Poor working conditions and low wages led to the growth of labor unions. These labor unions came about because workers had little political support due to the fact that many of them were immigrants and women who were not allowed to vote.

These new economic changes led to social and cultural transformations such as the formation of distinct social classes, in particular a new middle class/bourgeoisie which consisted of entrepreneurs, businessmen, law and medical professionals.

Each social class had its own specific culture and views and its own set of values and they would often clash as a result leading to more polarized political parties and factions.

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It Increased Racial Conflicts

The completion of the transcontinental railroad led to heightened racial tensions in California, as white workers from the East Coast and Europe could more easily travel westward where immigrant laborers were prevalent, says Princeton University Assistant Professor of History Beth Lew-Williams, author ofThe Chinese Must Go: Violence, Exclusion, and the Making of the Alien in America.

Upon completion of the railroad, many Chinese workers returned to California in search of employment. The flood of goods and laborers who arrived in the West, combined with the boom and bust economy of the late-19th century, put pressure on the labor market,” she says. “The presence of Chinese immigrants did not create the economic uncertainties of the 1870s, but they were often blamed nonetheless.

Growing prejudice against and fear of the Chinese eventually manifested itself in Congress passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the first of several laws that blocked Chinese laborers from entering the United States until 1943.

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Difficulty Of Duplicating Eastern Methods In The Midwest

The East industrialized first, based on a prosperous agricultural and industrialization process, as some of its entrepreneurs shifted into the national market manufactures of shoes, cotton textiles, and diverse goods turned out in Connecticut. These industrialists made this shift prior to 1820, and they enhanced their dominance of these products during the subsequent two decades. Manufacturers in the Midwest did not have sufficient intraregional markets to begin producing these goods before 1840 therefore, they could not compete in these national market manufactures. Eastern firms had developed technologies and organizations of production and created sales channels which could not be readily duplicated, and these light, high-value goods were transported cheaply to the Midwest. When midwestern industrialists faced choices about which manufactures to enter, the eastern light, high-value goods were being sold in the Midwest at prices which were so low that it was too risky for midwestern firms to attempt to compete. Instead, these firms moved into a wide range of local and regional market manufactures which also existed in the East, but which cost too much to transport to the Midwest. These goods included lumber and food products , bricks, chemicals, machinery, and wagons.

Major Technological Advances Of The Second Industrial Revolution

• 1870s. Automatic signals, air brakes, and knuckle couplers on the railroads the Bessemer and then the open-hearth process in the steel mills the telephone, electric light, and typewriter.
• 1880s. The elevator and structural steel for buildings, leading to the first skyscrapers.
• 1890s. The phonograph and motion pictures the electric generator, contributing to modern household items such as refrigerators and washing machines and gradually replaced water and steam-powered engines and the internal combustion engine, which made possible the first automobiles and the first airplane flight by the Wright brothers in 1903.

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How Does The Fourth Industrial Revolution Impact Our Daily Lives

One of the main effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is increased human productivity. With technologies like AI and automation augmenting our professional lives, were able to make smart choices, faster than ever before. But its not all rosy, and were not trying to sugarcoat things for you.

The Problem With The Impoverished Agriculture Theory

The industrialization of the eastern United States from 1790 to 1860 raises similar conundrums. For a long time, scholars thought that the agriculture was mostly poor quality. Thus, the farm labor force left agriculture for workshops, such as those which produced shoes, or for factories, such as the cotton textile mills of New England. These manufactures provided employment for women and children, who otherwise had limited productive possibilities because the farms were not economical. Yet, the market for manufactures remained mostly in the East prior to 1860. Consequently, it is unclear who would have purchased the products to support the growth of manufactures before 1820, as well as to undergird the large-scale industrialization of the East during the two decades following 1840. Even if the impoverished-agriculture explanation of the Easts industrialization is rejected, we are still left with the curiosity that as late as 1840, about eighty percent of the population lived in rural areas, though some of them were in nonfarm occupations.

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Table 1number Of Farm Laborers By Region And Selected States 1800

Source: Thomas Weiss, U.S. Labor Force Estimates and Economic Growth, 1800-1860,American Economic Growth and Standards of Living before the Civil War, edited by Robert E. Gallman and John Joseph Wallis , table 1A.9, p. 51.

The farmers, retailers, professionals, and others in these prosperous agricultural areas accumulated capital which became available for other economic sectors, and manufacturing was one of the most important to receive this capital. Entrepreneurs who owned small workshops and factories obtained capital to turn out a wide range of goods such as boards, boxes, utensils, building hardware, furniture, and wagons, which were in demand in the agricultural areas. And, some of these workshops and factories enlarged their market areas to a subregion as they gained production efficiencies but, this did not account for all industrial development. Selected manufactures such as shoes, tinware, buttons, and cotton textiles were widely demanded by urban and rural residents of prosperous agricultural areas and by residents of the large cities. These products were high value relative to their weight thus, the cost to ship them long distances was low. Astute entrepreneurs devised production methods and marketing approaches to sell these goods in large market areas, including New England and the Middle Atlantic regions of the East.

In What Ways Did Geography Impact Industrialization

Such were the geographic factors that influenced patterns of early industrialization. Conversely, the rise of industrialization had significant consequences for the geography of regions in which it occurred. Resource use, manufacturing patterns, urbanization, and population distribution were especially affected.

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What Were The Causes Of The Industrial Revolution In America

The causes of the first industrial revolution in America were:

Embargo Act of 1807:

The Embargo Act of 1807 prohibited American merchant ships from leaving for foreign ports and prohibited foreign vessels from carrying American goods out of American ports.

The act was the result of the Napoleonic Wars between France and England and was intended to cut both England and France off from the American market. The hope was that England and France would suffer economically and would then cease to attack American merchant ships and stop blocking each other from trading with the Americans.

The act had no effect on the British or French economy but completely devastated the American economy. But the lack of access to foreign goods forced the Americans to begin producing more of their own goods.

War of 1812:

The War of 1812 led to a British blockade of the United States eastern coastline, which brought shipping and fishing to a halt. Cut off from the sea, Americans began focuses more heavily on manufacturing in order to make money and create the goods they couldnt get through trade.

The causes of the second industrial revolution in America were:

Natural Resources:

The United States had a number of natural resources, such as timber, water, coal, iron, copper, silver and gold. Industries took advantage of these natural resources to manufacture a number of goods to put on the market.

Railroads:

Abundant Labor Supply:

Laizze-Fair Politics:

New Inventions:

Ways The Transcontinental Railroad Changed America

There was a time when traveling from the East Coast to the West Coast meant riding for months in a horse-drawn wagon or stagecoach, or sailing southward to Panama and then crossing the Isthmus to board another ship for a journey up the other coast. But that all changed on May 10, 1869, when railroad baron Leland Stanford whacked in a ceremonial gold spike to mark the joining together of the tracks of the Central Pacific Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad in Promontory, Utah, to form the transcontinental railroad. The new rail connection eventually made it possible to travel in a train car from New York to San Francisco in just a weeks time.

Some 21,000 workersfrom Irish-American Civil War veterans, freed slaves and Mormon pioneers to Chinese laborershad been recruited to perform the hard and often dangerous work of laying the 1,776 miles of track. By one estimate, the project cost roughly $60 million, about $1.2 billion in todays money, though other sources put the amount even higher.

While the railroad’s construction was a mammoth undertaking, its effects on the country were equally profound. Here are some of the ways that the first transcontinental railroadand the many other transcontinental lines that followed itchanged America.

Map of the transcontinental route of the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad and its connections, circa 1883.

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What Happened During The American Industrial Revolution

As Charles R. Morris states in his book The Dawn of Innovation: The story of American development can be charted as an evolution from local to regional and finally to national networks.

In the early 1800s, the Northeast started to develop strong regional economies.

As factories produced more goods, transporting these goods became important. In the 1820s and 30s, manufacturers began trying to find new ways to reach consumers in the West since transportation to this region at the time was virtually nonexistent.

To help reach these Western consumers, the Erie Canal, which cut across the state of New York and created a water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, was completed in 1825. Shipping goods through the canal cut shipping costs to a fraction of what it used to be via ground transportation.

Erie Canal at Little Falls, NY, circa 1880-1897

After the western steamboat was developed, around 1814, by Henry Shreve and Daniel French, it finally allowed for large cargo loads to be transported upstream even in shallow water, which helped spur industrialization in the West, according to Morris:

In 1837, the Federal government completed a 620-mile national road from Maryland to Illinois in an effort to help manufacturers transport goods westward.

Then in the 1840s, 50s and 60s, newly established widespread railroad systems finally linked the Northeast and Midwest into an intergrated commercial and industrial unit.

How Does Geography Affect Industrialization

Geography played an important role in shaping patterns of early industrialization. A wide variety of factors played a part in the initial rise of industrialization in Great Britain and northwestern Europe. Particularly important was the local availability of many key resources, such as coal and mineral ores.

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Which Groups Were Most Influential In Passing The Pure Food And Drug Act

The correct answer is that the group who helped pass the Pure Food and Drug act where the Bureu of Chemistry and Department of Agriculture and was signed by the president Theodore Roosevelt. Explanation: This law was a the first enacted legislation of the 20th century and it was a landmark for a progressive agenda.

Lack Of Industrialization In The South

Although the South had prosperous farms, it failed to build a deep and broad industrial infrastructure prior to 1860, because much of its economy rested on a slave agricultural system. In this economy, investments were heavily concentrated in slaves rather than in an urban and industrial infrastructure. Local and regional demand remained low across much of the South, because slaves were not able to freely express their consumption demands and population densities remained low, except in a few agricultural areas. Thus, the market thresholds for many manufactures were not met, and, if thresholds were met, the demand was insufficient to support more than a few factories. By the 1870s, when the South had recovered from the Civil War and its economy was reconstructed, eastern and midwestern industrialists had built strong positions in many manufactures. And, as new industries emerged, the northern manufacturers had the technological and organizational infrastructure and distribution channels to capture dominance in the new industries.

This essay is based on David R. Meyer, The Roots of American Industrialization, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003.

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Synergy Between Agriculture And Manufacturing

The solution to the puzzle of how industrialization can occur in a predominantly agricultural economy recognizes the possibility of synergy between agriculture and manufacturing. During the first three decades following 1790, prosperous agricultural areas emerged in the eastern United States. Initially, these areas were concentrated near the small metropolises of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, and in river valleys such as the Connecticut Valley in Connecticut and Massachusetts, the Hudson and Mohawk Valleys in New York, the Delaware Valley bordering Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and the Susquehanna Valley in eastern Pennsylvania. These agricultural areas had access to cheap, convenient transport which could be used to reach markets the farms supplied the growing urban populations in the cities and some of the products were exported. Furthermore, the farmers supplied the nearby, growing non-farm populations in the villages and small towns who provided goods and services to farmers. These non-farm consumers included retailers, small mill owners, teamsters, craftspeople, and professionals .

It Changed Where Americans Lived

During the railroads construction, numerous temporaryhell on wheels towns of tents and wooden shacks sprung up along the route to provide living quarters for workers. Most of them eventually disappeared, but others, such as Laramie, Wyoming, evolved into towns that provided rail terminals and repair facilities. Additionally, about 7,000 cities and towns across the country began as Union Pacific depots and water stops. And, as Ronda notes, the first transcontinental railroad and the other lines that followed made it easy for immigrants to spread across the nation. People come across the Atlantic on ships, get on trains, and end up in places such as western Nebraska, he says.

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How Did Geography Contribute To The Industrial Revolution In New England

Industrial Revolution in New England. Early New England settlers were farmers by necessity. New Englands geography makes it difficult for farming, but its many rivers and creeks with their potential for water-power make it fine for industry. Water-powered grist mills, sawmills and other small industries thrived.

It Instilled National Confidence

The transcontinental railroad had a major effect on how Americans perceived their nation, and it became a symbol of Americas growing industrial power and a source of confidence that led them to take on even more ambitious quests. As Ronda says, Its one of the transformative moments in American history.

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National Parks With Relevant Major Resources Related To The Industry And Economics

C& O Canal National Historical Park, Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, Governor’s Island National Monument, Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, Mammoth Cave National Park, Springfield Armory National Historic Site, Richmond National Battlefield Park, Shiloh National Military Park

Answer To Review Question

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The Work Experience Transformed

As production became mechanized and relocated to factories, the experience of workers underwent significant changes. Farmers and artisans had controlled the pace of their labor and the order in which things were done. If an artisan wanted to take the afternoon off, he could. If a farmer wished to rebuild his fence on Thursday instead of on Wednesday, he could. They conversed and often drank during the workday. Indeed, journeymen were often promised alcohol as part of their wages. One member of the group might be asked to read a book or a newspaper aloud to the others. In the warm weather, doors and windows might be opened to the outside, and work stopped when it was too dark to see.

Freedom within factories was limited. Drinking was prohibited. Some factories did not allow employees to sit down. Doors and windows were kept closed, especially in textile factories where fibers could be easily disturbed by incoming breezes, and mills were often unbearably hot and humid in the summer. In the winter, workers often shivered in the cold. In such environments, workers health suffered.