Roots of Industrialization
Libertyville High School
Colonial Industry
 Agricultural basis of
economy
 North: subsistence
crops
 South: labor intensive
cash crops
 Farmers relied upon
merchants, craftsmen
for tools and trade
Post Revolution Industry
 Post revolution population
low (incentive for
mechanization)
 Eastern seaboard had
many rivers & streams
(mills)
 Lots of natural resources
 Government / social effect
 Strong property rights
 Patent system (IP)
 Non-rigid class system
Early American Industry
 Cotton Gin (1789) by Ely
Whitney
 Separated seeds of short
fibered cotton from fiber
 Reduced necessary labor
by factor of 50!
 Generated huge profits for
cotton growers
 Cemented cotton as
main crop in South
Early American Industry
 “Putting out” system
 Subcontracting work to people
who did it at home
 Exs: textiles, light manufacturing
(locks, guns)
 Samuel Slater
Samuel Slater
 “Father of American Industrial
Revolution”
 Englishman, learned textile
industry in England
 Emigrated to America (illegally!);
started factory here; owned 13
textile factories in US
Slater Mill
Industrial Technology
 Interchangeable parts
 Pioneered by gunsmiths
 Jefferson & Blanc story (1778 –
refused to emigrate)
 Ely Whitney story (K w/o knowing
about interchangeability)
 Advantage: speed
 Disadvantage: quality
 Energy provider
 Moving water (mills)
 James Watt (1736-1819)
 Importance: allowed factories to
Steam engine
move away from rivers
 Still needed to be close to
transportation network
Transportation Network
 Roads
 Macadam roads
 Layer of gravel
 Layer of larger stones
 Tar used to make rocks
on top surface stick
 Steamboat
 Robert Fulton patent
 Clermont (1807) – NY
to Albany in 32 hours!
(took sailing ships 4
days)
Transportation Network
 DeWitt Clinton’s “Big
Ditch”
 Erie Canal (1817-1828)
 First canal to be built with
state money (others private
or Feds)
 Built between Albany &
Buffalo
 Statistics
 363 miles long
 40 feet wide, 4 feet deep w/
10 foot towpath alongside
 83 locks, total rise = 568 feet,
from Hudson to Lake Erie
 Disadvantage: SLOW!!!
Transportation Networks
 Railroad
 Derived from steam ship
 Steam engine on wheels, w/ tracks
 Advantages
 could be built anywhere
 Inexpensive
 Relatively fast (vs. canal, road)
 First RR = Baltimore & Ohio
(B&O)
 Between Baltimore, MD and
Ellcicot, MD 13 miles away
(expanded quickly, to DC by 1834)
 Early RRs built by private
investors
 Initially moved natural resources
 Later, passenger trains began
Government Encouragement of
Industrialization
 Patents
 Gov’t gives inventor exclusive
rights to benefit from invention
 After 20 years, anyone can
duplicate invention
 Copyrights
 Protection to authors of
original works of authorship
 Owner has exclusive right to
reproduce copyrighted work
 Why important?!?!
Communications
 Telegraph (1844)
 Prof. Samuel Morse sent
pulses of electrical current
through wires to produce
dots / dashes (Morse
code)
 Famous telegraph
companies include
Western Union, AT&T,
Bell
 By 1858, trans-Atlantic
communication possible
Morse Code, c. 1837
Extent of
Telegraph
Stations,
1853
Significance of Advancements
 Westward migration
made possible
 Agricultural, industrial
segments of economy
became
interdependent
 Nation tied together
through transportation
network
“Westward, the Course to Empire”
Impact of Industrialization
 Northeast (New England)
 Textiles
 Manufacturing
 Middle States (“Midwest”)
 Transportation
 Trade & banking
 Big cities emerge
(Chicago)
 South
 Cotton Gin created “King
Cotton”
 Increased reliance on
slavery