Shift to Industrialization
Presentation created by Robert Martinez
Primary Content Source: Visions of America: A History of the United States
Images as cited.
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In the early nineteenth century, the United States
began a transition from a predominantly
agricultural economy to an industrial one. This
process unfolded unevenly across different
sectors of the American economy and followed
different models depending on the industry and
region.
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Driven by new
manufacturing
technology and
techniques,
industrialization led to
a vast increase in the
number of goods –
everything from
clothing and shoes to
tools and toys –
available to the
American consumer.
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But for many workers, especially skilled
artisans, the new industrial economy led to a
devaluation of their skills and loss of social
status. For less-skilled workers
industrialization often meant exploitation, long
hours, and low pay.
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For others, the new manufacturing
economy opened up opportunities
for advancement.
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The group of workers
most dramatically
affected by the onset
of industrialization
was artisans, or
workers who used
specialized skills to
produce consumer
goods, from shoes to
bread to candles.
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In the colonial period skilled artisans
worked in small shops attached to their
homes, using hand tools to produce
goods for local consumption.
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They also used an apprenticeship system,
training boys in their skills in exchange for their
labor. The relationship between artisan and
apprentice was close. Typically an apprentice
lived in his master’s house, receiving food,
clothing, and education.
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In the new factory system first pioneered
by Samuel Slater in Rhode Island, the
artisan system of small-scale production
was replaced with a new set of roles:
owners, managers, and wage workers.
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The owner provided the money for the
enterprise, the manager supervised the
workers, and the laborers did the actual
work, which was usually less skilled than
the traditional crafts practiced by skilled
artisans.
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Some industries, such as textiles, shifted
relatively rapidly to the use of powerdriven machinery. Shoe production, in
contrast, continued to employ many
manual laborers into the 1860s.
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In both cases manufacturers undermined
the old craft traditions of artisans by
breaking down the productive process
into simple steps that could be
performed by workers with minimal
training.
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Factory work forced laborers to give up many
aspects of working-class culture. The work
rhythm of artisans before the rise of the factory
included periods of intense activity followed by
slack periods in which artisans might socialize
with one another, perhaps meeting in a tavern
to drink and discuss politics.
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Under industrialization the clock ruled. Factory
workers were required to follow a strict schedule
and perform at a steady pace day in and day out.
Beyond the rigid regulations of the workers day,
the factory robbed them of the pride of craft
associated with handmade goods.
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In contrast to artisan production, where a skilled
craftsman might create one-of-a-kind pieces,
factory goods were designed to be identical. In
addition to creating a labor force of less skilled
workers, the new system also led to a sharp
separation between home and workplace.
Before 1800, most artisans in New York had
workshops attached to their homes, but by
1840, two-thirds of them lived in one place
and worked in another. The factory system
separated home and workplace.
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Because factory made goods cost less to
produce, families of modest means could now
afford items once available only to the wealthy.
Ordinary Americans could now purchase
furniture, clocks, dishes, silverware, and the
latest fabrics.
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