The Industrial Revolution
This page serves as background knowledge so those who are unfamiliar to the American Industrial Revolution as a whole. In order for the true argument of the website to be as clear as possible, background knowledge on the time frame is essential.
When, Where, and How did the American Industrial Revolution take place?
The American Industrial Revolution started at around 1793, when a "British immigrant named Sameul Slater established the first working mechanized textile factory in Rhode Island". There had been textile mills already created in Great Britain at this moment in history, but this was the first time America was able to correctly reproduce it. Some historians claim Slater had either a photographic memory, or stole a top secret map of the mills design from Great Britain, but regardless on if he stole anything or not, one thing was clear. The Industrial Revolution had spread to the United States of America, and would remain to be there until as late as the year 1914. In the short months and years later, the Northern half of the United States (mainly New England) started to experience massive industrial growth, including an increase factories, economics, and even the rights of women. The Industrial Revolution "integrated women into an emerging capitalist society". The image of "We the People" was expanding from just rich, white men and becoming something more diverse and universal.
What was the American Industrial Revolution like in general?
The American Industrial Revolution was a time of innovation, pollution, and the beginning's of equal rights between the sexes. Generally speaking, the industry was blooming with the use of water power and coal. Despite the smog and low living conditions, many people still flooded into the cities in hopes of getting a job that was economically more rewarding than their previous occupations. Many of the people who migrated into the cities were none other than farmers and their families. As a result, many young, single, family-oriented women also came into the city, with hopes of helping their families pay the price of living. Factories such as the "Lowell Mills" was formed, and due to the high demand for thin, small fingers to better work the textile mils, women were being given a right once deemed appropriate only for men--to work. However, for men and women both (even children in certain cases) still had the burden of working long hours in polluted, putrid conditions with an ridiculously low pay. It was only a matter of time before protests arranged by the union workers would start to escalate. Due to working in factories, life at home and work was dramatically shifted apart, becoming nearly two different entities.
What caused the Industrial Age to be so important?
Even today, the American Industrial Revolution has been known as a modernization milestone for the United States of America. It paved the way for industrial advances, inventing concepts such as mass production and interchanging parts. The Industrial Revolution also opened the door for equal rights. Women, gaining the right to make money and have more independence, started to speak out for things they passionately believed in, such as the anti-slavery movement, and women's suffrage. In the eyes of women's history, the Industrial Revolution allowed women to finally able to set aside their spinning wheels, and travel outside their domestic life of cleaning, cooking, and raising children. While it is true that was common in the early 1800s (just before Lowell Mills became for industries to pay for women to work in their homes) industries would pay women to work for them by making yarn in their homes, the difference now was that they were being paid. They were starting to be recognized as productive people for society as a whole.