Industrialization

Industrialization

By the mid-1870’s, industrialization was well on the way to changing almost aspect of American life. Many factors fueled industrial growth in the late 19th century such as the change in farming techniques, new technology, and fast transport, the availability of capital and labor, and cheap energy. The industrial development and technology changes slowly took its toll on each aspect of life.

Although industrialization had impacted American society greatly, it brought deep and often distressing shifts to American society. The influence of rural life declined, and the economic importance of agriculture decreased. New technology had been introduced in agriculture. As the growth of markets for agricultural products encouraged the introduction of machinery to the farms, the status of the farmers began to decrease. Machinery increased productivity so that fewer hands had to produce more food per acre. New plows, seed drills, cultivators, mowers, and threshers, as well as the reaper, all appeared by 1860. These techniques, plus fertilizers and pesticides, helped to increase farm productivity. After the machines came into use, the need and use of farmers taking care of the land and soil were no longer needed. Also as a result of industrialization, the natural environment has suffered from pollution, deforestation, and the destruction of animal and plant habitats.

New advances in technology also impacted American history in a positive way. Iron and steel manufacturing was changed in the 1850’s and 1860’s by the Bessemer process and the open-hearth furnace. The Bessemer process, developed by British inventor Henry Bessemer, enabled steel to be produced more efficiently by using blasts of air to convert crude iron into steel. The open-hearth furnace, created by German British inventor William Siemens, allowed steelmakers to achieve temperatures high enough to burn away impurities in crude iron. American industrialist Andrew Carnegie built a giant iron and steel empire using huge new plants. John D. Rockefeller, another American industrialist, built his empire in petroleum refining. Soon there were enormous advances in science-based industries, for example, chemicals, electrical power, and electrical machinery. These changes prompted further innovations, which led to further economic growth. By 1860 more than half the railroad tracks in the world were in the United States. The most important 19th-century improvement in communication was the telegraph. The telegraph was invented by American Samuel F. B. Morse. It allowed messages to be sent long distances almost instantly by using a code of electronic pulses passing over a wire. The railroad and the telegraph spread across North America and helped to create a national market, which encouraged additional improvements in transportation and communication to the world.