Pros And Cons Of The Industrial Dustrial Revolution

Have you ever thought about how our everyday objects became to be and how advanced they are? Or do you ever wonder about how transportation has improved over time? The Industrial Revolution was a big change the U.S history and industrial growth. The Industrial Revolution was a period of rapid growth in the use of machines in manufacturing and production that began in the mid-1700s (Stuckey R25). Since the beginning of this period our country has slowly advanced to what it is today. From the Industrial Revolution, production has become more efficient and faster, there have been new job opportunities, and it has brought motivation to make our American’s lives better ("8 Biggest Pros and Cons of Industrial Revolution”). Nevertheless, the Industrial

First of all, the Industrial Revolution has tremendously improved production and industrial growth. Before the Industrial Revolution, people would make textiles by hand in their own homes. Without any technology or machines it was very time consuming to spin thread to make cloth. An new invention was created called the water frame that created dozens of cotton threads in at one time (Stuckey 339). Researchers from the Mississippi Historical Society say in the 1800 the American cotton production was 156,000 bales and by 1860 it was more than 4,000,000 bales ("Cotton in a Global Economy: Mississippi (1800-1860)”). More inventions and machines were created that sped up the production of products and lowered the costs. Soon factories were built which factory machines replaced hand tools and manufacturing replaced farming (Stuckey 402). Mass production of goods was off to success and companies began. In addition to new factories, job opportunities became available. In 1815, about 80% of Americans lived in rural areas and were employed in farming, but not everyone made a lot of money (Stuckey). When people heard about the job openings they moved to the cities to start working in the factories for hope of better wages.

To begin with, the factories produced pollution, health issues, and bad working conditions. From the well known website, History, statistics show in 1948, severe pollution from the factories created a deadly smog that asphyxiated 20 people in Donora, Pennsylvania, and made 7,000 more sick.("Water and Air Pollution”). This caused people to have heart attacks, strokes, lung cancer, diseases, and long term heart, lung, and breathing issues. It also impacted plants, fish soil, forests, and some building materials ("Water and Air Pollution"). Since companies we too focused on money and profits, they didn’t really care for the factory workers. The working conditions were extremely poor including air pollution, safety hazards, hot temperatures, little breaks, and overseers mistreating employees (Stuckey). People worked long hours for little pay and children got even less pay. Secondly, the cities became overpopulated. Industrialization attracted so many people and immigrants that it left the cities overpopulated. Most people lived in slums and were very poor. Five to nine people lived in a single room which was as big as an apartment ("Working and Living Conditions”). People had to live close together which made sanitation worse and got people sick. As mentioned earlier, diseases were caused and since there wasn’t any very advanced medicine, death was a result ("Working and Living Conditions”).