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Economic changes in the industrial revolution
Economic changes in the industrial revolution
How did the industrial revolution change the economy and society
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People check the time throughout the day, every day, making time essential to lives. The intrinsic importance of time is twofold: biologically people have an internal clock to regulate the most basic behaviors like breathing, sleeping, and blinking, and socially, time regulates daily lives like communication, farming, and business keeping. In fact, Eviatar Zerubavel, a professor of sociology at Rutgers University, argues that standard time is one of the “most essential” elements of the “social world”; social life is made possible with the ability to relate time (Zerubavel 2). Therefore, any change in the perception of time marks modification in thinking or an alteration to the social fabric. Throughout history perceived time has changed: sundials …show more content…
The transition from an agricultural to an industrial economy, known as the industrial revolution, began a new era of increased productivity and higher standards of living for most. The innovations from the industrial revolution and the necessity to transport raw materials to factories and finished products to other parts of the country helped stimulate the transportation revolution. The transportation revolution transformed American society, linking local and regional markets and creating a national economy. (Kennedy 304). Time, however, was still reflective of an economy based on small community markets. Therefore, the leaders of industry agreed time would have to change; uniform time would increase efficiency the benefits of such a system “would accrue to navigation, railroad interests, newspaper dispatching, telegraphic communications of all kinds” (Smith 31). For example, railroad companies use to conduct their business on a specified time that would be published in a time table while all other businesses of an area would be conducted on local mean solar time, so at many railroad stations multiple times would be displayed. Because of this disconnect between the corporations and the consumers, many were confused and perplexed by the system (Schott …show more content…
Before the Civil War in 1840, 10.8 percent of the population lived in cities, but that number rose to 25.7 by 1870 (U.S. Census Bureau 15). Because urban areas grew, producerism changed to consumerism. Heralding an age of consumption, department stores attracted middle-class shopper, and the appealing emporiums exhibited a cultural shift away from the values of thrift to the conveniences of shopping. In order to get products to these megalopolises, railroads had to connect these areas. Hoping to get materials from one area to another efficiently and decrease the complexity of the system, railroads soon switched from mean local time to Standard Time. The shift occurred smoothly and quickly for most railroads; the few roads that hesitated the system by the end of 1883. Not only did railroads change, most of the country accepted the new time (Riegel 87). When the railroads were outlining their plan, they hoped “that by the adoption of this system all necessity for translating railroad time into local time will be avoided, it being a fact that such translations are not now made at any city where all roads run by the same standard” (American Metrological Society 41). Most city officials and residents followed such standards by collaborating,
The railroads were the first to have a corporate organization, labor relations, and government regulation. The necessary structure of the railroad business brought order to the untamed west. Before the railroad, both time and space were estimated. The position of the sun produced an approximate time. For example, “The difference in time between Idaho City and New York is about two hours and forty minutes; between San Francisco and this place about thirty-five minutes” (Schwantes 3). Since trains shared a single track, timekeeping became critical to prevent train collisions. To keep a standard time, the railroad introduced time zones on November 18, 1883 (Schwantes 3). The distance was also estimated before land surveyors, paid by the railroad, came through to measure and draw maps. Keeping a standard width to within an inch between tracks was also important to keep the train from de-railing. However, the railroads began to collude to keep prices high. To combat this collusion, the government formed the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887, which was America’s first regulatory agency (Binding
The pace of life correlates with our endeavor to achieve success and upward social mobility. Every day we put up a fight against the clock as we try to fulfill our daily responsibilities and effectively run all our errands. Rushing to complete an irrational
Railroads were America’s first big business and contributed a great deal towards advancing industrialization. Beginning in the early 1870's, railroad construction in the United States expanded substantially. Before the year 1871, approximately fourty-five thousand miles of track had been laid. Up until the 1900's another one-hundred and seventy thousand miles were added to the nation's growing railroad system. This growth came about due to the erection of transcontinental railroads. Railroads supplied cities and towns with food, fuel, materials, and access to markets. The railroad system made way for an economic prosperity. The railroad system helped to build the physical growth of cities and towns. It even became another means of communication. Most importantly, it helped to produce a second
During the 1800’s, America was going through a time of invention and discovery known as the Industrial Revolution. America was in its first century of being an independent nation and was beginning to make the transition from a “home producing” nation to a technological one. The biggest contribution to this major technological advancement was the establishment of the Transcontinental Railroad because it provided a faster way to transport goods, which ultimately boosted the economy and catapulted America to the Super Power it is today.
Railroads opened new areas as settlement and stimulated the mining and manufacture. At the same time, the telegraph appeared. It brought uniform price of the country. Because of these improvements, many people migrated to west. The market revolution and westward expansion heightened the nation’s sectional divisions. The most dynamic feature of the American economy in the beginning of the nineteenth century was the rise of the Cotton Kingdom. But the increasing demand of cotton lead to larger number of slaves. For white people, westward expansion was a chance to get more freedom, but for black people, it means that they would have less freedom and their families will be broken. In the north, Market Revolution turned it to commercial system. Farmers focus on producing crops and livestocks. In some industries, the factory superseded traditional craft production. Both men and women could earn money by taking jobs from factories. Market Revolution changed the time concept of Americans. In cities, time of work and relax is divided clearly. Early New England textile mills largely relied on female and child labor.
Initially, back then many would travel on foot or with horses, it would usually take a lot of time taking crops or productions to trade. However, as the industry began to develop, railroads were created, the government began creating more railroads with the use of donations. The railroads began to take up more land as the new transportation system aided many. The use of railroads assisted in creating an enormous domestic market for American raw materials and manufactured goods. Railroads were beneficial in cities and they also played a leading role in the great cityward movement of the last decay of the century. The railroads could carry food and people and ensure them a livelihood by providing both raw
The railroad played a major role in forging the history of many countries including the United States of America. The railroad began to bring people to places that before then where only accessed by weeks of dangerous travel over harsh and deadly terrain. The industrial revolution had ushered in a completely new era. The new era was one of mass production, supply and demand, and new requirements of industry. The growth of industry had created new demands for transit, trade, and more robust supply lines. The railroad boom across the U.S. had spread and proceeded to grow the economy quickly therefore, many people began using the rail roads just as quickly. The rail market continued to grow and by the 1860’s all major cities within the United States were connected by rail.
Advancements in new technology clearly promoted the industrial growth of the United States. The new technologies allowed business owners to reduce labor in the movement of materials from one point to the other. This occurred by using the new technology of railroads and machinery. Business owners used the railroads to transport their finished product and raw materials around the country more efficiently, which enabled businesses to expand. The business owners were now able to use machines for lifting materials from one floor to another and to use conveyer belts to move materials around on an assembly line. The use of machines is evident because the graph in document 5 clearly shows that American industrial and agricultural power sources between 1850 and 1900 changed. This is evident because in 1850, only 13% human power and 35% water and coal power was used, but in 1900 a mere 5% human power and a whopping 73% water and coal power was used. The use of machines more than doubled over the course from 1850-1900, and the human output de...
Transportation was a large factor in the market revolution. During the years of 1815 and 1840, there were many forms of improved transportation. Roads, steamboats, canals, and railroads lowered the cost and shortened the time of travel. By making these improvements, products could be shipped into other areas for profit (Roark, 260). Steamboats set off a huge industry and by 1830, more than 700 steamboats were in operating up and down the Ohio and Mississippi River (Roark, 261). Steamboats also had some flaws, due to the fact of deforesting the paths along the rivers. Wood was needed to refuel the power to the boat. The carbon emissions from the steamboats polluted the air (Roark, 261). The building of roads was a major connecting point for states. There were some arguments of who would pay for...
With distant but profitable markets now attainable, farmers and manufactures now produced for the market rather than for their own personal consumption. Farmers, craftsmen, and entrepreneurs were brought considerable opportunities because of the Market Revolution. The construction of new roads and canals allowed people to exchange goods in distant markets with complete strangers. Railroads allowed people and goods to move faster and cheaper. The steamboat, which was invented by Robert Fulton in 1807, made it possible for two-way traffic to move swiftly on the nations new waterways. With the steamboat, this made it easier for farmers in the South to easily transport cotton, rice and sugar...
The railways opened up a broader range of where people were able to travel, they were able to embark on journeys much farther from home and faster than by other means known at that time. With the railroad sprouting and taking a route in England by 1836 time and space became to mean a different thing than it had in the 1700’s “With the increase in traveling speed came increases in the number of traveled routes, in traffic intensity and in the number of transportation
“The two sections diverged in other ways industrialization of the North went hand in hand with the expansion of the transportation system, so canals and railroads were built. In 1860 the South had 9,000 miles of railroad, while the North had 22,000 miles. Industrialization also required a financial network: banks, insurance companies and corporations. The South needed only cotton factors to represent the interests of the slave-owning plantations” (“Encyclopedia of American Social History”). The changes in the population and demographics in the United States in the years leading up to the American Civil War were even more dramatic. The following quote outlines the dramatic demographic changes affecting the two distinct sections of the country. “While the South was slow to change, the North had enough change for both sections. Prior to the Civil War, the United States as a whole was an agrarian society, but the North was becoming industrialized and urban. In 1860, 10% of Southerners lived in urban areas; as compared with 25% of Northerners. The Southern white labor force remained 80 percent agricultural in the first half of the
The developments in transportation changed the American economy and society from 1820 to 1860 in ways of an increased land value, faster traded goods, new cities, and a deeper sense of nationalism. Before these changes came about, the US economy and society was based on an agrarian setting. After this time frame, American Society turned into a capitalist marketplace. In the northern US, there were few changes in terms of industry because they were involved in an industrial revolution. However, the new Transportation Revolution blasted the West into an agricultural empire that provided consumable exports to the other parts of the country.
Before the clock had become a more prominent device in society, time was measured in a multitude of ways, most commonly in relation to processes of the “working day”. Before a clock was used to convey us the time, the crowing of a rooster could indicate the beginning and ending of a day and the sundial could show the time of the day in accordance with the position of the sun. The notion of ...
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, transport, and technology had a profound effect in North America. The industrial revolution marked a major turning point in history because it changed every aspect of life in America and the country as a whole. People started replacing ploughs and other tools for machines that could do twice the work. While others moved to large cities and started working in factories and other businesses. Huge industries such as the textile, steel, and coal industry came out and had a profound effect on the industrial revolution but, they would not have been extremely successful if it was not for railroads. The railroads played a vital role in the development and success of other industries. The railroads triggered the biggest leap in transportation in history. Through technological and entrepreneurial innovations and the creation of steam-powered locomotives, the development of trains as public carriers of passengers and freight, brought forth the railroad. The railroad industry changed the nature of production because it became an important energy source that replaced human and animal power. Due to the important role of the railroads, workers became more productive, items were being shipped more quickly, and resources were becoming available to everyone including the working and middle class and not only the wealthy. The railroads became to be known as one of the biggest leaps of transportation in history. This is because it set up the next fifty years of America’s prosperity. The railroads became extremely popular and useful during the 1800’s to millions of people and other large companies. Although there were many indu...