What Was The Industrial Revolution A Turning Point In American History

It was a turning point in history. Europe and America was rural and focused mostly on farming and agriculture until the Industrial Revolution. Occurring between the 18th and 19th centuries, the Industrial Revolution is one of the most influential time periods of American history. It not only was hard to find a job or pursue an education, but people barely had the necessities to live unless you were from the upper class. Many inventions that the modern United States citizen takes for granted originated during the Industrial Revolution. The ability to mass manufacture and mass produce began in Great Britain and eventually spread to the United States. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, many goods that were necessary to live were manufactured

at home using hands and minimal machinery. The standard of living was subpar and daily activities revolved around farming. The Industrial Revolution produced many technological advances and brought many changes to the way of life. The textile industry, transportation, and the way people communicated were a few of the areas that were impacted.
The Industrial Revolution was the beginning of machine and factory production. Through this change, the textile industry was significantly impacted. Before the invention of the cotton gin, power loom & spinning jenny, clothing was made at home. “In 1794, U.S.-born inventor Eli Whitney (1765-1825) patented the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber.It greatly changed the production of cotton by speeding up the removal of cotton seeds”. Before the cotton gin it took days to produce cotton. Another invention that significantly changed the textile industry was the power loom. “The power loom mechanized the process of weaving cloth and was developed in the 1780s by English inventor Edmund Cartwright”.