Transcript Why is it an “Industrial Revolution?”

Why is it an “Industrial
Revolution?”
Mr. Bach
United States History
Factors Influencing Industrialization
• Availability of
Resources
–
–
–
–
Coal
Iron Ore
Limestone
Oil
• Transportation and
Communication network
to unite the country
Factors Influencing Industrialization
• Culture of
Entrepreneurship
– Puritan Work Ethic
– American ideal of
opportunity
• Culture of Exploration
and Discovery
– American inventiveness
Factors Influencing Industrialization
• Favorable Government
Actions
– Laissez-Faire Policies
– Protective Tariff
– Support for limited
liability (corporate
model)
– Corporate Welfare
(railroad land grants)
– Patent Protection
– Favor business in labor
disputes
The Effects of Industrialization
• Wealthy Americans
– Robber Barons vs.
Captains of Industry
– Concentration of wealth
in the upper class
– “New Money”
– Immortal Corporate
Powers
– Social Darwinism vs.
Philanthropy
The Effects of Industrialization
• Middle Class
– Enjoyed an increasingly
comfortable lifestyle
(products, living
conditions)
– Educational
opportunities expanded
(for men and women)
The Effects of Industrialization
• Working Class
– Suffered from laissezfaire policies
– “Wage Slavery”
– Great victims of the
Boom/Bust Cycle
– Growth of a labor union
movement (varying in
moderate to radical
demands)
– Still have hope of
generational social
mobility
The Effects of Industrialization
• Farmers
– Commercialized and
Mechanized Agriculture
(less need for labor)
– Increasingly dependent
on the railroad industry
for bringing goods to
market
– Increasingly part of a
national economy
– Subject to the
boom/bust cycle as well
The Effects of Industrialization
• The New Immigration
– Better chance for
economic mobility in
America than in the
Old World
– Encounter
discrimination which
causes many to band
together into ethnic
neighborhoods
– Further depress wages
due to inflow of new
workers
The Effects of Industrialization
• The Growth of Cities
– Steam power allows
factories to be located
in new areas
– Great migration from
rural to urban within
U.S.
– Laissez-faire policies
make cities dangerous
places to live
– Political corruption is
rampant within city
government
The Effects of Industrialization
• Gender Relationships
– Middle/Upper Class Men – Social Darwinistic Struggle
• Office work while trying to maintain rugged manliness (YMCA)
– Middle/Upper Class Women – Victorian Model (keepers
of the home as a refuge)
• Resistance: Female Reformers and College Graduates (Outside
world would benefit from female morality)
• Increasing availability of contraception (later Margaret
Sanger)
– Working Class Men and Women – aspiring to the
middle-class model while trying to survive
The Effects of Industrialization
• United States as a Whole
– Emergence on the world stage as an economic
(and military) power
– Pattern of rural  urban migration that
continues to this day
– “Up by the bootstraps” idea
– Increasing comfort/uneasiness with class
division
– Economic Interests vs. Environment Concerns
But what about this interpretation?
•
Billy Madison: Ahem, Uh… Ok.
The industrial revolution to me is just like a
story I know called “The Puppy Who Lost his
Way.” The world was changing and the puppy
was ... getting … bigger.
…
So you see the puppy was like industry in that
they were both lost in the woods. And nobody,
especially the little boy - society – knew where
to find him. Except that the puppy was a dog,
but the industry my friends – that was a
revolution.
•
Principal: Mr. Madison, what you've just said
is one of the most insanely idiotic things I
have ever heard. At no point in your rambling,
incoherent response were you even close to
anything that could be considered a rational
thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber
for having listened to it. I award you no
points, and may God have mercy on your soul.