Industrialization During The 19th Century - 1751 Words

Industrialization in the US During the 19th Century (Adjusted) There are many causes and effects of America’s Industrialization, some of the main reasons include: migration to cities, improved transportation, and laissez-faire philosophy, while the primary effects generated by these causes include; consumerism, expansion of the market, and changed working conditions. First, one of the major causes of America’s mechanization is social, and it’s the mass migration of people into the cities. Around the turn of the 20th century, America became the world’s largest industrial power and went from being predominantly rural to largely urban. People, who recognized the cities as areas of great opportunity, began to work in factories as cheap†¦show more content†¦Robert Fulton Steamboat Clermont first sailed from New York to Albany in 1807 demonstrating the potential of steampowered commerce, and by 1811 there were steamboats on the Mississippi. The introduction of steamboats set off a mania for canal building between 1800 and the Depression of 1837 which put a halt to most construction, more than 3,000 miles of canals were built. And no state was more instrumental in the canal boom then New York which in 1825 completed the 363 mile long Erie canal linking the Great Lakes, with the Hudson River, which made New York the nationâ €™s premier port. Nathaniel Hawthorne once said that, â€Å"the canal is like fertilizer causing cities to spring up along side it (The Canal Boat: Nathaniel Hawthorne Travels the Erie Canal.) The most important new transportation at the turn of the 19th century however was the railroad. The first commercial railroad The Baltimore and Ohio was begun in 1828 and by 1860 there were more than 30,000 miles of rails in the United States (Transportation Developments in the Early Republic.) This improvement is transportation increased demand and supply, and as more people needed more goods the industry of America as we know it now, began to grow. The third and final reason for Industrialization is political, and it’s laissez-faire philosophy. In 1776, economist Adam Smith released his work titled â€Å"The Wealth