American_Industry

3 Pages 867 Words

The Industrial Giant Known as America

Many factors led to America having a tremendous rise in industry. The five points
that made the most impact were technology, mass distribution and production, education,
railroads, management ideas and structure, and immigrant labor. These five points not
only improved the existing industry, but they revolutionized how the American industry
would be run for the next generation. As with any change in an existing system, there
were a few problems, the main problems where with workers so management just replaced
them with machines. Many people weren’t ready to make the adjustment from small town
farming to big city living but the benefits far out-weighed any unusual situations, so the
people and the nation when along with it.
In the 1850’s and on, most Americans were wondering about the benefit of a
society dominated by cities, factories, and masses of wage earners. Along with cities and
factories, pollution, and unhygienic situations was rising as well. Industrializing of the
nation was wanted by many people but on the other hand, many people did not want to
see the nation industrialize. The United States, at this point, mostly an agricultural society,
and most of the people lived on farms or in small towns, and had lots of open space to
live in. These caused a slowing of the United States transforming into a industrial nation.
Depression set and there was unrest in the work force. This began to change in the 1870’s
when the Populist Party gained a strong foothold. In 1897, the economic depression
finally came to an end. In 1910, the United States firming planted itself as the world’s
leading industrial power.
Probably the most important feature aiding the nation’s growth was technology.
Two major inventions during this period were the invention of the gasoline-powered,
internal combustion engine and harnessing of electric power. Harnessing elect...