Industrial Revolution - Inventions2

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Of course we need to understand technological innovation as a process of borrowing and creative adaptation, and in this vein we need to be aware of Britain’s contribution to America’s Industrial Revolution.

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Economy

Two revolutions in industrial production and the market system transformed the nation’s economy

Factory owners used high-speed machines and a new system of labor discipline to boost production, and enterprising merchants employed a newly built network of canals and railroads to create a vast national market.

The manufacturing sector produced an ever-increasing share of the country’s wealth: from less than 5 percent in 1820 to more than 30 percent in 1877.

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The Coming of Industry: Northeastern Manufacturing

Between 1820 and 1860, the United States experienced an industrial and a market revolution that created a new economic structure.

Merchants and manufacturers organized increasingly efficient systems of production and, aided by skilled mechanics, introduced water- and steam-powered machines to turn out huge quantities of goods.

Simultaneously, merchants, traders, and shopkeepers created a vast market system in which they exchanged these manufactures for grain, meat, cotton, leather, and wool produced by a rapidly growing and westward-moving farm population.

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Division of Labor and the Factory

Industrialization came to the United States after 1790 as merchants and manufacturers increased output of goods by reorganizing work and building factories.

The “outwork system” was a more efficient division of labor and lowered the price of goods, but it eroded workers’ control over the pace and conditions of work.

For tasks not suited to outwork, factories were created where work was concentrated under one roof and divided into specialized tasks.

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Manufacturers used newly improved stationary steam engines to power their mills and used power-driven machines and assembly lines to produce new types of products.

Some Britons feared that American manufacturers would become exporters not only to foreign countries but even to England.

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British textile manufacturers were able to out-compete American manufacturers

The Americans' only advantage early in the nineteenth century was having abundant raw materials such as cotton. The British had cheaper labor, lower interest rates, and less-expensive shipping than the United States and used them effectively to keep prices lower than the prices of their American rivals.