The bustling United States economy that we have grown to know today was once very similar. This blog will deconstruct the rapid transition from an agrarian centralized economy to one of the biggest industrial and technological economies dating back to the early 20th century. The resulting effect was a factory system that mass-produced products at cheaper prices and employed the more. However, before this could happen entrepreneurship had to break out.
The American economy up too about the 1880's was agrarian based. Farms in the south and west produced resources for the north who used their more industrial businesses to produce products that could be traded. However, this system did not allow for substantial growth in the US economy that would make them a true world presence. The first steps towards the industrial economy were in the early industrial revolution where a more basic system called the outwork system was beginning to evolve as entrepreneurship began to grow. The outwork system was a system where small parts of a larger product, objective etc... were produced in individual homes. This system was similar to the system that also helped grow the English industrial economy not much earlier called the putting out system. The outwork system expanded to the factory system similarly to England. Where again items were being massed produced, this time in a factory.
Finally, the benefits of the capitalist economy began to show greatly as more people began private businesses that became franchises because of the factory system. People began not only growing their businesses into franchises but also expanding them into producing multiple different products and emerging businesses to increase production capabilities. This is what made some of the richest people rich, like Andrew Carnegie, who created a mass steel industry. His steel industry revolutionized the factory system within itself and also replaced the iron with the cheaper more available steel allowing for the growth of the railroad system and helped spur the evolution of cars into mass production like Ford with its model T. Rockefeller did something similar with his standard oil company. Investing a lot into the oil refining business he created one of the biggest monopolies ever.Other examples of monopolies that concentrated for mass production was James Duke who used a machine that could roll paste and cut tobacco cigars into 100,000 cigarettes. Both technological and business enterprise, like Rockefeller and Carnegie, motivated the US government to allow more patents to be handed out than ever before. Now, truly America was the land of rags to riches.
Sinews of Democracy
Robers Barons and Rebels
http://www.ushistory.org/us/22a.asp
Great post Mateo. I like your evidence, examples and pictures. I agree that America did undergo a transition from an agrarian economy to a large industrial one, however, I disagree that this had many benefits for the people and the claim that America was a land of rags to riches. Instead I believe that the benefits of economic opportunity were only seen by a few and that the majority lived in poverty. There was a huge discrepancy between the rich and the poor and the rich lived lavish lives. Only a few people were able to start businesses and become entrepreneurs; not many people even could own land. Most were forced to work for low wages as manufactures with dangerous working conditions or were victim to the crop-lien system. This is supported in the source "robber barons and rebels". Proof that the poor did not see increased opportunities is shown in this article by the fact that many went on strike for example the Homestead and Pullman Strikes. ALthough there was a boom in American manufacturing, more people did not benefit from the capitalist economy as they were unable to begin private businesses without loans and they were forced to become disgruntled manufactures.
ReplyDeleteMateo, I really liked how you discussed many important figures as well as their contributions during the industrial revolution in America. This period of time definitely led to significant developments in the American economy. However, many families suffered from poverty. As a result, children had to drop out of school and do labor. Additionally, working conditions were quite hazardous and wages were low. There was "the Great Rail Strike of 1877, when rail workers across the nation went out on strike in response to a 10-percent pay cut." Furthermore, there was also a riot in 1892 "at Carnegie's steel works in Homestead, Pennsylvania. A group of 300 Pinkerton detectives the company had hired to break a bitter strike by the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers were fired upon and 10 were killed." Although there were wealthy individuals such as Carnegie and Rockefeller, most people during this time period often struggled to gain income.
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