Positive and negative impact of industrial revolution
| Subject: | 🏺 History |
| Type: | Informative Essay |
| Pages: | 5 |
| Word count: | 1397 |
| Topics: | Industrial Revolution, Agriculture, Innovation, Thomas Jefferson, 🛳️ Immigration |
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Formally, the people in the united states depended on Agriculture as a means of livelihood. The view of the US founding father Thomas Jefferson was that the people of the united states would entirely depend on Agriculture as a means of earning income. This view was opposed by Alexander Hamilton who was an Idealist, and he had it that the people should not depend on Agriculture but also should engage themselves in industrial activities that are there should be a mixed economy that accommodates both Agriculture and Industry. Hamilton believed that the US would become a world superpower if only it would combine Agriculture and factories. US developed Industrial revolution later after Germany and France means that they had no say in the rules of the industries as they were already set by Germany and France who had experienced industrialization earlier.
The Industrial revolution in the US made many Americans leave their farming ways and become workers in the industries. There was mass movement of people from the rural areas to the urban centers as they believed that the urban areas had greener pastures. This rapid development of industries in the US provided more job opportunities for the locals and for Immigrants from other regions for example Eastern Europe who came searching for jobs in the American industries. This means that the US was now made of multinational communities which make the current day US made of blacks and whites and people from other races in the world. This helped a lot in the eradication of racial prejudice in the US in that people of other nations and race started to champion for their rights after some time for example those from Jamaica championed for equal rights with the whites.
Before the Industrial revolution, US was just like any other countries with the small town which were underdeveloped and had dwarf buildings. After the industrial revolution, the US cities developed to megacities which are recognized in the world today. This is because Industrial revolution developed a lot of revenue to the government in the form of taxation and to the industries owner and workers and in a bid to improve their lifestyles they developed their surrounding, for example, they build more presentable buildings which formed the cities. The government also invested in infrastructure which is one of the major determinants of development in a city.
There was an advancement in technology as investors and industries owners invested their money to anyone who had variable information that could lead to Industrial advancement. Scientists such as Alexander Graham Bell introduced the first telephone which enabled effective communication in the Industrialization era. Other technological inventions of the Industrialization era were the introduction of the phonograph that made it possible for managers to record work instruction and the Invention of the light bulb that made it possible for workers to work during the night.
The coming of industrial revolution gave rise to the development of the American myth which stated that anyone would become a wealthy man regardless of his family background. This myth acted as a motivational factor to many Americans as they believed in the self-made millionaire myth which made them work even harder with a dream of becoming millionaires in mind.
There was a mass immigration of people from other European countries. This person who immigrated into the US were not skilled in any way, and they were also not conversant with the US way of life. Industrialist was aware of this fact, and they capitalized on the opportunity of cheap labor from immigrants as they had no protection from the government of the day. This meant that there were flexible law costs which translated to high returns on the business.
This was an advantage to the US government as high returns on the Industries translated to high taxes on the businesses which were later used to develop the country.
The industrial revolution made transportation of raw materials to the industries and that of finished goods to its consumer’s easier. This is because industrial revolution brought about great improvement of the steam engines which were used to propel various transportation means of those days. Also, there was a rapid advancement of the steam industries which means that engines consumed little fuel than before. This made transportation to and from the industries possible and contributed to reduced prices of industrial commodities.
The industrial revolution also made it possible to expand industries as transportation was made possible to the previously inaccessible areas where the raw materials needed in industries were located. This resulted to the proper exploitation of natural resources with the help of newly introduced machinery to benefit the human beings and achieve customer satisfaction. The industrial revolution also resulted in the opening of many industries in urban which means more employment opportunities were created.
The industrial revolution also encouraged innovation and invention in the industries, new products were produced in the industries, and new ways of doing things were introduced in the industries. Cheaper ways of doing things in the industries meant that the workers had time to rest without interrupting the processes. This was made possible by the development of organized labor during the Industrialization era. Formally, work was done in a non-organized manner which made it difficult to come up with new ways of doing things as there was no continuous repeat of work procedures.
The industrial revolution created a new economy in the United States where the Cities were referred to like the sources of money. This saw a lot of people move to the urban areas in search of money. With the mass movement of people from the rural areas to the urban areas, there was hoping to end the slavery which was mainly practices in the Agricultural sector. This means that the United States was bullying its past practices and they were ready to move to a new era of industrialization.
The industrial revolution brought about mass production in industries. This was brought about by the coming of a new class of workers in the United States especially immigrants from the east who came because of the industrial revolution which required mass labor supply. This era of mass production brought about the growth of US economy as the mass production of goods created more revenue for the country.
The rise of the United States as a superpower started with the Industrial Revolution back in 1776. The revenue collected from the trade of Industrial goods was taxed by the government as it is always the case that the government will always have a portion of the returns of any trade. The US government invested these taxes in building a strong army which made other countries fear them.
Although industrial revolution had some positive impact on the lives of individuals in the industrial revolution era, it also had some negative consequences one of them being increased pollution in the urban centers. With the rapid development of industries in the urban areas, it means that there was increased noise pollution in those areas where industries were located. Industries also produced some harmful effluent which was released in the air directly without first being purified and hence this resulted in air pollution which consequently brought acid rain, and hence it affected crop growth and survival in the fields. The release of harmful waste products in into the water bodies caused water pollution which affected the living of aquatic animals and plants and polluted the water bodies making the waters unsafe for human consumption.
The opening of more and more industries meant that more industrial workers were needed to supply labor in the industries. This might have some positive impact as it supplied job opportunities to people, but also it means that most people moved to the urban areas living the rural areas having sparse population. Since men were the ones who were in higher demand to work in the industries, it means they left their homes leaving the mothers as the sole providers for the children. To some extent, the labor requirement went sky high such that even children were hired to work in industries. This is wrong because it is child labor which is not moral. People are moving to the urban means that the resources and opportunities in the urban areas were left untouched and thus there were many untapped resources in the rural areas.
- Hudson, P. (2014). The industrial revolution. Bloomsbury Publishing.
- Mantoux, P. (2013). The industrial revolution in the eighteenth century: An outline of the beginnings of the modern factory system in England. Routledge.
- Hartwell, R. M. (2017). The Industrial Revolution and economic growth (Vol. 4). Taylor & Francis.
Offered for reference purposes only.