The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution was an era of technological advancement that had a long-lasting global impact.  Starting in the late 1700s, the development of more efficient machinery changed the ways of life for people in America.  The Industrial Revolution was an important factor in the rise of wealthy barons in America - like Carnegie and Rockefeller.  Key inventions of the Industrial Revolution, like the steam engine and the spinning jenny, were initially invented in Great Britain.  Although the British closely guarded their secrets, eventually, their revolutionary technology spread through Europe and to other continents.

The Spinning Jenny, an innovation in the textile industry
invented by James Hargreaves.

One of these continents was America.  Samuel Slater is commonly known as the "Father of the American Revolution."  Originally from Britain, Slater pirated the design for important inventions.  After he opened the first water-powered textile mill in Rhode Island, entrepreneurs throughout the US quickly duplicated his mill.  As increasing numbers of mills and factories were built, there was a new demand for unskilled workers.  The surplus of farmers seeking employment after the Agricultural Revolution provided the labor pool for the growing number of factories.
Although the Industrial Revolution brought fortune to pioneering entrepreneurs, workers suffered greatly as they became less and less valued.  Factory workers received low wages and worked in dangerous conditions.  Children often had to work to help support the family, and they worked in the same conditions as adults for even lower wages.  Working in factories prevented children from getting an education, and also caused long-term physical deformities and health problems.  In the workplace, heavy machinery without safety regulations made it not uncommon to lose a finger or two and generally endangered the workers.  For example, in the Pemberton Mill of Massachusetts, heavy machinery caused the building to collapse on workers, injuring and killing over 100 workers.  However, workers could not complain because they were so easily replaceable.

The Pemberton Mill collapse, which was
one of the worst industrial accidents to
occur in Massachusetts.

The working class lived in terrible conditions because of their low wages.  In America, workers moved in large numbers to major urban areas like New York and Chicago, so they could be near the factories they worked in.  In the slums, families were packed into crowded living spaces.  The slums were dirty and unhygienic because of a bad sewage system, and living in such close quarters made infectious diseases spread rapidly.  Smoke churned out by machines covered the sky, and workers that breathed it in every day were at risk for a number of lung diseases.

A mother and her child in their small tenement room.

In response to the unfair treatment from their bosses, workers eventually began to take measures to gain some rights.  Workers sought safer working conditions, shorter working hours, and higher wages.  One method they used was organizing into unions to stand for these goals.  Notable American unions include the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor.  Unions would sometimes organize strikes, where workers walked out to demand better treatment from their employers.  However, these strikes often devolved into violence, which cast a negative light on working unions and their goals.  We heard about the strike at Carnegie's Homestead Mill in class, where violence broke out between workers on strike and hired muscle.  Workers struggled to gain the rights they fought for without the support of the American public, and could not make much progress until they found that support.

A drawing of the Homestead Strike at Carnegie's Homestead
Mill in Pennsylvania.