Industrial Revolution Read to Learn:
From Revolution to Reconstruction
During the 1800’s, business and industry developed in America in different ways. From the late 1700s onward, factory work gradually replaced the system of home-based production. Rural, water-powered mills, were replaced by urban (city), steam-driven factories, filled to the roof with chugging, hissing, clunking machines. A task once accomplished by a group of skilled craftsmen became a thoughtless chore completed by, and depending on, faceless, nameless machines in an assembly line. Following the Civil War, industrialization in the United States advanced rapidly. One reason for the dramatic economic transformation was that rural workers and immigrants moved into the cities at an amazing rate. By 1880, over 25% of the entire population lived in cities. Employers (bosses) soon realized that if factories were built in cities, there would be a larger supply of workers available. With more people willing to do the work, employers felt that they could cut wages, and put more money into their own pockets. Naturally, employers wanted to maximize their profits. That meant that men, women and …show more content…
The people of the early 20th century (1900) had access to many more luxuries than any people before. Automobiles transformed culture by allowing people to live farther and farther away from the workplace. This created suburban life (Montbello is a suburb). Cities were transformed by the ever growing skyscrapers that seemed to dominate architecture. This was made possible due to better methods of production of steel and the increasing use of energy sources such as electricity and coal. Electricity changed life as people began to use electric lights and appliances in their homes. For entertainment, new technologies such as the radio and moving pictures became popular. The spirit of invention continued throughout the early part of the 20th
From Revolution to Reconstruction
During the 1800’s, business and industry developed in America in different ways. From the late 1700s onward, factory work gradually replaced the system of home-based production. Rural, water-powered mills, were replaced by urban (city), steam-driven factories, filled to the roof with chugging, hissing, clunking machines. A task once accomplished by a group of skilled craftsmen became a thoughtless chore completed by, and depending on, faceless, nameless machines in an assembly line. Following the Civil War, industrialization in the United States advanced rapidly. One reason for the dramatic economic transformation was that rural workers and immigrants moved into the cities at an amazing rate. By 1880, over 25% of the entire population lived in cities. Employers (bosses) soon realized that if factories were built in cities, there would be a larger supply of workers available. With more people willing to do the work, employers felt that they could cut wages, and put more money into their own pockets. Naturally, employers wanted to maximize their profits. That meant that men, women and …show more content…
The people of the early 20th century (1900) had access to many more luxuries than any people before. Automobiles transformed culture by allowing people to live farther and farther away from the workplace. This created suburban life (Montbello is a suburb). Cities were transformed by the ever growing skyscrapers that seemed to dominate architecture. This was made possible due to better methods of production of steel and the increasing use of energy sources such as electricity and coal. Electricity changed life as people began to use electric lights and appliances in their homes. For entertainment, new technologies such as the radio and moving pictures became popular. The spirit of invention continued throughout the early part of the 20th