Posted: July 14th, 2022

General characteristics of the industrial age

General characteristics of the industrial age and give the general time period of this era in America
The industrial age was a period of the major industrial revolution where machine manufacturing replaced an agrarian and handicraft economy. The first industrial revolution initially began in Great Britain between the mid-17th to early 18th century, and it took about a century to reach the United States. American industrial revolution commonly referred to as the second industrial revolution is approximated to have begun in the decades following the civil war sometime between 1820 and 1870. This period saw the mechanization of agriculture, the growth of industries, and advancement in transport and communication.
One area that received a great deal of the revolution was agriculture and farming. The mechanization of agriculture enabled large scale farming, which saw an increase in agricultural production, making more agricultural produce available and cheaper for Americans. Specialization of animal genetics was also discovered. Selective breeding allowed the production of animals that were designed for a single outcome, such as increased milk production and more meat.
Existing manufacturing industries grew, and many new and advanced ones were established. The factory system expanded, and more factories were built including large-scale textile mills such as the Slater Mill in Rhode Island in 1790 and The Waltham Mill Massachusetts in 1814. Petroleum refining and steel manufacturing was also established. These factories produced smaller home-based machines like sewing machines, steel mills for small-scale scrappers, railroad tracks, among others. The electrical power used to drive the machinery was also discovered, and as a result, productivity skyrocketed
Transport and communication also advanced tremendously. More roads were built, the railway system was developed, and the canal system was expanded. This enabled even the most remote regions of the country to participate in the national market economy. Before then, the existing modes of transport were not fast enough to effectively transport goods and services throughout the country. Canals were the dominant and the most reliable way to transport materials to cities and towns located along the canal routes.
The industrial revolution gradually but steadily transformed American society tremendously. A new class of wealthy industrialists and an affluent middle class emerged. It also expanded the blue-collar working-class group. Industrialization also attracted more immigrants from other nations and from rural areas, who came in search of jobs resulting in the diverse American society. But not all people enjoyed the economic prosperity of this period. Not everyone was able to get work, and those who were lucky received low wages and were unemployed in the last part of the year. Advancements in technology rendered many farmworkers jobless, which made many of them move to the city in search of greener pastures.

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