Industrial Revolution Also Lead

A major impact from urbanization is factories being built. The first factories in America were created in the 1790s by Samuel Slater. The Slater mill made the yarn making process much easier and more efficient (The First Factories). Francis Lowell also created a machine called the power loom that also made cloth from a machine and was more advanced than the Slater mill. Another invention Lowell created was a water powered mill that made cotton into cloth in the same building (The First Factories). The creation of these machines lead to advanced factories in the later 1880s.

These factories were replacing craftsmen and work produced by skilled workers by making a very fast and efficient way to produce goods. Owners of these factories paid their workers low wages on a very long work day and they had very poor working conditions. Women and children were also employed in these factories but made much less money than men. About 35,000 workers per year were killed in accidents in the workplace. Many people got upset with all these issues and these problems lead to the creation of labor unions to help get better working conditions and to get better pay and also better working hours (Urbanization).

The creation of the Erie Canal was another important creation during the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The Erie Canal was created because people needed a way to travel from the East coast of the US to the west. The Erie Canal spanned from the Hudson River to Lake Erie creating a way to the west. Before the creation of the Erie Canal people couldnt sell their crops easily because there was very few roads on the East coast. More roads and canals couldnt be created due to mountains in western Pennsylvania and Maryland (Benson) The only area with low enough mountains was New York which set up the creation of the Erie Canal.

The Erie Canal had a very important impact on the economy of America. It made an inexpensive route to get western goods such as lumber, grain, and flour to get to a major city like New York City (Benson). Also it made people on the East coast settle westward. Many farms were created on or near the Erie Canal and turned little towns in the west into thriving towns (Benson). All these positives turned New York into the biggest port in the country. One negative of the Erie Canal is the spread of diseases such as smallpox and cholera affecting people using the canal and people living in New York.

The Industrial Revolution also lead to many changes in the government. One important change was the formation of the republican party which is major party still used today. The Republican party was formed because northerners were angry about the Kansas-Nebraska Act that allowed slave owners to take their slaves into the west (The Rise). Six years after the formation the first republican president was elected Abraham Lincoln (The Rise). Abraham Lincoln went on to try and keep the US together after that failed he won the North Civil War and abolished slavery with the 13th amendment in 1865 (The Rise).

The Industrial Revolution lead to many new ideas and inventions that helped shape the world today. Also many new ideas such as the cotton gin and slater mill helped speed up the world leading to modern technology. Urbanization lead to the formation of many cities in the United States today. Some other important invention in the Industrial Revolution were the light bulb, the telegraph, the phonograph, the steam engine and the Model T were all very important inventions.

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