Industrial Revolution
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The Early Impact of the Industrial Revolution in America
Farming transitioned from hand tools to machines. This included the cotton gin; among other innovations. Farmers began cultivating larger areas with less labor. Farming shifted from family needs to marketing of cash crops. With the introduction of the railroads and canals, farmers could sell to wider, national markets. There was a massive migration away from farm work, with an amazing growth of 15 million people from 1880 to 1900 migrating away from rural areas to industrialized cities. Undesirable living conditions in industrialized cities grew out of the mass migration of the working class from rural farms to cities. There was overcrowded, tenement housing, lack of modern sewage systems, and contaminated, unclean…
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The “Hustle and Bustle”: an old saying associated with the Industrial Revolution
The phrase “hustle and bustle” originated in the 19th century. The Dutch word “hutselen” means “to shake”, while the word “bustle”, stemming from the Old English word “bersten”, means to act vigorously. The combined words represent an atmosphere of lively activity and movement. The pace of life was dramatically transformed by a revolution of industry that introduced amazing innovation; a life filled with “hustle and bustle”. What once was a slow and routine life of chores on the farm, became, seemingly overnight for many, a change in density of people and an introduction of diversity and invention like never before. The migration into cities between 1880 and 1900 in America…
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Industrial Revolution: A Different Way of Life
Before the Industrial Revolution, people worked in small-scale businesses. The two primary and predominant examples, are farming and artisan handicrafts. Those social structures had basically remained unchanged, since the Middle Ages. Life was lived in small to medium sized villages. Travel beyond a person’s village was rare. Then, during the middle decades of the 18th century, Britain and other European countries saw a rise in their population. In order to serve this increased number of people, a gradual transformation from villages and small-scale production into a large, mechanized system of higher productivity took place. Read more about this transformative time in history: Source: National Geographic
