Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution

• In the early 1800s, the United States began to shift from a farming society to an industrial one.
• An industrial revolution is when hand tools are replaced by factory machines, and farming is replaced by large-scale manufacturing.
• Shift to Manufacturing - Factories used machines to produce items faster and cheaper
• Growth of Factories - Large factories produced textiles, tools, and goods in huge amounts
• Wealth in the North - Northern states became centers of industry and business
• Need for Labor (Workers) - Factories required large numbers of workers - and the North needed more labor

Push / Pull - Factors

• Pull Factors: things (usually good) attracting settlers
• Plentiful Land
• Employment
• Religious Freedom
• Political Freedom
• New Life

• Push Factors: things that make (usually bad) settlers want to leave their homes
• Drought or famine
• Political revolutions or wars
• Religious persecution
• Economic struggles

Immigration

• Immigration means moving into one country from another
• Immigration has occurred throughout the history of America
• In the 1840’s and 1850’s, about 4 million immigrants arrived in the U.S.

German Immigration

• Immigrants left Germany because industrialization had reduced the amount of labor needed on farms
• German land had become more expensive, and German cities had become overcrowded.
• Germany also experienced political instability in the mid-19th century.
• States and territories wanting to increase their population actively pursued immigrants from Germany.
• They sent representatives to Germany to tell people about the benefits of moving to the United States.

German Immigration

• Most Germans came to the U.S. with more money than most immigrants, therefore they often times moved west.
• Germans settled in the Midwest during the 1850s, particularly on farmland in Ohio, Wisconsin, and other frontier territories.
• German contributions:
• Hot dogs, hamburgers, the Christmas tree tradition, and Kindergarten

Irish Immigration

• During the 1840s a famine hit Ireland caused by a disease in the potato crops
• Millions of Irish staved due to the famine
• Around one million people in Ireland died, and another million emigrated to other countries.
• The Irish people had no jobs or food
• Tens of thousands of Irish flocked to the U.S. in search of a better life.

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Irish Immigration

• Industrial jobs were plentiful and proved a major pull factor for Irish people considering leaving their home country.
• Most of the new arrivals had very little education or skills and were forced to work in the country’s most menial jobs.
• Jobs
• Factories
• Coal Mines
• Building Railroads
• Servants or Maids

Irish Immigration

• Irish immigrants had no money and no skills
• Most settled in the cities because they were too poor to travel to the frontier.
• Most lived in slums, were discriminated against, and had the toughest jobs.
• The Irish were desperate to work and took almost any job regardless of pay
• Irish were hated by other workers because they drove down wages.
• NINA – No Irish Need Apply.

Rise of Nativism

• Nativism – Support for native born people and a hostility toward immigrants
• Immigrants were hated because their labor was lowering wages and they were taking jobs away from working Americans
• Immigrants were also discriminated against for being Catholics.
• A fear that the Catholic Church and pope would influence American politics

Know-Nothing Party

• The influx of immigrants in the 1840s sparked the nativist political movement of the “American Party”.
• Also known as the “Know-Nothing Party” they participated in anti-immigrant activities
• Believed all elected officials should be native-born Americans.

The Immigrant Workforce

• Massive immigration by 1840 created a new workforce
• Factory owners supported immigration
• Inexpensive work force
• Immigrant labor led to poor working conditions
• Labor unions did form but were largely unsuccessful