The Industrial Revolution In America After The Civil War

The Industrial Revolution was such a dramatic time period in American history that brought about many changes that still affect modern society. After the Civil War, America was in shambles, not only physically, but also emotionally and economically. The American spirit was suffering, even in the North although they could claim victory in the Civil War. Freed slaves were in need of jobs, as were many returning soldiers. The Industrial Revolution led Americas out of the depression that stemmed from the Civil War and it was a time of innovation and progress that paved the way for an economic boom and raised the spirits of the average American. In textbooks, the Industrial Revolution is said to be the time period between 1865 and 1915. However,
There was strong opposition against the technological advances of the period. Many Americans thought machine manufactured goods should only be imported, and that America should remain reliant on the individual production, especially the production of small-time farmers. “One of the ironies of the American Industrial Revolution is that the entrepreneurs who built the nation’s first large factories- the textile mills of New England- sought out independent, hard-working farm girls to work in them.” Francis Cabot Lowell was one of the first to employ young women to work for him. In his famous Lowell mills, it was not hard to bring in workers. Female workers loved the idea that they could make more money working in a mill than they ever could being a domestic servant or school teacher, which was pretty much the only other option for them. The Lowell mills provided them with a place to live, learn, and make a living. Everything the workers needed was at their fingertips. They could save the money they made working for their future because most of their expenses were covered already. However, workers soon realized they were being oppressed. One such worker, a young girl named Harriet Hanson, who began working at the Lowell mills at age ten, compared herself and fellow workers to worker ants by saying, “ so many ants that cannot be distinguished one from another whose condition was foxed, and who must continue to spin and to weave to the end of their natural existence.” The young women that went to work at the mills were being exploited. The women were single, lived away from their families, and more often than not, had no other way to make a living for themselves. The mills became oppressive in that the workers did not have much free time when the work day was over, and they were expected to work well over the standard forty hours a week that is now standard. Due to