UNITED STATE OF AMERICA

• The USA moved towards industrialization after independence from Britain in 1783.
• Samuel Slater is known as the “Father of the American Revolution”.
• He brought new manufacturing technologies from Britain to the United States and founded the first US cotton mill in Beverly, Massachusetts.
• By the Civil war (1861-65), the USA became an industrialized nation with the highest Gross National Product in the World.
• The USA then emerged as an industrial power and by World War I was the major supplier of finished goods to the rest of the world.

Main Areas of Development:

Advancement in Agriculture: Following made USA a top agriculture country

• Progress in Agriculture provided a strong base to American Industrialization.
• There was a growing demand for the American Cotton in the industrial market.
• New agriculture machinery like Harvester and Thresher were invented and rotation of crops was introduced.
• Food processing Industry considerably grew with the use of automatic machines for cutting and packing of meat. Animal husbandry progressed considerably.

Transportation and Communication System

• Expansion of transportation and Communication played an important role in the economic progress of the USA.
• Rapid changes were seen in the period between 1789 and 1862.
• Miles of roads and new canals were built to connect the vast open areas of America.
• The steamboat was an important means of transportation in the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.
• By 1860, 27,000 miles of Rail track were built, and by 1900, 193,000 miles of Rail track were completed.
• Importantly, these new tracks connected the eastern and western United States, made selling goods more affordable, and allowed a network of national supply distribution.
• In 1825, the longest canal Eirie was built. It connected Albany with Buffalo.

Expansion of Textile Industry

• The first textile factory to use a water-powered spinning machine was started in 1790 by Samuel Slater, a British immigrant who called from Britain to set up a spinning jenny and a water frame.
• South New England became the Centre of the textile industry because the merchants here readily invested their capital in factories and farmers and their families were willing to work in them.
• The factors responsible for this progress were expanding population, custom protection and change in people’s taste.

Industrial Developments

• Industry was transformed in the Second Industrial Revolution by Henry Ford’s pioneering use of the Assembly Line in the manufacturing process.
• Metallurgical developments led to creation of harder and stronger materials and thus the first skyscraper was built in the USA in 1885.
• The pace of the Industrial Revolution in the USA was much more as compared to Britain’s Industrial Revolution. 

Deposits of Iron and Steel

• In Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the industry developed rapidly as both iron ore and coal were available in plenty and also created a source of fuel for factories.
• Several factories for manufacturing guns and weapons were set up.
• A Scottish immigrant, Andrew Carnegie who moved to the U.S. in 1848 was involved in the development and streamlining of the American steel industry.
• It was observed that there was rapid growth of the railroad industry which required huge quantities of steel tracks, the steel industry also profited during the Industrial Revolution.

Iron and steel were also used for manufacturing Franklin Stoves, water pipes and electric poles etc.