American Free Enterprise-...make your own $ choices

-The U.S. economic system of free enterprise operates by giving consumers a choice. This forces producers to provide higher quality items at reduced prices to attract consumers to buy.-Government involvement is limited to setting rules and acting as a referee to settle disputes in addition to collecting taxes

The American Economy

Factors that lead to industrialization and urbanization

• Factors that lead to industrialization and urbanization

• Natural Resources • Transportation• Investment capitol ($$$)• New Inventions• Population (immigration &

high birth rates)

• The need to make something better----CHANGE• The Industrial Revolution is the change from

handmade to machine made products.• As the Industrial Revolution spread, more and

more goods were made in factories. People began to move to cities (urbanize) and buy more manufactured goods rather than make everything themselves.

• What drives Innovation? (something new/different)

Transportation and

Communication

James Watt: Steam Engine

Robert Fulton:

Steam boat

DeWitt Clinton:

Erie Canal

Transcontinental

Railroad

Samuel F.B. Morse:

telegraph and Morse code

STEAM ENGINE

•Patented in 1871 by James Watt•Increased available power across the country, wherever water and coal or wood at hand•Affected transportation, manufacturing, and agriculture

STEAMBOAT

•Patented in the US by Robert Fulton in 1807•Two-way river transportation became much easier•Affected commercial, private, and military transportation

ERIE CANAL

•Opened in 1825, promoter Dewitt Clinton•Thousands of workers were needed for this project. 25% of these workers were Irish.•This modification of the environment allowed the Great Lakes to be connected to the Hudson river•This connection made it cheaper and easier to get Midwestern farm products out to the ocean for trade and vice versa!

TELEGRAPH

•Patented by Samuel Morse in 1837•Made long-distance communication faster and cheaper

COTTON GIN

•Invented by Eli Whitney in the 1790’s•Made removing seeds from cotton easier•Significant impact on the economy of the South•Probably prolonged slavery

INTERCHANGEABLE PARTS

•Eli Whitney standardized parts, making them interchangeable from one item to another. •This made manufacturing easier and less costly=CHEAPER products for consumers

BESSEMER STEEL PROCESS

•Invented by Henry Bessemer in the 1850’s•Made possible the manufacture of great amounts of high quality, less expensive steel•Contributed to higher quality machinery, farm implements, and transportation

TEXTILE MILL

•Developed by Francis Lowell in the 1820’s•Brought the entire manufacturing process under one roof•Contributed to urbanization and child labor practices

Agriculture

Eli Whitney:

Cotton Gin

John Deere:

Steel Plow

Cyrus McCormick: Mechanical

Reaper

STEEL PLOW

•Invented by John Deere in 1837•Allowed faming on tough Midwestern soils•“The Plow That Broke the Plains”

MECHANICAL REAPER

•Invented by Cyrus McCormick in the 1830’s•Reduced human and animal power needed to bring in crops•Increased efficiency- automatically cut, threshed and bundled grain

IR effects the American Economy and Society

• America was largely rural in the 1830’s. • The rise of industry changes this. • 1820-350,000 factory workers….by 1860 there are 2 MILLION

factory workers!

• People develop new work habits (time clocks, schedules)• Women and children enter the workforce along with

immigrants• Needed more educated leaders and managers• Rapid industrialization brings increase in technology as well as

societal problems.