Industrialization of America

The industrialization of America was a time of great progress in its history, but it was also a period of great social uprising. As the country developed, a myriad of new developments stemmed off of the main trunk of industrialization. This major period of development created the America of today, and it almost broke it, on the thin line of development we call the progressive era.

Industrialization did several things to America, but first, it must be ascertained ‘where,' or rather ‘when,' it actually began. The where is the easy part, because the industrialization began in the major population centers of the time, the cities. It began there, because that is the area in which the majority of the "non-agrarian" labor force lived, the rest of America was made up of farmers. This workforce was generally in need of a new source of income, so of course, the factories appeared where needed. However, the factories were in fact so large and numerous, that they required a larger work force than was actually available in the cities, and thus, the first major stem of industrialization, the urbanization of America. That is, the movement of people from rural areas to the cities at a greatly increased rate. And thus, the megalopolis was born. As for the ‘when' of industrialization, one has to look deeper into the history of the American thought and ideals.

American society had always known that its destiny lay in the idea of manifest destiny, but the habitation of that much land, and the continuation of the unity that made America great, required something far greater was needed than was available. So, with the westward expansion of the US, a new industry develops, and industries not only of invention or manual labor, but also of business, possibly the greatest factor of all in the industrialization process. With the advent of big business, we see the rise of the railroad, and the beginning of the actualization of the