Industrial Indemnity

During the second half 1700’s extending to most of the early 1800’s a stark and exciting resolution began to form and drive life in the Americas. This period is known as the Industrial Revolution, and was a known for great advancements in technology not just in theory but in implementation. Unfortunately, this caused an elemental shift in the lives of many workers that, for many long years before, had a stable and secure employment status. This shift caused workers to change from the more grueling physical labor, to the more sophisticated machine and technologically driven labor. Ideas such as the steam engine changed where work was available and what kind of work in particular to those specialized in the field to have opportunities. Overall, these changes had a physical, social, and even an economical drift in the American populace.

One of the best examples of this change is written about in a memoir “Life on the Mississippi” (Mark Twain, 1883). In the literature Mark Twain explains and expands on the shift of work that was implemented after the steamboat, created by Robert Fulton, Robert Livingston, and Nicholas Roosevelt, was introduced to the Mississippi. At this time the Mississippi was used as an immense commerce waterway, since roads were not commonplace at that time. Most cities and towns that were important enough, as a merchant, to travel to were located very close to the river itself and allowed for trade and growth along the waterway. The steamboat changed how trade and travel were conducted in those times and also changed the workforce focus. Twain describes this with the rowboat men and how their lives changed from the difficult physical labor of bringing the boats upstream to becoming the pilots and mechanics for the steamboats that replaced them. This change was difficult for some since their entire lives to that point had no experience with machines and in turn this caused the workers to change jobs and at times fields of work so that they could provide for their families.

Before the steamboat was introduced to the Mississippi, rowboats were the main source of trade and travel among the populace. However, one of the biggest problems was not traveling downstream but was trying to maneuver upstream without too much effort. Some traders at that time returned a boat upstream by slow and laborious rowing; others used another method by walking along the riverbanks with tow ropes attached to the boat, or even pushing along the bottom with a long pole. Even still, another more commonly used route was to make a sea voyage to a one of the eastern ports along the coast and to cross the Appalachian Mountains. All of these options used, at times, extreme physical labor and commitment by the crew and captain of these commerce ships to make a good living and, in some cases, the full return trip took close to nine months to complete. The steamboat forever changed the usage and amount of these workers required to make this