Question

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How was the process of industrialization in the United States similar to or different from how it occurred in Britain?

Similarities:

Differences:

Answer 1

By the later 1700s, rapid developments in the textile industry and in steam power had greatly strengthened the British economy. Cities grew rapidly. One of the most spectacular examples was Manchester about 180 miles northwest of London.
In 1717, Manchester was a market town with a population of about 10,000. By 1851, the population had grown to more than 300,000. Sixty years later, in 1911, there were more than 2,300,000 people living in the greater Manchester area. A ring of cotton-manufacturing towns almost surrounded the city. In a relatively short period of time, Manchester had grown into a great industrial center.
Factories, called mills in Britain, were at the heart of rapid industrialization. British factories in the late 1700s and early 1800s have been studied extensively. Long hours, low wages, repetitive tasks, dangerous working conditions, and harsh living conditions for women and children were the norm.

Answer 2

People in Britain realized the importance of what was happening there. To maintain their edge, they tried to pass laws to prevent people from exporting these ideas to competitors. People were not allowed to take factory blueprints out of the country. These laws, however, weren't always successful.

Perhaps the most famous case of industrial espionage involved a British industrialist named Samuel Slater (1768-1835). Slater is sometimes called the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution." By the age of twenty-one, he had become thoroughly familiar with textile technology and the British factory system. Having memorized numerous designs, he departed for the newly independent United States. The following year, he formed a partnership with the Rhode Island industrialist Moses Brown. By the time Slater died, he had built a virtual empire of textile mills and designed whole towns and tenant farms around the factories. By the early 1800s, industrialization was well underway in the United States.

The factory system developed rapidly in the United States. In 1814, Francis Cabot Lowell opened the first fully mechanized spinning and weaving factory in the United States. It was located in the town of Waltham, Massachusetts, near Boston. Lowell's factories in Massachusetts resembled company towns. The workers-mostly young, unmarried women-lived in company-built dormitories. The company furnished educational and religious resources. This highly organized operation was called the "Lowell system." By 1850, Lowell factories had 10,000 employees. Workers in the town of Lowell, Massachusetts, even published their own magazine.

To get these goods to market required new innovations in transportation. In America, one of the most important achievements in this regard was the construction of the Erie Canal. DeWitt Clinton, who served as governor of New York, strongly promoted the canal. Begun in 1817, the waterway took eight years to complete. Nicknamed as Clinton's "Big Ditch," it connected the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes. The canal was an engineering marvel. It was 363 miles long, 40 feet wide, and four feet deep. It cost $7 million to build. It quickly paid for itself, though and it transformed the shipment of goods. Before the Erie Canal, it cost 19 cents a mile to ship one ton of merchandise. The canal brought that cost down to one cent!

Answer 3

The first is Britain and the second is America.