Question

compare and contrast the first and second industrial revolutions in the united states.

Answer 1

First Industrial Revolution (1790s-1840s)
1. Common sources of power included wind, horse, man, and water.
2. Marked the change from the home system to the factory system
3. Started by Eli Whitney, Samuel Slater, and others who developed simple machines and factories to create fabric, and machine parts.

Second Industrial Revolution (1870-1910)
1. Started as a result of the increased demand for goods following the Civil War with the rebuilding of the South, the building of the railroads west, and the move off the farm to the cities in the north
2. Involved gasoline-powered motors and electrical-powered engines and turbines.
3. Factoriesnow took the place of small shops with one or two machines. Now the workers had to adapt to the factory and not the factory adapt to the worker

Answer 2

I found this on enotes.

The similarity between the two Industrial Revolutions is that they both involved an increase in the degree to which machines were being used to do tasks that had once been done in other ways. Yes, there were differences in that the earlier Industrial Revolution was more about things capital goods like steam engines while the second was about consumer goods. But, in both cases, the main thing that was going on was an increase in the use of machinery. This is what they have in common and what makes it legitimate to call both of these "Industrial Revolutions."
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dftbap | College Teacher | (Level 1) Associate Educator

Posted on January 19, 2015 at 3:22 PM (Answer #2)

The first industrial revolution was largely about creating more effecient methods of production in different industries such as agriculture, manufacturing,transportation, etc. through the development of machinery. These machines were able to create less need for a large scale, costly, work force.

The Second Revolution was tied into the first Industrial Revolution as it was a time of utilizing and refining many of the methods in the first revolution in order to use them in the means of large scale consumer production.

Two revolutions dealing with the same final means, however, doing so in stages. The first revolution created the means with which later generations would labor. Each of these times in history was more deadicated to production effeciency than to well-being of human labor and conditions.
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Answer 3

what were the obstacles facing the labor unions in the late 19th and early 20th century?