Conclusion

In many respects, the American experience in entering the industrial era reflected that of Great Britain. The long colonial linkage and the eventual warming of the relationship between the two countries in the 19th century led to the United States being the heir to British industrial developments. Yet, the United States also had distinctive trends that did not mirror those of Great Britain. Whereas Britain’s agricultural production shrank during the industrial revolution and the nation had to import foodstuffs to support its manufacturing labor force, the United States saw the continued expansion of agriculture as the nation spread westward. This agricultural growth provided essential sustenance for the industrial workforce that expanded rapidly through the shift of population from farm to city and the arrival of millions of immigrants. Thus, the number and size of the nation’s cities increased and changed the complexion of the United States from rural to urban. In addition, America’s agricultural productivity ensured that the nation possessed sufficient exports to exchange for capital to support industrial expansion. Sustained agricultural development also stimulated the invention of more efficient and cost-effective farm equipment and meant that agricultural industries and the manufacturing sector existed side by side and mutually supported each other. The rapid expansion of U. S. industry after the Civil War resulted in the development of innovative business organizations with structures that became increasingly complex as the number and size of firms grew. For example, in 1870 the normal iron and steel firm had fewer than 100 employees. By 1900 that number had increased four-fold, a trend that found its mirror image in most other industrial enterprises. During the 19th century, the U. S. infrastructure in the form of roads and railroads expanded rapidly, a development that facilitated the mobility of the populace and the rapid transportation of goods and services and tied the nation together. New inventions and techniques emerged that changed the nature of workplace and the home. The United States experienced a prosperity that previous generations could not have envisioned. Indeed, the dramatic economic transformation of the late 19th century moved Henry Adams, the famous American historian and novelist, to lament that a boy born on the eve of the Civil War would have a life that more resembled the time of Christ than that of the U. S. in 1900. In 1908, just on the other side of that new century that Henry Adams had used as a benchmark, the United States had become a nation of modern industrial marvels. The year opened with the first electric ball ringing in the New Year in New York; Wilbur Wright made a manned flight of more than two hours, and the U. S. Navy sailed the Great White Fleet (sixteen battleships weighing 250 million tons and costing $100 million) on a 43,000 mile journey around the world. Mirroring the words of Queen Victoria more than a half century earlier, Thomas Edison perhaps said it best: ‘‘Anything, everything is possible.’’49