Rise of Industrialization

The rise of industrialization brought many changes to the American economy. Some of these were urbanization, due to immigration, new technologies, the rise of big business and an economic stimulation. In a broad definition, industry is any work that is undertaken for economic gain and that promotes employment. It can be applied to farming to manufacturing to tourism. It encompasses production at any scale, from the local to national. The modern day conception of what a factory is affects the interpretation of historical industrialization. A factory is a workshop where something is made for profit. (Gilje, 83) Factories rely on machines, with people to run them to produce items for less than it would be if a craftsman made the goods. In early America, there were two types of factories, those that were powered by water for milling and textile factories. Industrialism had an evolutionary impact on these rural communities. Some people during that period feared the increased power of the mills and resisted efforts by the manufacturers to gain special treatment in building roads and controlling waterpower. Yet they generally compromised to gain economic benefits in a declining agricultural economy. As people adjusted to industrialism, their resistance to the actions of the manufacturers was less frequent. Mill managers became more important in town politics. The factory owners, emphasis on monetary and materialistic values became widespread even among tradesmen and the declining corps of farmers. Progress isn’t always necessarily positive it is based on perceptions. From a factory owner or a manager's point of view, the advantages of combining materials, workers, machines, and power, all under one roof were obvious. The factories could produce more, both in product and productivity in a less amount of time and money and increase profits. From another point of view, many people saw the additional production and reduction in prices advancement. From another