The Early Industrial Revolution: Economic, Social & Demographic Impacts

The growth of industry had a tremendous impact on the United States, as the importance of manufacturing, trade and construction in the economy grew, demographics changed as the percentage of people in age categories which could do manual factory labour increased in industrial areas, and the price people were willing to pay for houses increased – a distinctive feature of the class stratification present in this era of American history. In terms of economy, the growth in industrial sectors indicates the coming of the early industrial revolution. While throughout the years 1800-1850 agricultural industries still remained the largest employer in the United States, the relative percentage of the population in agriculture jobs declined as other, more industrial operations – notably manufacturing, trade and construction grew rapidly. While these had previously had such small employment numbers that all three occupations were not even counted, they quickly had numbers in 1840 which totalled 1.1m, which was a very dramatic increase. Even though the number of people employed by agricultural jobs still increased, the percentage of people in these jobs declined with the rise of industrial jobs such as manufacturing, trade and construction. Each of these three industries indicated the beginning of the early industrial revolution – the growth of the manufacturing and construction industries were directly related to the industrial revolution since these jobs were now largely completed by larger companies and often in factories, and trade grew as a result. Trade was required in order to fuel the early Industrial Revolution, by bringing needed supplies for factories and shipping finished products, thereby confirming the role of the early Industrial Revolution in the large economic changes from 1800 through 1850.

The early Industrial Revolution had profound impacts on the demography of the new nation, especially areas in which industrial industries experienced large growth. The Northeast shows a large percentage increase in the population between the ages of 15-24 following 1830, in which the percentage of people in the 25-44 age bracket also grew rapidly, whilst the percentages of children under 5 and adults over 45 declined at rapid speed and the percentages of children ages 5-14 increased slowly. This decline in the numbers of the older and very young population and the rapid growth of the other areas in the Northeast can be contrasted to the South, where the percentage of people over the age of 45 stayed roughly the same, as did the populations of people ages 25-44. Unlike in the Northeast where the greatest increase in percentage occurred in the 15-24 age bracket, the South had the largest increase in the 5-14 age bracket (and a quick decrease in the percentages in the under 5 age bracket), which was likely the result of children growing up. The change between the changes in percentages in different age brackets in different regions of the United States is indicative of the changes occurring during this time. The Northeast was in many ways the embodiment of the Industrial Revolution, making it clear why this region experienced the largest increase in percentages of ages which were able to work (the 15-24 and the 24-44 age brackets). The unhealthy conditions in factories and industrial cities may have caused the elderly population to decline in percentage either due to early deaths. The sudden growth of the age bracket which could participate in manual labour was likely due to the rapid immigration of migrant factory workers – both from abroad and from other areas within the United States. The increase in the percentage of people in age brackets which could participate well in manual labour, as compared to the relative stability in the percentages of people across ages in the South where agriculture was more prominent, indicated that great demographic changes, including those in terms of age structure, were brought about by the early Industrial Revolution.

The Early Industrial Revolution can also be noticed through its impact on social life, including its impact on class stratification. Between the years 1798 and 1875, the males aged 21+ in the United States increased from 118,000 to 1.3m, but the relative percentage (around 50%) of people who owned houses remained equal between the two times. What did change, however, was the prices of houses, as – especially in highly industrial cities such as New York – the prices for houses rose from being mostly (45%) around the $1000-$3000 mark in 1798 to being over $10,000 in 1875. Since the percentage of the population which owned houses still remained the same, the increase in house prices indicates the rise of a middle class which grew in a separate path from the “working class.” The rise of the middle class was an essential aspect of the early Industrial Revolution. While before the Industrial Revolution most people in the east were either workers or farmers, industrialisation required a new set of managers who could run factories – and these managers also needed places to live. This distinctive new class which arose as a result of the early Industrial Revolution is clearly seen by looking at the quick rise in house prices, and shows us the key role of the Industrial Revolution in social changes in the United States from 1800-1850. In conclusion, the early Industrial Revolution had a massive impact on whole of the United States – specifically industrial centres such as the east – as the importance of manufacturing, trade and construction in the economy grew, demographics changed as the percentage of people in age categories which could do manual factory labour increased in industrial areas, and the price people were willing to pay for houses increased – a distinctive feature of the class separation and the rise of the middle class (which required a good lifestyle in the industrial cities) present in this era of American history.

Works Cited

Lebergott, S. (1966, January). Labor Force and Employment, 1800–1960. Retrieved from National Bureau of Economic Research: https://www-nber-org.stanford.idm.oclc.org/books-and-chapters/output-employment-and-productivity-united-states-after-1800/labor-force-and-employment-1800-1960

Soltow, L. (1992). Inequalities in the Standard of Living in the United States,1798-1875. In J. J. Robert E. Gallman, American Economic Growth and Standards of Living before the Civil War (pp. 121-172). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

U.S. Department of Commerce. (1975). Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Part 1. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved from U.S. Government Printing Office: http://www.census.gov/history/pdf/histstats-colonial-1970.pdf