Figure 1.--Here we see the growth of the American GDP per capita during the 19th century. It reflects slowly expanding agricultural productivity during the early-19th century, but then an explosion of the industrial economy in the latter part of the century, especially after the Civil War (1861-65). The major industrial competitors were Britain and Germany, but neither could match he explosive growth of industrial America. There were a range of factors involved, but the primary factor was that America embraced free market, capitalist principles like no other country in history. We also see this with the Asian Tigers.

The industrial revolution is primarily associated with the 19th century. The 18th century developments were important, but were primarily mechanical. The advances would have been limited if the power available to drive the machines had not been hugely increased. This of course meant the steam engine. While the steam engine had existed in the 18th century, it was not until the improvements developed by James Watt that it became a functioning, piratical apparatus. Wood was at first the fuel, but this had limitations as forests in Europe were already disappearing. The solution was of course coal. Which became known as King Coal and dominated the 19h century. Europe had huge deposits of coal, although this varied from country to county. It was coal hat powered the industrial revolution and America had even larger deposits than Europe. For millennia, human society had been limited by human an animal power. It is no accident that modern engines are rated in horsepower. While the huge increase of power available was the key driver of the industrial revolution, there were other important factors, including democratic reforms, European stability, capitalism and public education which were particularly important. It is no accident that the two countries which led the growth of capitalism were Britain and America, the two countries which led the world in the development of democratic reforms. Germany of course was another major contender, but were adversely impacted by two issues development of free markets and control of the military. Major technological advances occurred in the 19th century which only increased as the century progressed. And he long period of peaceful growth in Europe provided an ideal milieu for economic expansion which only increased as these new technologies spread to America and American began adding to the avalanche of new technological developments. No other country could match America which had a constitution favoring the entrepreneurial spirit. America had immense resources, nut so did other regions which were barely touched by the industrial revolution. Other areas had populations that did not have the opportunities that Americans had. Fired up by Jacksonian Democracy, Americans had opportunities like no other people in history in part by the expanding educational based provided by the public education system, countless Americans took advantage of those opportunities. By the end of the century, American growth had began to peak, but the 20th century would see growth ignite again with two new energy sources -- oil and electricity. Especially imprtant in watchinhg the progress of industrialization is watching steel productin.

The 1800s

American iron profuction increased to an estimated 40,000-50,000 long (metric) tons. Steel production was negliible and would remain nminimal until the 1850s. The United States still had a small population. largely pinned up along the Eastern seaboard east of the Appalachians. The vast majority of Americans still lived in rural areas making a living with agriculture, but unlike most Europeans actually owned the land they worked. And thanks to the developing public school system were receiving a solid educations. Farms were, however, stIll lrgely isolated subsistence operations with limited access to markets--theWhyskey Revolutioin problems. America did not yet have great universities, but except in Germany the wide population was better educated than in Europe, except in still divided Germany. The textile mills in New England were expanding, but still a small part of the economy. The French Revolution (1789) led to conflict with Britain On again and off again wars began (1793). The Royal Navy began intercepting vessels trading with French controlled Europe. The Royal Navy not only seized cargoes, but impressed American seamen. They claimed to be looking for deserters. The Ma href="/essay/war/war-ne.html">Napoleonic Wars in Europe (1798-1815) promoted industrial development in America. President Jefferson issued embargoes. The British Royal Navy made it difficult for merchant vessels to reach French-held continental Europe. This greatly increased the demand for American produced industrial goods. The impact of the Napoleonic Wars was Napoleon giving up on his North American dream and derision to sell the Louisiana Territory, a vast wilderness essentially doubling the size of the country (1803). This added little to the population immediately, but was a major step in creating a huge market which wold play an important step in America's economic success. Immediately it alleviated a major problem. It was uneconomical to transport most products over the Appalachian Mountains to markets in and ports is the East. he Louisiana Territory came with the indispensable port of New Orleans. And it was in still relatively America that the solution appeared. A steamboat appeared on the North River (as the Hudson was known). It was known as the North River Steamboat or Clermont (1807). It is today recognized the first practical steam propelled propelled boat. .[2] It operated between New York City and Albany. Robert Livingston a wealthy investor and politician built it. Robert Fulton (1765–1815) an inventor and entrepreneur designed it. Fulton had to have his engine built by Boulton and Watt in Birmingham, England.

The 1810s

By 1810, the first comprehensive U.S. manufacturing census indficated that total iron production at around 54,000 long tons, still based on lumbr charcoal. The Industrial Revolution in America began accelerating. Unlike in Britain where machinery had to be invented. In America it just had to be imported and this was relatively easy to do and evade British patent laws. British blockades continued to cut off the importation of European goods. This forced Americans to begin manufacturing their own own textiles and metal products. This had already begun in he 1790s, but British blockades added increased impetus. And the War of 1812 only increased British interference (1812-15). This was a great boon to domestic manufactures who began opening factories in the northeast. The War virtually ended trade for several years and much of the American merchant navy was seized or destroyed by the British. The 1810s witnessed a a shift away from small craft shops to centralized, water-powered factories, particularly in New England. There were large-scale internal canal and transport projects. Western states demanded internal improvements. Most notably would be the beginning of construction on the Erie Canal (1817). The Waltham-Lowell System was created. Francis Cabot Lowell built the Boston Manufacturing Company in Waltham, Massachusetts (1813). It was the first plant in the world to combine all steps of textile manufacturing into one facility. Existing textile mills heavily employed young unmarried women from rural farms ('Lowell mill girls'), giving them independent out of the home wages for the first time. After the war with Britain ended, the Tariff of 1816 protected the new American manufactures from being swamped by cheap post-war British imports. This would be vital for the American economy, alleviating the problem of distance in the huge new nation. Steam power not only supplemented water wheels but provided the first steps to permanently solve the transport problems. We also see the use of interchangeable parts spreading through firearm and machinery production. The Supreme Court in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) established implied powers for Congress and affirmed the supremacy of Federal law. his was a major step in creating the huge American mass market.

The 1820s

The official and estimated pig iron production for the 1820s shows intense volatility. The 1820 production crashed to 20,000 gross tons, more than a 60 percent drop from 1810 levels due to the devastating aftermath of the Panic of 1819. By 1828 it had recovered to 123,000 gross tons (a massive rebound driven by manufacturing growth and new domestic trade protections). Een though Irion Bridge has been buikt in Britaion (1781), steel was still not being used mucxh in construction. The Erie Canl, for examole, as almost entirely stone work. Important shifts in American manufacturing become notable (1820s). The country was is still primarily agricultural, but industry was growing. America was shifting from small local workshops to larger regional factory systems. Manufacturing was still powered by water wheels, but early steam engines were appearing. Manufacturing hubs, primarily in New England, were still mostly involved in textiles, but there was inceasing diversification such as clocks and shoes. Important European inventions were adopted in America. The electromagnet was invented by British scientist William Sturgeon (1825). It became the key breakthrough technology leading to industrial motors and communication networks like the telegraph. Portland cement was patented by Joseph Aspdin (1824). This advanced and durable building material was adopted by builder working on locks, bridges, and aqueducts at the later stage of construction on the Erie Canal. The friction match was invented by John Walker (1827). It provided a safe, instant source of fire for factories, trains, and homes. A major advance in a world where first was a constant danger. We begin to see increasing numbers of Americans showing in the list of inventors. The Pattern-Tracing Lathe was invented by Thomas Blanchard (1822). This was this revolutionary advance in machinery manufacture. It could easily copy asymmetrical shapes, permitting minimally trained workers to rapidly mass-produce identical items such gun stocks, shoe lasts, and ax handles. The Typographer was patented by William Austin Burt (1829). This was the first mechanical writing device which lead to the typewriter. The Sparks Hydraulic Press was refined for industrial use in American factories (1820s). It helped shape metals, bind books, and extract oils efficiently. These breakthroughs inventions helped supercharge the American Industrial Revolution. All of this was reshaping the economy, labor force, and transportation networks. The Erie Canal was completed (1825) and played a major role in opening the vast western lands. This provided easy access to the rich farm land of Ohio River Valley. It also opened the Upper Midwest to the to the big eastern cities laying the foundation of an industrial economy. The Era of Good Feelings ended in the 1820s with the Monroe presidency (1817-25). A major cause was the rise in sectionalism with slavery and cotton becoming important issues. The delegates at the Constitutional Convention side stepped slavery because of the belief that slavery was a dying institution (1787). Eli Witney's cotton gin changes that. It turned cotton from a minor crop into a highly profitable crop ideal for production on slave plantations. And by the 1820s it was being grown in meaningful quantities. Historic annual cotton production in the United States grew from 0.3 million bales in 1820 to over 2.1 million bales by 1850, driven by the cotton gin and slave labor. These are small numbers today, but enormous numbers at the time. Cotton became important in South Carolina and Georgia and the new states of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana as Americans moved West. This shift west was important because of the degree to which cotton leached the soil. (And explains the intense reaction when Northern Congressmen like Abraham Lincoln would later seek to restrict the expansion of slavery west.) Cotton not only became important to these states, but provided important foreign exchange earnings that help finance the Industrial Revolution. Almost all of the American industrial expansion took place in the northern free states. Americans hoped the Missouri Compromise would slove the slavery question and it did for a time.

The 1830s

American pig iroin production was over 180,000 gross tons, mostly wrought iron in 1830. American Industrial Revolution the beginning of the long-term trend toward urbanization that would accelerate in the rest of the 19th century. America had begun its rapid transformation from a farming society into a mechanized, factory-driven economy. By the 30s steam power and new transportation networks were becoming important. Textiles were still the major industry, but other industries were developing including iron and steel And importantly this was modernizing agriculture which was still the major force in the economy. John Deere introduced the Steel Plow (1837). It mo only improved the operations of farms east of the Mississippi, but would enable farmers to cut through the tough ground pioneers were going to encountered on the Great Plains west of the Mississippi. This was only the first new technology that Deer would offer farmers. Samuel Morse and others developed the telegraph (1837). This allowed messages fast over long distances. Factories owners began using steam engines to power factories. Steam boats were now a major feature on American rivers. Until the 1830s, cargoes could be floated down the Ohio and Mississippi River. Getting cargoes up river was a problem. Steam boats changed this. And the first trains were revolutionizing overland transport. Which meant that commerce was no only limited to rivers. American farms were no longer subsistence units. Farmers gained unprecedented access to markets. The Whiskey Rebellion problem had been solved with major economic consequences. Western farmers were no longer isolated from markets. Trains using steam power ran faster and away rivers. Railroads expanded rapidly (1830s). This connected raw materials, factories, farms, and markets, basically the development of the American System. This was standard parts and machines making mass production cheap and easy. The rise of cities began and not just along the Eastern Seaboard. More people left rural farms to find wage work in growing urban mill towns. Adding to European immigration. Expanding cotton production brought merchants from the Northeast, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean to Southern cities in numbers for the first time (1830s) The established trading firms, warehouses, ports, and markets. Cities—like Richmond, Charleston, St. Louis, Mobile, Savannah, and New Orleans and others doubled, and even tripled, in population and gained in global importance. Unlike the northern states, southern states did not develop diverse economies. The southern states, especially the Deep South, remained centered on cotton. 【YAWP】 Other countries had populations that did not have the opportunities that Americans had. Fired up by Jacksonian Democracy, Americans in the North had opportunities like no other people in history in part by the expanding educational based provided by the public education system, countless Americans took advantage of those opportunities.

The 1840s

Americn manufacturrs produced about 285,000 gross toins of Iron in 1840. This was mostly consisted of pig iron produced by wood charcoal, but some blast furnaces were were beginning to use cheaper anthracite coal. Rising timber costs and wide spread loggingb of eastern forests pushed ironmasters seek alternatives. This was complicated b ecaus exising furnaces lacked the necessary high-temperature air blast. The meeded breakthrough vame when the Lehigh Crane Iron Company was chartered in Pennsylvania (1839). Welsh-born ironmaster David Thomas afopted the 'hot-blast'" technique at the company plant. The company was snucessfully smelt iron with antracite (1841). Within jut afew yers, more thn 10 commercial anthracite-fueled iron furnaces were operating across Pennsylvania, achiecing savings of to 25 percent in oroductioin costs. The American Industrial Revolution in the 1840s was pushed forward by important technological innovations, transportation improvements, and economic changes. New manufacturing technologies played a crucial role. The most important was surely the expanded use of steam engines in factories and mines. Steam-powered printing presses increased the speed of book production and the lowered prices made books available to increasing numbers of Americans. European advances in photography introduced a whole new industry (1839). Photographic studios appeared all over the country. And new manufacturers were required to support the industry. Americans and Europeans were part of the unfolding wave of inventions. The first American patent for a camera was issued to Alexander Wolcott (1840). William Henry Talbot patented the calotype process (1841). This enabled multiple photographic prints from a single negative. The telegraph, first demonstrated in the U.S. in the 1830s, was expanding rapidly, allowing nearly instant long-distance communication through much of the country east of the Mississippi. The oil-immersion microscope (1840), improved biological research by reducing light aberrations. Charles Thomas Jackson discovered ether’s anesthetic properties, a breakthrough in surgery (1841). American agriculture was more efficient than European agriculture from an early point because American farmers commonly owned the land they worked. American manufacturers like John Deer were creating mechanical technology for farmers with new new plows and farm machinery increasing efficiency. The Irish Potato Famine (1845) which brought and unprecedented new wave of workers to America intensified the urgency for affordable food. And the meed to feed the expanding industrial British work force persuaded Conservative Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel to repeal the countries Corn Laws and Tariffs despite considerable opposition from the landed aristocracy 1846). This opened up new markets for American farmers. Arc lamps were demonstrated in Paris (1841), foreshadowing future electric lighting. Huge advances were made in transportation. The steamboat had become a major fixture in American rivers. But the nee railroads by the 1840s were tying Americas together east of the Mississippi, especially in the northern states. Sea trans port was still primarily sail powered. The great clipper ships plied the world's oceans and Americans were competitive with the British. All these canals, rail lines, and steamboats facilitated the movement of goods and raw materials greatly enhanced .enhanced trade and commerce. America fought the Mexican War (1846-48) before industrialization had made a huge impact on the country, but what had occured was a factor in the War. And the War finalized the American quest for Manifest Destiny reaching the Pacific coast. Gold was discovered in California (1848). This alleviated, but did not solve a major problem, the shortage of coinage and the lack of national paper currency. The settlement of the Canadian and Mexican border opened up the movement west of the Mississippi. The population of the West was still a daunting proposition, moving by Conestoga wagons over the Oregon, Santa Fe, and other trails. The rise of factories centralized production and increased efficiency leading to the growth of urban areas as Americans in increasing numbers moved to cities for work.

The 1850s

The American iron industry produced about 500,000 gross tons of iron in 1850 and for the first time meaningful quantities of steel.. Steel was rare and costly, produced mainly in Europe (Sheffield, Middlesbrough) and in small American colonial furnaces. Before the 1850s, steel was extremely expensive and produced in small quantities, mainly for tools, cutlery, and swords. Much of it was imported from Britain. Most large‑scale metalwork used wrought iron or cast iron. Annual U.S. steel output was measured in hundreds of tons in the early 1850s. Even this was a major increase over previous decades, bt full scale adoption did not occur until the1860s. The American Industrial Revolution in the 1850s shifted from early regional textile manufacturing into a widespread, heavy-industry boom with iron becoming important. Driven by rapid railroad expansion, the telegraph, and the adoption of interchangeable parts, the U.S. integrated national markets created a rising industrial base beyond textiles. There were important technological advances. The sewing machine was patented by Elias Howe (1846), but only commercialized by Isaac Singer (1850s). It revolutionized garment production. The telegraph expanded rapidly across the country. It permitted instantaneous long-distance business communication and railroad coordination. Manufacturers continued producing equipment mechanizing agriculture. McCormick with its steam-powered factory in Chicago joined Deere in the farm market. They produced mechanical reapers adding to American advantages in agricultural production. Rail lInes spread out extensively in the North and Midwest improving connections between raw material sites and urban factories. The American System of Manufacturing continued to expand with its heavy use of interchangeable parts allowing factory manufacturing without high wage skilled labor. The United States is a huge county. The rail network was increasingly well developed in the North, but only a few lines in he South. The railroads played a major role in expanding the economy and industrialization (beginning in the 1840s). The 1850s experienced a real railroad boom. Thus transport has to be major factor in economic development. Transport was a first dependent on rivers/canals and sea shipping. The coming of the railroad changed this, at least east of the Mississippi. Among other impacts it created a demand for iron and steel. More than anything, The railroads lowered the cost of transport which made while new industries ergonomically viable. While we see see real industrial development in the North. The same did not occur in the South. Fortunes could be made exploiting slave labor and few planters took an interest in opening factories. In fact, Southerners looked askance at the robust economy developing in the North. This was because of the growth of the Abolitionist Movement, but also the overall cultural milieu. They perceived Northerners as money grubbing, aggressive, hypocritical, and fanatical, believing that Northern industrialism in addition to abolitionist movements threatened their more pure and honorable agrarian way of life, economic stability, and social order. 【Osborn】 The industrial expansion occurring in the North would created the heavy industry with which the Federal Army would begin the coming Civil War (1861-65). The War only increased industrial expansion. Combined with the North's larger population, it would be decisive.

The 1860s

America had about 280niron works producing about 900,000 gross tons of iron, more than half was poduced with antracite. And for the first time there was small but measurabje steel production -- anout 12,000 gross tons of steel. By 1860, the U.S. was still largely dependent on imported steel from Britain, but the Bessemer process was beginning to change that. Commercial production using the Bessemer Process took off in 1864–1866 after a plant in Troy, New York, utilized Bessemer's patents and Kelly merged his competing interests. It was during the 1860s because of the Bessemer proicess, American poduction increased significantly. Steel production in the United States was just beginning to shift from expensive, artisanal methods to mass production using the Bessemer process. The ability to produce cheap, strong steel rails was critical for the expansion of the railroad network. Before the outbreak of the Civil War, the southern slve stats were profucing 23,000 to 33,000 t* of pig iron annually (only about 3% to 5% of the total U.S. output). During the war, precise cumulative tonnage for the Confederacy is unavailable, but total annual output dropped drastically as Union armies entered the Confederac and destroyed Southern furnaces. The lack of a major industrial base with which the U.S. Army fought the Mexican War was not the case in the Civil War (1861-65) where industrialization would play a major role in the Federal victory. Woke historians insist without any actual evidence that slavery was a positive force in building the American nation. Actually it was a negative force. If it helped build a great power, than Brazil would be a super power today, because most of the enslaved Africans were transported to Brazil. The same is true of Islam. Most of the great slave nations of history have been Islamic states. Yet today Islamic states are many of he poorest countries--unless they sit on pools of oil. A very small proportion of enslaved Africans were transported to the United States. And if it was true then the Southern Confederacy would have won the Civil War. But it was the northern free states that won the Civil War, precisely because free labor is more efficient and productive than slave labor. You do not compete economically or militarily by limiting the ability of a sizeable part of your population to develop their innate capabilities. The Homestead Act extended the Northwest Ordinance to the land west of the Mississippi (1862). After the Civil War America began building an industrial powerhouse which would not only make Americans the most prosperous people on earth but profoundly affect the history of the 20th century. The Trans-Continental Railroad connected East and West (1869).

The 1870s

By 1870, he United States was producing 0.1-0.2 million tons of steel, mostly usd for railroad tracks. The railroads revolutionized travel and trade throughout America, opening up the West to economic development. Moving west over poorly marked trails was a dangerous proposition. The transcontinental railway changed thus. America would develop the world's largest rail system. The era of rapid industrial expansion has been coined the Gilded Age thanks to Mark Twain (1870-1900). 【Twain and Warner】 The period was characterized by terminological advances, industrialization, and expanding industry, It was led by the great tycoons (including Carnegie, Ford, Morgan, Rockefeller, and Vanderbilt among others). The railroads were important for both agriculture and industry. Expanding rail coverage into the Midwest provided farmers access to needed markets. Gutaf Swifts refrigerated cars (still using ice) revolutionized the meat packing industry (1870s). The railroads were major factors in the the coal and iron/steel industries. Industrial producible exploded as the cost of transport plummeted. European immigrants poured into America both to obtain their own homesteads as well as jobs in he expanding industrial sector. They were attracted by wages well above European levels. This was the beginning of the transformation of America from an agrarian society into as urbanized, industrial state. Iron and steel are at the heart of any industrial economy. The American steel industry exploded. This resulted from the adoption of the Bessemer process developed in Britain and America at the same time the growth of railroads. The American was William Kelley. This was the first inexpensive method of producing steel. Production increased from less than 0.1 million t (1870) to 11.4 million t (1900). Scottish immigrant Andrew Carnegie revolutionized the industry by integrating every step of the supply chain—from mining iron ore to shipping it via Great Lakes fleets.

The 1880s

By 1880, the United States produced over 0.9 million t* of steel annually, a massive jump from a few hundred tons in the early 1850s. As industrial production expanded, the Labor Movement gained ground. There were notable industrial incidents such as the Great Railroad Strike (1877), the Hay Market Riot (1886), Homestead Strike (1892), and the Pullman Strike (1894). The industrialists tried to break the union, but were limited as to the force that could be used by public opinion and the electoral process.

The 1890s

America produced some 4.1 million t* of steel in 1890, a stagering 290 percent increase over 1880. Steel is the backbone of any bindustrial states. Britain produced inly 3.6 million tons. German production was about 4.1 million tons. German and America steel production would be relatively comparble with Britain a distant third (1890s-1900s).【Allen】 German indistry was heavily subsiudized by the Govrrment and mamy decisions like routes has militarry considerations. This did not change until thanks to Ford's Model T-Tin Lizzie 1910s demand from the expanding utomobile industy began propelling American steel producrion to dizzening heights (1910s). The open hearth method of steel production replaced the Bessemer prioress (1890s). .European IP played a major role in the early American industrial revolution, but by the Civil War, Americans were obtaining patents in large numbers. Abraham Lincoln even acquired one. And this included major inventions like the Bessemer process--even though the English inventor's name is used today. Only about 1,000 patents were issued annually before the Civil War, but by 1890 this had reached 25,000 annually. The adding machine, cash register, elevator were invented in America, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. Samuel F.B. Morris invented the telegram. But Thomas Edison exceeded them all with the light bulb, film projectors, movie cameras, phonograph., and storage batteries among many others. Industry also played a major role in agriculture. For most of history. Farmers only produced a small surplus. In ancient and medieval times, one farming family could typically feed themselves and about 1-4 additional people (or roughly 1 to 5 people total per farm. Primitive tools and methods resulted in low crop yields. This meant that about 80-90 percent of the human population had to work in agriculture just to feed small city population. This was still basically the case at mid-century. The industrial revolution changed this, primarily bcause of advances in America, Improved farm machinery as well as horse dawn reapers and eventually tractors changed this. American farmers were feeding 15 people by 1890, tripling their productivity. American farmers were so productive that hey began to glut the market leading to major problems for farmers (1890s). In addition major cities has appeared virtually over night. America was becoming increasing urban, but at the end of the century, a majority of Americans still lived in rural areas. The rapid expansion of cities meant that those cities struggled to keep up with basic needs of rising populations like health, sanitation, schools, and water. The Labor movement grew meeting opposition from industrialists, but the democratic process meant that working people could demand their rights though the electoral process. Female and child labor proved a major problem giving rise to the Progressive Movement. There were also increasing concerns with preservation of natural beauty and wildlife. America came very close to losing the buffalo and sea otter. Yellowstone was established (1872), believed to be the first national park in the world. An early environmental measure was the Rivers and Harbors Act (1899).

Sources

Allen, Robert C. "International competition in iron and steel, 1850-1913," The Journal of Economic History Vol. 39, No. 4 (December 1979), pp. 911-37.s) Published By: Cambridge University Press

Osborn, Kyle M.. "Antebellum Southern travelers and sectional identity," Southern Cultures Vol. 21, No. 4 (Winter 2015).

Twain, Mark and Charles Dudley Warner. The Guilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873).

YAWP. "The cotton revolution" The Americam YAWP

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* American short ton data has to be adjusted down to Europeam gross/long/metric ton data for itenational comparions.

Created: 1:09 PM 7/29/2026
Last updated: 3:20 PM 8/4/2026