Figure 1.--.

It is difficult to date the beginning of the American industrial revolution, but the 1790s is when several developments came together. The new Federal Constitution created the conditions favorable for trade and commerce. Samuel Slater, a textile factory manager arrived in America and opened a cotton spinning factory in Rhode Island (1790). He introduced both the machinery and an efficient factory system which became known as the Rhode Island System. Shortly after, Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin (1793) laid the foundation for cotton production in the south which would provide the raw material for New England textile mills. Francis Cabot Lowell was one of many who adopted Slater's Rhode Island System and improved upon it. The 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 War of 1812 virtually ended trade for several years and much of the American merchant navy was seized or destroyed by the British. This was a great boon to domestic manufactures who began opening factories in the northeast. The Erie Canal (1825) played a major role in opening the vast western lands, especially the Upper Midwest to the to the big eastern cities laying the foundation of an industrial economy. 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, uncultured, unrefined, 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 United States is a huge county. Thus transport has to be major factor in economic development. Transport was a first dependent on rivers/canals and sea shipping. The coming of he railroad changed this. The railroads played a major role in expanding he economy and industrialization (beginning in he 1840s). America fought the Mexican War (1846-48) before industrialization had made a huge advance. This was not the case in the Civil War (1861-65) where industrialization would play a major role in the Federal victory. After the 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. Iron and steel is at the heart of any industrial economy. The American steel industry exploded (late-19th century). This resulted from the adoption of the Bessemer process and the growth of railroads. 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. Financier J.P. Morgan purchased Carnegie Steel and merged it with several other major companies to form the U.S. Steel Corporation, the world's first billion-dollar company (1901). American industry received a huge further burst when Henry Ford created the Model-T-Tin Lizzy, an automobile that working-class people could afford (1907). The result was that the United States was not only the most important industrial nation, but began to rival most of Europe combined.

The 17th Century

The first permanent English settlement was Jamestown in Virginia (1609). Salem in Massachusetts followed (1620). The economic impact of these small struggling colonies was minor, but by the end of the century they were of some significance. And Parliament began issuing regulations impacting nascent the local economy. They reflected the mercantile outlook of the era. One of the earliest such regulations was the Navigation Acts. Thus was a series of laws the English Westminster Parliament passed (beginning 1651). They were designed to restrict colonial trade, boost national shipping, and at first undercut the Dutch. They required that imports and exports travel on English or colonial ships and forced specific goods to pass through England/Britain. They were similar to laws that other countries passed at the time, including the other maritime powers (France, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain). The Navigation Acts became more difficult to enforce when a ship-building industry developed in New England. Shipbuilding was still a relatively artisanal craft, especially small merchantmen. And New England builders had a a major advantage over English builders--vast untouched forests providing the needed timber. The Wool Act of 1699 prohibited the export of colonial-made wool yarn, cloth, or woolen garments to other colonies or to foreign markets, restricting production strictly to local household use. Wool was a major industry in England. American colonists began producing small quantities of iron forv local ise (1620s), but sustained production did not begin until the 18th century. .

The 18th Century

It is difficult to date the beginning of the American industrial revolution, but the 1790s is when several developments came together in America. For most of the century, what is now the United States was ruled by Britain, although the colonial legislatures became increasingly asertive as the century wore on. The Industrialist Rvolution began in Britain (around the 1760s). The development in America was at first limited. Britain saw the colonies as a source of raw materials to deed British manufacturers. Manufacturing in the colonies was discouraged even prohibited by the British. Mercantile economic policies dominated European economic policies, including Britain. Parliament passed several specific laws designed to discourage finished manufacturing in the 13 colonies and protect British domestic industries from foreign, including colonial competition. These regulations forced the colonies to export raw materials and import finished goods from Britain. Iron was an essential pasrt of the Industrial Revolution. The wsith from wood and stone to iron in industrial machinery, construction and other uses was a important contributor to technological advances across the economy, and the steam engine would not have been possible without it. But the prtoduction of iron during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution were little chnged since Roman times. And steel production was still very limited. This would not change until well into the 19th century.

The 1700s

American colonisdts began producing small qunities of iron in the mid-1600s. By 1700 the Aericans were only producing some 1,500 tons of iron annually, stiii a tiny part of world production. 【Rosenbloom, p. 11.】

The 1710s

Britain in the early-18th century was becoming dependent on imported iron from, Sweden--a country that was not always friendly. British investors looking to fill an emerging market financed an iron furnace near Perryville, Maryland (1718). They made the first shipments of iron back to Britain. Their success resulted in more such iron furnaces around Chesapeake Bay, retreiving bog iron ore, which was widespread. Counterintuitively minining and production was not yet touched by the Industril Revolution, although iron and steel would become cetrl to it. People had been mining coal and producuing wrought iron for centuries. The Industrial Revolution had to do with replacing human and animal power with mecanical power.

The 1730s

The Hat Act of 1732 limited colonial hat production by restricting hat makers from employing more than two apprentices, banning the export of colonial hats outside of individual colonies, and forbidding the hiring of enslaved workers for hat making. This ct was aimed at the booming American fur trade. The Molasses Act of 1733 imposed heavy taxes on non-British molasses, sugar, and rum imported from foreign colonies (like the French and Spanish West Indies). The impact was to disrupting the local New England distilling industry. The colonial repose was an uptick in smuggling which was possible because the colonies had developed a sizeable merchant fleet of their own. 【Toll】 And British enforcement was not strict.

The 1750s

It is imprtant to understand that the Industrial Revolution as we understand it today when it began in Britain had noothing to do with iron, steel, and coal. It involved textile manufacturing implements and flowing rivers that could drive water wheels. Iron production in the 13 colonies totaled about 3,000 tons and was growing and becoming a major suppliers of raw pig and bar iron to Britain. 【Pounds and Parker】 Parliament with the The Iron Act of 1750, Parliament eliminated import duties on colonial raw iron, but banning the colonies from building new finished-metal facilities like slitting mills or steel furnaces to ensure that any manufacturing as done in Britain. Iron production and manufacturing was primarily conducted in Europe. Colonial poduction of iron totaled about 10,000 tons, much of it coming from the Chesepeake region. Many colonists ignored the Mritish restictions on manufacturing. Most colonists as late as the 1750s did not think of themselves as Americans. They thought of themselves as Englishmen. The Iron Act of 1750 encouraged the export of raw pig iron and bar iron to Britain duty-free, but banned the construction of new colonial steel furnaces, slitting mills, rolling mills, and plating forges that produced finished iron goods. None other than a very young George Washington would set off a war with France--the French and Indian War (1754). Washington at the time wanted nothing more passionately than to obtain a commission in the British Army. The war he set off would determine the future of North America. At the same time, Britain was launching the Industrial Revolution.

The 1760s

The American relationship with Britain began to change dramatically (1760)s. In the after mat the French and Indian War (1754-63) England was deeply indebted. The War was expensive and since Britain had saved the colonists from the French, Parliament expected the colonists to assume part of the burden for paying off the debt. The colonists, however, were less tan enthusiastic about the idea. The colonies resisted revenue measures like the Stamp Act (1765). There were cries of 'no taxation without representation'. Parliament repealed it (1766). Parliament passed the Townshend Acts/Duties (1766-67). They were a series of taxes and regulations to support administration of the British colonies.

The 1770s

By the time of the Revolution, the American colonies had an estimated 80 iron furnaces producing about as much iron as Britain itself. One estimate suggests the colonies were producing some 30,000 tons of iron annually. 【Temin, p. 13.】 Most of American production was consimed domestically. This would mean that the Colonies were the world's third-largest iron producer, after Sweden and Russia. But this was still not the Industrial Revolution. Mining techniques wre not much different than those of Ancient Rome. But political developments were sweeoing the colonies. Colonial opposition to the Townshend Acts led to the Boston Massacre (1770). The Tea Act was another such measure (1773) and this was the destruction of property--the Boston Tea Party. The British Amy occupied Boston. The colonists were further disturbed because the British ramped up enforcement of the Navigation Acts. And many influential colonists like John Hancock were involved in smuggling. Finally Parliament passed the Quebec Act (1774) which sought to cut off the colonists from Western land. And any additional colonies in the West wold not have troublesome elected legislatures. All of this led to the Congress issuing the Declaration of Independence (1776). This launched the Revolutionary War and final severed from Britain (1783). Coincidentally, Scottish economist Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in the same year as the Declaration of Independence. 【Smith】 Both were products of Enlightenment thinking. Smith's book was a exposition on economic freedom (capitalism). Both documents were attacks on the Mercantlist policies that had set-off the Revolution.

The 1780s

Iron was beginning to replace wood and stone. Iron Bridge was built in Britain (1781), but not yet in America. With independence there was a brief period under the Articles of Confederation (177-89). During this period, the Northwest Ordinance was passed (1785). This had huge economic implications, reserving Western lands for family farms and founding the American education system--free public education. Both of which has huge economic impacts laying the ground work for the American industrial revolution by putting economic power and education in the hands of everyday people. This was a firmer foundation then in England, although not yet apparent. The new Federal Constitution was ratified (1789). It created the conditions favorable for the development of trade and commerce. The delagtes in Philadelphia were key founding fathers. They beleved strongly in free labor, but side stepped the slavery issue. To have addressed would have mneant that here would be no United States. Woke historians castigate the delegates for this decision. And simply ignore whatthe creation of an indepedent southerm nation would have meant for the Black population. Most of the delegates including many southern delgates belived that slavery was a dying institition, unable to compete with free labor. No one anticipated that Eli Whiney's cotton gin would give slavery a new life. The Liverpool firm of Peel, Yates, & Co. imported the first seven bales of American cotton ever to arrive in Europe (November 1785). By this time tge Industrial Revolution in Britain was picking up steam, but faced a serious problem. The inmdustrial Revolution meant btextiles at his nsdtage. And Textile manufacture in Britain was centered on wool. But wool production could not be sighnificantly increased to meet the expanding speed and capaciyy of the new mills. A supply of new material was badly needed.. Some cotton was being used, but buit was too exonsive for mass production because of the laborious cost of removing seeds from the boils.

The 1790s

Unlike Britain, wood for charcoal was available throughout the Eastern states. But technologicall advances in Britain meant that they had largely shifted to coal and Britain became the largest producer and exporter of coal. 【Allen】 American iron smelters were located close to iron ore an forrests proivide woodfor fuel. The bog iron ores mined in the 18th century was widespread, the deposits were small, and quickly depleted. Thus by the 1790s, the iron furnaces were being built vaway from the bog iron ore of the coastal swamps, to larger ore mines further inland. Inland locations also eant thr the furnaces were to sources of limestone, which was used as a flux in iron smelting. But iron was still not part vof the industrial Revolution. Both the new American executive branch and Congress supported what would become the American industrial revolution. The British industrial revolution was well underway at the time. The Coinage Act of 1792 is the foundational monetary act of the U.S. collar. It officially established the U.S. dollar as the country's standard unit of money, created the U.S. Mint, and set a decimal system for American currency. It addressed the need for capital to lbricate the economy. Inadequate liquidity would continue to be a major problem into he late-19th cenury. Very early in the Washington Administration wiyh the British imediment to growth removd, the old impediment remained--the Applachin Mountains. Farmers movig west of the Apalchins had no way to get theor goods to eastern markets. One methiod wa o convert corn to whiskeyy. This led to the Whiskey Rebelion (1791-94). President Washionton had to personally lead an army to supress the rebels. And the Washington Administration from the very beginning began promoting the theft of intellectual property from Britain. Now trade marks and patent protection are important in a developed economy, but for the newly independent United States just beginning its economic rise, the theft of intellectual property (IP) was a win-win proposition. There were two discordant voices in the Washington Administration (1789-1797). The new Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton believed that developing a strong finial and manufacturing sector was critical. He was often at odds with Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson with an agrarian outlook. Washington also advocated acquiring technology, discussing it in a letter to Jefferson (1789). Hamilton in a report on manufacturing proposed rewards to any person bringing manufacturing improvement and secrets of 'extraordinary value' to America (1791). This was happening even without Government promotion. Britain has patent protections for inventors. But both British subjects and American citizens could steal intellectual property from Britain and use it without fear of legal action. A good example is Boston merchant Francis Cabot Law. He pirated designs for Edmund Cartright's power loom, essentially jump startring the industrial revolution in America. This all evolved around textile manufacturing because it was innovations in textile manufacturing that launched the industrial revolution. Thomas Atwood Diggs moved through industrializing areas of Britain, looking for new technologies and poorly paid skilled workers who could operate the machinery. This led to the British government banning the export of textile machinery and the emigration of the dkilled workers operating them. Samuel Slater, was a British textile factory manager. He disguised himself as a simple farm worker worker and emigrated to America (1789). Arriving in America he introduced both the machinery (a spinning frame) and an efficient factory system which became known as the Rhode Island System. He opened America's first water-powered textile mill in Powtucket, Rhode Island. He became known as the father of American manufacturing. The British called him 'Slater the traitor'. Americans began adding to pirated British IP. Eli Witney's invention of the cotton gin (1793) laid the foundation for cotton production in the south which would provide the raw material for New England textile mills. Francis Cabot Lowell was one of many who adopted Slater's Rhode Island System and improved upon it. The Washington Administration guided by Hamilton introduced the Patent Act of 1793. The Federal Government began issuing patents to Americans, both real inventors as well as individuals pirating the work of British and other European inventors. Foreigners were blocked from obtaining U.S. patents. Not only American leadrs saw advantages to inventions am mechanization, but America seemed primed to exploit the posibilities. One author writes, "In post-Revolutionary America, the idea of technology captured the imafination oif the newly liberated citizens, embodying advances inknowledge and the awakening og human potential. The possibilities of science and technology were thought to be limitless. leading to material independence , intelectual understanding, wealth control over the forces of nature and the reanimation of agriculture." 【Clark, p. 431.】 Adam Smith laid out what capitalism could do if freed from the restraints of mercantilism, aristocratic privlidge, and slavery. 【Smith】 And the Founding Fathers were about to turn it loose an a virgin comtinent--at least in the North.

The 19th Century

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 population that id 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.

The 20th Century

Financier J.P. Morgan purchased Carnegie Steel and merged it with several other major companies to form the U.S. Steel Corporation, the world's first billion-dollar company (1901). American industry received a huge further burst when Henry Ford created the Model-T-Tin Lizzy, an automobile that working-class people could afford (1907). It was an instant success. American industrial production after years of rapid expansion had leveled off in the 1890s. Ford's Model-t changed that. Production skyrocketed. Other manufactures entered the industry. The result was that the United States was not only the most important industrial nation, but began to rival most of Europe combined. The Progressive Movement began to achieve reforms in important areas. The National Child Labor Committee organized (1904). Here photo journalism became important after the turn of the 20th century when advances in lithography enabled the printing of photographs in newspapers and magazines. The work of Lewis Hine was particularly important.

Sources

Allen, Robert C. “International competition in iron and steel, 1850-1913.” Journal of Economic History Vol. 39, No. 4 (December 1979), pp. 911-37

Clark, Jennifer. "The American image of technology From the Revolution to 1840," American Quarterly Vol. 39, No. 3 (Autumn, 1987), pp. 431-49.

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

Pounds, Norman J.G. and William N. Parker. Coal and Steel in Western Europe: The Influence of Resources and Techniques on Production (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1957), 381p.

Rosenbloom, Joshua L. "The Industrial Revolu2on in The United States: 1790-1870." (National Bureau of Economic Research: 2025).

Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations (1776).

Temin, Peter.?Iron and Steel in Nineteenth-Century America, An Economic Inquiry (Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press, 1964).

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

Toll, Ian W. Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy (Norton: 2006).

Created: 10:02 AM 7/27/2026
Last updated: 1:58 AM 8/1/2026