Imagine that your teacher gives your
class a special project. Your teacher says, "Today we’re going to
study the Industrial Revolution. Here is how we will do it. I have
brought some simple kits for making toy cars. There are several kits for
each of you. Let’s see how many cars the class can build between now
and recess. Ready? Go!"
Everyone gets a kit and begins working. You look around and see your
classmates punching out car parts from plastic frames. Suddenly, you
have an idea.
"This work would go a lot faster if we split it up," you say.
"Let’s break into groups. Give each group a bunch of kits. One
person punches out parts and passes them on. The second person glues the
car bodies. The third person puts on the wheels. The last person paints
the cars. That way, each group can work on several cars at the same
time, and we can build the cars faster."
"Congratulations!" your teacher says. "You just invented
the factory system!"
The factory system was an important part of the Industrial Revolution.
Beginning in the 1800s, this system changed the way millions of
Americans lived and worked. It is still changing our lives today.
From Crafts to Mass Production
In the early 1800s, most products were
made by hand. Often people made the things they needed themselves. For
example, many families made their own furniture, clothes, and shoes.
If people had enough money, they could buy things they needed from
craftspeople. For example, furniture makers made fine furniture.
Seamstresses sewed beautiful dresses. Shoemakers made fancy shoes and
boots. But crafts work was slow, and the goods made by craftspeople were
expensive.
Then came the Industrial Revolution. Machines began doing work that
people had once had to do by hand.
For example, an American named Elias Howe built the first practical
sewing machine in 1845. Howe’s machine could sew 250 stitches per
minute. This was much faster than humans could sew.
Howe’s invention greatly speeded up the work of sewing clothes. Now
fewer people could make more clothes in the same amount of time.
New machines were a big part of the factory system. In addition, the
factory system involved other ideas that made manufacturing faster and
cheaper.
One new idea was the use of interchangeable parts. These were parts made
by machines to be exactly alike.
In 1801, American inventor Eli Whitney showed how such parts could be
used to build muskets (a type of gun). Previously, a gunsmith had to
make all the parts for each musket separately. Whitney showed how he
could use the same parts to build 10 different muskets. The machine-made
parts always fit together perfectly. This made building muskets much
faster and cheaper.
Whitney’s idea was called "the American system of
manufacturing." Soon it was used in building clocks and many other
products.
A second idea was the division of labor. This meant splitting a job up
among several people.
A good example is shoemaking. At one time, a skilled shoemaker did all
the work of making a pair of shoes, one step at a time. This changed in
the 1820s as workers were brought together in shoe factories and
organized into assembly lines.
On the assembly line, one worker used a machine to cut out heels. A
second worker used a sole-making machine. A third made shoelaces. Other
workers put the parts together to make the shoes.
The assembly line allowed workers to work on lots of pairs of shoes at
the same time. It also made it easier to train workers. Each worker only
had to learn one task.
This way of making things is called mass production. Today, mass
production gives us everything from our clothes to our cars. For
example, few stores sell handmade clothes. And if you do want fine
clothes made by hand, you’ll have to pay a lot more for them.
Effects of the Factory System
The factory system affected American life in many ways. First, it helped
the American economy grow. Because goods were cheaper, more people could
buy them. As people bought more, the factories needed more workers. And
more workers meant more people who were earning money to buy things.
Second, the factory system contributed to the growth of cities. A single
factory might hire thousands of workers. These jobs brought people
flocking to the cities.
Third, the factory system allowed ordinary Americans to own all kinds of
things. There were more goods to buy, and they became cheaper as
manufacturing continued to improve.
Cars are a good example. The first cars were so expensive that only rich
people could afford to buy them. In the early 1900s, most people still
walked or rode horses.
Then, in 1913, Henry Ford invented the moving assembly line. The cars
traveled down the assembly line as they were built, with each worker
adding one part to the car. The work became much faster and cheaper.
Thanks to Ford’s idea, his factory could make many more cars, and it
could sell them for less money. As the price of cars went down, more and
more people gave up their horses and bought cars instead. By the 1920s,
millions of American families owned cars.
New Problems
The Industrial Revolution and the factory system brought wonderful new
products into American homes. But they also created new problems, such
as pollution and overcrowded cities.
Workers, too, paid a price. Workers in factories worked long, hard
hours. They had bosses instead of working for themselves. Often they
fought bitterly with their companies over low pay, unsafe conditions,
and other problems.
In addition, work itself changed. Before the Industrial Revolution,
craftspeople took great pride in their skills and in their handmade
products. In factories, workers did simpler jobs, over and over. Each
worker made only a small part of the finished product, and the work was
often boring. It was harder for workers to be proud of their work. At
times, they felt like machines themselves.
You can probably understand how factory workers felt. Imagine building
toy cars. If you make each car yourself, each one is a little different.
You are proud of your creations.
Now imagine working on a little assembly line with your classmates. All
the parts are the same. Your job is to put the wheels on each car, over
and over.
Your group can make lots of cars, all exactly alike. But are you as
proud of your work as you were before? And wouldn’t it be fun if the
cars were as different as the people who made them?
History Alive! America’s Past, Enrichment Essay