What factors contributed to industrialization in the Northeast?

What factors contributed to industrialization in the Northeast?

Chicago Essay Heading

Industrialization in Northeast

Industrialization in Northeast

Introduction

The Northeastern region of the United States comprises of New England which include six states; Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Mid Atlantic states of Pennsylvania New York and New Jersey. According to the United States Census Bureau, the region contributes about 25% of the United States Gross Domestic Product (GNP) and the combined population of these states is more than 55 million. This region has played a very important role in the early Industrial Revolution and the industrialization process itself has begun in the Northeast. There are many factors which contributed to the industrialization in the region. This paper attempts to briefly discuss some of these factors (1) (1).

Discussion

The industrial revolution in the United States in general and the northeastern region in particular was highly influenced by the rapid inflow of large number of skilled immigrants, the large proportion of whom came from Britain, and the British industrial and technological growth. The massive imports of United States from Britain after the American Revolution encouraged efforts to match the technological advancements of the British manufacturing industry that had given the English such a huge advantage in the US marketplace. Consequently, the first cotton spinning mill in emerged in the US city of Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The mill was built by Samuel Slater, also known as the father of Industrial Revolution in America, whose mill designed was heavily borrowed from British models as Slater himself had previously been an apprentice in Britain. Built under the sponsorship of Almy, Brown, a company owned by William Almy and Moses Brown, the mill increased the speed of spinning cotton thread into yarn. The success of the Slater's mill stimulated the rise of many other firms. But there are other factors which, along with this textile industry, have helped the US transition to an industrialized economy (1) (1).

Another important element which played a vital role in early industrialization was the formulation of organizational strategies to expand growth and increase productivity. This gave rise to the sort of the system which we today know as outsourcing, whereby a larger production process was divided into small parts which were then carried out in the individual units usually set up at homes. The major industrial breakthrough, however was building of large factories which provided a centralized location for production activities. This approach was first adopted by Boston Associates, a group of industrialists, who employed thousands of female workers in New England to operate their machines. Both the Boston Associates and the female workers benefited from this new employment scheme; the factory owners paid these young worker less than men while the girls enjoyed a kind financial freedom and independence in a male-dominated society (2) (2).

Last, but not least, the governments' support mainly in credit system and transportation infrastructure provided required resources for this industrialization process to progress with the right ...