Lowell: The Conflict of Industrialization and Its Effects on

A detailed Summary of Lowell: The Conflict of Industrialization and Its Effects on

In the late Eighteenth Century there existed a great debate between the most prominent philosophic and political thinkers of the age. The topic of the debate would ultimately change the face of the United States of America into the country that we live in today. The landscape of the nation was very different from what it is now. Farmland and dusty roads took up most of the land. People were content with living unsophisticated lives under a newly formed democracy. Causing change in the lifestyles of people was not the priority of the leaders of the country, however, the need to become a more modern and self-sufficient nation was.

The participants of this great debate were split among two sides, those that held to the traditional times with the belief that the country was fine as it was and it would not be necessary to industrialize, and those that believed that society would benefit greatly from this industrialization. The fear that human life would become devalued in light of what happened in previous republics was the main reason of this holding back. In the end however, the benefits that industrialization and manufacture brought to the country far outweighed the downsides, and brought the United States into a whole new

The illustration of the fear of industrialization that existed was quite clear. The development of manufacture would devalue human life and would cause the collapse of the republic. One of the first industries to develop within the United States was the textile industry. Originally, families would create their own threads and their own clothes. Eventually families would receive materials from merchants and used them to create clothing that they sold back to the merchants. This was known as the system of "putting-out." Industrialization was the next logical step in which machines would be operated by people and be even more effective. One of the best examples of early industry can be found in the textile town of Lowell, Massachusetts.

Licht, Walter. Industrializing America: The Nineteenth Century. Baltimore, Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.

In the eyes of the advocates of manufacture, industrialization was the perfect choice for the new direction of the country as the nation would become more self sufficient by producing it's own goods and more productive by utilizing the exploding population.

Initially, Lowell did not fall into the expectations of those that were against industrialization, such as Thomas Jefferson. When the Lowell mills first started up, the factory workers were the lowest of all people. The reasoning behind this was that, "In the eyes of her overseer she was but a brute, a slave, to be beaten, pinched, and pushed about" (Robinson, 37). The image quickly changed as the offerings made by the factory to attract workers were increased. The workers made wage, had board, and were given decent living quarters. Lowell had envisioned a great working environment that would provide jobs for the unemployed and a good community. Initially, all went according to plan. However, this would all quickly change.

Thomas Jefferson would follow on Franklin's warnings and became one of the strongest supporters and speakers for the anti-manufac

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Approximate Word count = 1348
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Category: History