Industrialism


 * All started with Precision Milling
 * Precision Milling is the ability to make 2 objects that are identical.
 * Because each product was identical to the others, you could now have interchangeable parts
 * Interchangeable parts revolutionized warfare because it made guns easier to repair and assemble
 * Interchangeable parts enabled the production of machines because designs could be standardized
 * Machines, Interchangeable Parts and Percision Milling allows cheap mass production of goods without the need for high-skill labor (Industrialization)
 * High-Skill Laborer- someone who makes all of the product
 * Unskilled Laborer- Someone who only makes one specific part of the product
 * Effects of Industrialization
 * Interchangeable Parts/Precision Milling made warfare more productive because soldiers could easily repair and assemble guns
 * Interchangeable Parts enabled machinery and thus industrialization
 * Because the North adopted Industrialization, demand for high-skill labor shrank and low-skill labor rose, making immigrants an important part of Northern economy and culture.
 * Unskilled labor perfect position for immigrants who are willing to work for little and have no education
 * Formation of Unions
 * Example Scenario
 * Katie has successful cookie business
 * Helen opens a competing cookie business
 * Helen's cookies are just as good as Katie's
 * The two companies end up equally splitting the market
 * Katie lowers her prices
 * Still must buy the ingredients at flat market rate
 * And still has to pay wages
 * Katie must lower the wages of her workers to afford cookie ingredients
 * Helen therefore has to do the same thing as Katie
 * Creates a cycle
 * Problem
 * More people want jobs than there are jobs
 * Every worker is now replaceable
 * Now workers need some form of protection
 * Function of Unions
 * Bargain Collectively
 * Workers band together and demand the same wages from owner
 * Sense of security and protection for workers
 * Labor Theory of Value
 * The difference between what we paid to construct the product and the price of labor
 * Profit exists when the wages of employers are lower than the value of the product
 * Justifies the beginning of unions – to make the system more fair
 * Large corporations begin to oppose unions
 * North Vs. South
 * North adopted Industrialization because:
 * Agriculture was never the prime Northern economic driver. Crops just don't grow easily in the north. (This also prevented them from being that invested in slavery which also made Industrialization an easier choice)
 * North, specifically the North-East, has always been the merchant/industry areas of the nation, not agriculture.
 * Culturally the North was appropriate as well. Calvanism and Puritanism was a large part of the north both encourage productivity in ways the South didn't. Calvanism preached a strong work ethic to improve peoples lives, more specifically the Chosen. Puritanism on the whole preached those who prospered did so because they were god's chosen. Heaven was a pretty good incentive for a cultural work ethic.
 * South didn't adopt Industrialization because:
 * Agriculture has always been the prime economic factor of the South, specifically Cotton. When Industrialization began in the North, Cotton was becoming a cash-crop in the South, they were making a killing off of Cotton and thus the plantation model.
 * Plantation Model- Mass-production of a cash crop like cotton, many slaves high-investment high-return labor, near constant demand for cotton from North and Europe, plantation lifestyle
 * Plantation Lifestyle/Culture- European, romance, extravagance, laidback. Looked down on industrialism/productivity.
 * Slaves are a high-investment but in the long run have a high return, high initial investment disencourages the South from breaking the plantation/slave model for Industry which would waste the Slave investment. South had no reason to switch industries when cotton/agriculture/plantations were making them alot of money.
 * Efficiency/Productivity/Frugal nature of Industrialism clashed with the Plantation Lifestyle.