Industrialization and Its Impact on American Society

Questions and Answers

A decrease in the demand for southern cotton

The abolition of slavery

A decline in the number of laborers

The growth of massive textile mills (correct)

An increase in self-sufficiency

The growth of a new middle class (correct)

A decrease in the number of farmers

The abolition of slavery

An increase in their wages

An improvement in their working conditions

Their entrapment in endless cycles of poverty (correct)

Their promotion to managerial positions

They fueled the demand for slave-grown southern cotton Signup and view all the answers

They worked 13 hours a day, 6 days a week Signup and view all the answers

A series of devastating depressions Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

The market revolution transformed the US economy, leading to the growth of factories, cities, and fortunes in the North.
Farmers shifted from self-sufficiency to growing crops for profit, contributing to the expansion of the cash economy.
A new middle class emerged, but this growth came at the cost of increasing the number of property-less workers and periods of economic depression (panics).

Many workers, including immigrant women, faced long hours (13 hours a day, 6 days a week) and low wages, leading to cycles of poverty.
Northern subsistence farmers became laborers dependent on market fluctuations and bosses.
Slavery persisted, with northern textile mills fueling the demand for southern cotton and banks providing financing for the slave system.

The market revolution sparked rapid economic growth, but also created a growing lower class and widening wealth inequality.
The US became a nation of both free labor and slavery, with wealth and inequality existing side by side.
The economy's growth brought both promise and perils, setting the stage for future challenges and conflicts.