Urbanization From Farms to Factories, From Rural to Urban Life

The nation evolves During the American Industrial Revolution, many factors caused the country’s shift from rural/agricultural to urban/manufacturing, but the top three were: – Immigration – Growth of big business – Farming problems

How immigration affected urbanization Whether “pushed” or “pulled” to America, most immigrants could not take advantage of the free land offered in the West. Why? In a word…poverty. – Still needed resources to travel to reach the land – Still needed start-up money to establish a farm

As a result… Most immigrants settled in the cities where they arrived, such as New York and San Francisco. Some immigrants continued their journey to the cities of the Midwest to work in meat packing plants or grain mills.

Cities, therefore, grew rapidly at this time. Many immigrants settled with people of their own ethnic backgrounds, creating city neighborhoods known as Little Italy, Germantown, Chinatown, or Little Poland.

The role of “Big Business” Industry was booming now. Land and other natural resources were plentiful, railroads could more materials across the country easily, inventions and technology were continually being developed to help factories run more efficiently, and money was available for investment. Businesses in the cities wanted to grow and make as much money as possible.

Huge numbers of immigrants entered the work force in the cities. Most were willing to work for whatever wage they could get. The connection between “Big Business,” immigration, and urbanization

This meant businesses could hire them and pay less money than to American workers. This drove down wages, and caused many “native” workers to resent the immigrants. “Big Business” encouraged the U.S. government to have an open immigration policy, so they could continue to have cheap, plentiful labor.

How farming affected urbanization With better farm equipment and new machines, farmers were able to produce more crops. Because the crop yields were so high, the prices they could get for their crops fell.

How farming affected urbanization Many farmers could not longer pay their mortgages because of low profits, and they lost their farms. Farmers moved to the cities to search for jobs to support themselves and their families.

During the American Industrial Revolution, the United States truly became a country that revolved around cities and industry, not farms and agriculture. Three major factors that drove this change were – Immigration – Growth of big business – Farming problems

The problems of an urbanized society The shift from farms to factories, rural to urban life brought with it many problems: – Social – Economic – Political We will be looking at these in detail when we come together next time.

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