American Industrial Revolution

American Industrial Revolution

Positive Impact of Industrialization on American Society

The American Industrialization was an important event in the history of the country and this singular development paved the way for numerous future developments in the country. Industrialization had a major impact on the American society as well as the lives of the Americans. The first positive impact that the industrial revolution had on American lives is that it heralded the period in which the rights of women were identified and upheld (Helfgott, 1986). With rapid growth in industrialization, numerous rights were granted to the American women. For instance, “Document 6: Women At Work” stated that the women were allowed the freedom to fulfill the increasing need to pursue work around the nation. As women gradually started to work, they began to make significant contributions towards the nation's growth while at the same time becoming more self-sufficient (Helfgott, 1986).

With reference to freedom and independence from social and cultural stereotypes, a majority of women began to become less susceptible to the social pressures that came with working, particularly after marriage. One more positive development that came after the industrial revolution was the rise of labor unions (Gibb, 1946). As more and more women began volunteering to work in factories and manufacturing plants, they began to realize that the unsatisfactory conditions that they were being made to work in. As a result, labor unions played a pivotal role in helping women as well as men fight for their rights. This can be judged from the fact that the membership of labor unions reached an amazing 270,000 by the 1920s from only 50,000 in 1898 (Gibb, 1946). Another positive development of the industrial revolution was the 19th amendment which granted women the right to vote, essentially declaring that women were equal to men in ...