Technology and End of Isolation



Technology and End of Isolation

Introduction

The era of the 1860s was a testing one for the US, as the country was facing political dilemma, violence due to civil rights, warfare and acute economic crisis. This era had a severe effect on the country which went through the 20th century. Despite all this, it is highly commendable that they still had ray of hope and there were moments of hope and prosperity. One of the field in which America saw enormous growth and evolution despite the entire economic crisis and the warfare, was in the field of technology (Marcus & Segal, 2001).

Technology and innovation was the main force which drove the nation in those difficult times, of which the effects are still shown in the overall economy of America. The government was highly involved in the research for alternative sources of energy, and it had and still have a positive impact on the environment, and with due time, this would increase the overall influence of US on all over the world. Apart from the fact that technology has influence on political basis, it has also impacted the commercial economy positively, as families and individuals have been influenced by the technology, which can be proofed by the fact that the healthcare industry is highly dependent on new ways and high-end machinery and products to improve the quality of the healthcare provided. It can be stated with no doubts that technology and innovation has formed the basis of foundation of America which have ended the physical and intellectual isolation of the country (Cowan, 2007).

Discussion

Between late 1780 and 1820 the industrial production increased, despite the obstacles that generated the limited size and dispersion of the domestic market, difficult communications, the labor shortage and high cost of labor. The development of manufacturing accelerated between 1820 and 1860, under the leadership of the textile industry, and was stimulated by the construction of railways, which began in 1830. In the period 1840-60 industrialization based mainly on the production of consumer goods, primarily on cotton textiles, followed by footwear and leather, iron and machinery (Hughes, 1999).

The period from 1860 to 1914, U.S. was claimed as an industrial nation; deepening of the structural changes were initiated in previous decades. The industry increased its share of national output at the expense of agriculture and urbanization accelerated. The domestic market expanded considerably due to population growth and became a mass market due to the extension of the railway network and the widespread use of the telegraph.

At this stage there were considerable changes in industry structure and the leadership passed to the sectors producing consumer goods to capital goods producers. Like Germany in the last decades of the nineteenth century, America was one of the stages of the second industrial revolution (Singer, 1998).

The continuous process of technological and organizational innovation is another factor explaining the high rates of growth of the U.S. economy and the expansion of their industry throughout the nineteenth ...