From: Jack D. Drummond
Date: 2/28/00
Time: 11:55:45 PM
Remote Name: 216.59.55.200
The advent of new technologies had a sweeping effect on the fledgling American nation. While these new developments helped usher the U.S. into the industrial age, they ultimately changed the traditional way of life for the skilled American worker. Several of these new inventions and developments helped increase efficiency and productivity. Eli Whitney’s cotton gin revolutionized the cotton industry by greatly cutting down the manpower required to separate the cotton fibers from the seeds and the husks. Labor discipline and early assembly-line techniques also became prevalent during this period. Breaking up the manufacturing process into many individual parts helped jumpstart productivity. At the Harper’s Ferry armory, manager James Stubblefield increased the number of specialized tasks involved in gun production from three during the 1790’s to fifty-five by 1816. These new inventions and developments made the U.S. less dependent upon other countries for high quality manufactured goods, an important step towards true independence. By 1825 Thomas Jefferson proclaimed that American manufactured goods were “…now very nearly on a footing with those of England.” Unfortunately, these new inventions and developments came at a price to the American craftsman. Labor discipline especially had a crippling effect on skilled workers. While the division of labor helped increase productivity and more importantly profit for those at the top, it made artisans obsolete. An unskilled worker could easily be taught a simple part of the manufacturing process and would be happy with much less pay than a skilled worker would. Many artisans rejected these new systems and continued with their old ways in shops of their own, but this could not halt America’s progress into the industrial age.