9 - Technology and Industrialization, 1790–1914

Summary

During the long nineteenth century, the United States progressed from being a colonial economy relative to Britain to become the leading industrial nation in the world. This transformation in status came largely from a rapid expansion of the economy, which was both unexpected and unprecedented, beginning with the Northeast and then spreading to the other areas of the country. In 1789 the future of the young and still modestly populated republic of the United States, a successor to a failed confederation of former English colonies on the North American mainland, was uncertain. Victory in the Revolutionary War had garnered attention for the new country, and it enjoyed a reputation as a good place for a poor man to settle, but few observers thought the United States likely to become a major power – economic or otherwise. By 1914, of course, the situation had changed dramatically. The economy had grown to become the largest in the world, supported by a rich resource base, rates of investment and population growth that were exceptional for their time, and substantial productivity advance. Not only was the United States recognized throughout the world as the technological leader, but its institutions were widely admired and not infrequently imitated.