The Roots of American Industrialization

Erscheinungsjahr 2003
ISBN: 978-0-8018-7141-2
Verlag: Johns Hopkins University Press

Buch, Englisch, 352 Seiten, Format (B × H): 181 mm x 231 mm, Gewicht: 612 g

Reihe: Creating the North American Landscape

How did the Eastern United States of the antebellum era make the successful transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy? Previous studies have identified declining soil fertility and increased competition from the Midwest as incentives for Easterners to abandon farms for factories. But as David R. Meyer points out in this groundbreaking study, agriculture in the East was, in fact, thriving during this time, even as manufacturing began its period of explosive growth.

In The Roots of American Industrialization Meyer reexamines previous studies, provides new evidence, and presents a new explanation. He argues that agriculture and industry both grew and transformed, thus constituting mutually reinforcing processes. Eastern agriculture thrived from 1790 to 1860, and rising farm productivity permitted surplus labor to enter factories and provided swelling food supplies for growing rural and urban populations. Farms that were on poor soil and distant from markets declined, whereas other farms successfully adjusted production as rural and urban markets expanded and as Midwestern agricultural products flowed eastward after 1840. Rural and urban demand for manufactures in the East supported diverse industrial development, and prosperous rural areas and burgeoning cities supplied increasing amounts of capital for investment. Metropolitan regional hinterlands around Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and, to a lesser extent, Baltimore, experienced broadly similar transformations of agriculture and manufacturing, forming the eastern anchor of the American manufacturing belt.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Meyer, David R

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures and Maps
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. The Puzzle of the Antebellum East
PART I: The Early Republic, 1790–1820
Chapter 2. Prosperous Farmers Energize the Economy
Chapter 3. Bursting through the Bounds of Local Markets
Chapter 4. The Foundation of the Eastern Textile Cores
PART II: The Late Antebellum, 1820–1860
Chapter 5. Tightening Ties that Bound the East
Chapter 6. Agriculture Augments Regional Industrial Systems
Chapter 7. Metropolises Lead the Regional Industrial Expansion
Chapter 8. Building Competitive National Market Industries
Chapter 9. The East Anchors the Manufacturing Belt
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Meyer, David R
David R. Meyer teaches sociology and urban studies at Brown University.

David R. Meyer is a professor of Sociology and Urban Studies at Brown University. He is the author of Hong Kong as a Global Metropolis.