Fires of Industry
What?
The fires of industry.
What does that even mean?
The Industrial Revolution.
Whatever. What about it?
The Industrial Revolution, for the most part, began in America somewhat later than in Europe. In its early history, the United States kept mainly to agricultural pursuits due to a lack of infrastructure and a centralized economy, and relied on trade with Europe for most of its manufactured goods. However, after a great deal of internal improvements, advancements in financial institutions, and great technological developments, the United States would soon begin its gradual shift away from an economy driven by farming to one driven by the fires of industry… at least in the North.
Why'S IT IMPORTANT?
As so ominously hinted to above, the Industrial Revolution in America served mainly to inflame sectional tensions between the North and the South. The northern states were those that saw the greatest deal of internal improvements and overall benefit from the Revolution, while the southern states were mostly left undeveloped and to fend for themselves. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, the South became even more defensive of their leisurely slave-driven way of life as compared to the more urgent business-driven way of life in the North. However, one invention of the era would be the most damaging of them all: the cotton gin. Until the invention of the cotton gin, slavery was beginning to die out in America. Cash crops were beginning to be grown more cheaply elsewhere, and the hopeful miracle crop, short-staple cotton, was unprofitable and difficult to grow and process. However, the invention of the cotton gin reversed this, launched an unprecedented period of profitable agricultural pursuits, and led directly to the reinvigoration of the institution of slavery. This reinvigoration inflamed huge tensions between the North and the South, and would indirectly lead to the Civil War.