Immigrants Who Wanted a Better Life

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Historians generally define industrialization as the wide-scale technological and social change enabling a region to develop its economy into one based on the production of goods. For several modern superpowers, industrialization has often been credited with guiding these countries in terms of development. In America’s case, industrialization was vital for the nation’s progress, as a new age of industry during the Antebellum Era allowed many Americans to accomplish goals which have previously not been attainable. Prior to this period, agriculture dominated the American economy.

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Both the high price of cotton and the invention of the cotton gin made the cotton industry a lucrative business. With the advent of industrialization, however, America's economy transitioned from being primarily agrarian, based on plantation agriculture, to being industrial, founded on the process of manufacturing goods. Population growth and production outputs in urban areas skyrocketed, and new technological inventions also served to aid the transport of raw materials and manufactured items.

Although America as a whole experienced rapid growth due to industrialization, different groups of people were subjected to different realities.

While industrialization did bring opportunity to some, this was not the case for others living in Antebellum America. As seen in Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, the influence of industrialization on American society and culture inspired some figures to voice their thoughts regarding the nation’s changes. Specifically, in his excerpt Sounds, Thoreau expresses his awe at the train’s innovation but also criticizes it for harming nature’s beauty. Throughout the Antebellum period, industrialization brought forth a series of pivotal social, economical, and political changes.

These altercations helped select groups of people to assimilate into American society. However, industrialization proved to be a detriment for other groups, leading some to express their concerns publicly.

The new industrial age provided a spark of hope for many rural farmers and immigrants. Antebellum America, in turn, saw a rapid growth in urban population due to the large-scale migration towards cities. Many Americans dreaded working in small farms and wished to improve their living conditions by increasing their market production or leaving the agricultural sector. After 1839, the drop in market prices for agricultural goods caused some farmers to leave rural areas and move to towns for better opportunities. With more children surviving to adulthood, farmers in rural areas could afford to send their grown children to the cities without sacrificing a significant amount of manpower. Improvements in transportation also eased the journey to cities, encouraging farmers to move away from the countryside.

Across the Atlantic, the Irish and Germans saw many more opportunities in the United States than in their home countries. Many European refugees migrated to America from regions riddled with famine, economic turmoil, or political conflicts. In Ireland, the Great Famine (1845-1849) eradicated nearly all of the Irish potato crop, prompting a massive wave of Irish immigrants migrating to America. As Daniel Walker Howe describes the influx of European immigrants, “The 1840s and ‘50s saw 4,242,000 immigrants arrive from overseas… Enough of them stayed there [New York], joining the migrants from American farms, that the city tripled in size during the first half of the nineteenth century, growing twice as fast as Liverpool and three times as fast as Manchester.”. Desperate for work, these immigrants offered to work for low wages in American establishments, as the pay was high compared to what was available in Europe. A new industrial nation allowed for an expansion of the American middle class, as the farmers and immigrants who migrated to cities could adapt to the industry.

Although industrialization benefited rural farmers and European immigrants, Native Americans were negatively affected due to American exceptionalist ideals. By the Antebellum Era, Americans held a strong interest in westward expansion. The booming fur trade in Oregon County, facilitated by the Oregon Trail, and the promise of gold in California, during the California Gold Rush, attracted many Americans to move towards the west coast. New technological inventions aided these desires. The development of railroads enabled prospective settlers and goods to travel more efficiently across the continent, fueling westward expansion

As railroad systems grew in popularity, western expansion forced Native Americans to move out of their lands in favor of settlers. Derived from John Winthrop’s beliefs regarding America as a “city on a hill”, the Americans justified their acts with the doctrine of Manifest Destiny or the belief that the nation had the God-given right to expand westward. The Indian Removal Bill, ratified by Andrew Jackson in 1830, allowed the federal government to remove Native Americans from their ancestral lands. Although the Native Americans attempted to counter the Americans through waging wars, their efforts proved to be ineffective. The Trail of Tears was a consequence of the Indian Removal Act, forcing the Native Americans to relocate to western territories.

The development of the steam locomotive revolutionized transportation during the Antebellum era. Initially, the steam locomotive was used to extract coal from mine shafts, but it soon became evident that this invention could also be used for transport. As depicted by the image of the early train, locomotives could be used to transport people using carriages. Trains decreased travel times significantly for long-distance voyages. When Henry Clay first traveled to Washington from Kentucky in 1806, his trip took three weeks. However, with the locomotive, Clay could complete the voyage in four days. Trains were also more convenient in that they offered year-round transportation, while waterways for canals would freeze during the winter. The efficiency of the railroad dramatically altered American society in that it increased growth and decreased inventory costs in cities, as a result of trains delivering greater quantities of food and freight. The labor market was also more flexible, as railroads eased long-distance travel. Culturally, more Americans were now able to take vacations farther away, and in turn, the number of resorts and tourists rose. Long-distance vacations became more common for the wealthy at first, eventually spreading to the middle class.

By also shifting the economical and political atmosphere, the early train was able to change American society and culture. In the economical sense, Antebellum America saw a growth in its markets primarily due to rapid urbanization and industrialization. Innovations in transportation for the North, such as railroads, bridged the gap between people in rural areas and small towns with merchants in large cities. These advancements essentially set the foundation for Antebellum America’s economic development, as there would be greater industrial output, higher agricultural productivity, and increasing wages.

The rise of industrialization shifted Antebellum America’s political atmosphere as well. With more easterners and European immigrants migrating to the western frontier by railroad, political attitudes in the West started to shift since most westerners were previously from the South. In turn, the political equilibrium in Congress was disrupted because the North was now being represented in a greater region. This disturbance caused the sectional conflicts between the Northern and Southern states to grow, as the South saw this as an attack from the North.

The locomotive was welcomed into the nation as a God-given gift, and railroad construction was heavily encouraged. As Daniel Hawker Howe writes, “By the end of the 1830s, there were 450 locomotives in the country, only 117 of them imported from Britain, and 3,200 miles of track-as much as the total canal mileage and, amazingly, more than twice the track in all Europe.” The spur in popularity for the steam locomotive meant that cities rivaled with each other to take advantage of the locomotive’s monetary benefits. Railroad companies, such as the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, started to emerge.

During the Antebellum Era, the social and cultural impacts of industrialization on America prompted reactions from the public. With the onset of industrialization, Henry David Thoreau wrote Walden to document his experiences while living a simplistic and secluded lifestyle. As he lived near the Fitchburg Railroad, Thoreau was able to experience the immediate effects of industrialization. Thoreau employs rhetorical devices throughout his excerpt Sounds in order to convey his feelings of exclusion from American society. Nonetheless, Thoreau is also impressed by industrialization, viewing the train as a symbol of mankind’s progress. Thus, Thoreau’s respect for industrialization symbolizes his sense of inclusion from American society as well.

Thoreau’s juxtaposition reveals the stark contrast between nature’s serenity and industrialization’s disturbance, accenting the change which industrialization has brought on Thoreau’s life. With phrases such as ‘compliment to nature’ and ‘magic into graceful green and tender boughs’, Thoreau uses positive connotations to highlight his fondness for nature’s simplicity and beauty. Later in the excerpt, however, Thoreau directly contrasts these descriptions of nature with that of a train passing nearby. He writes,” The whistle of the locomotive penetrates [his] woods summer and winter, sounding like the scream of a hawk over some farmer’s yard!... All the Indian huckleberry hills are stripped, all the cranberry meadows are raked into the city”. Here, Thoreau is suddenly disrupted from his peace by the sound of a train car. The sudden change in tone, from one of tranquility to that of chaos, demonstrates Thoreau’s belief that industrialization destroys nature’s allure. He describes the changes that he thinks will happen to the natural environment, portraying the “huckleberry hills” and the “cranberry meadows” to be overshadowed by industrialization. Since he believed that industry altered the domain to which he was accustomed to, Thoreau felt as if he was excluded from American society.

Henry David Thoreau proceeds to use metaphors to illustrate his hopeful feelings towards industrialization. Although Thoreau did worry that the new innovations would have a negative impact on the natural world, their abilities still fascinated him. In one scenario, Thoreau writes, “When I meet the engine with its train of cars moving off with planetary motion- or rather, like a comet...as if this traveling demigod, this cloud compeller, would ere long take the sunset sky for the livery of his train”. Thoreau utilizes metaphors to praise the train’s capabilities, equating the locomotive to a “comet” and a “demigod” to emphasize the magnitude of the train’s speed. By using otherworldly concepts to describe the train’s speed, Thoreau demonstrates his awe at the train’s capabilities. Thoreau’s fascination for industrialization is further shown when he states, “...when I hear the iron horse make the hills echo with his snort like thunder, shaking the earth with his feet, and breathing fire and smoke from his nostrils…”. By comparing the train to an “iron horse” which breathes “fire and smoke from his nostrils”, Thoreau creates an exalted image of the train’s grandeur. Thoreau also suggests that humans made trains so lifelike to the point that these inventions could be considered a “new race” that would be worthy of living on Earth. By suggesting that the train’s capabilities were supernatural, Thoreau demonstrates that these new inventions marked an important turning point at the time. Therefore, Thoreau’s wonderment at the new innovations of America’s industrial age shows how industrialization evokes feelings of inclusion in American society as well.

When accounting for all of the benefits and detriments of industrialization on Henry David Thoreau’s life and American society, one can conclude that Thoreau would not have used the train. Despite his sense of curiosity and awe towards the train due to its innovation, Thoreau’s philosophical views still would have remained fundamentally naturalist and transcendentalist. Ultimately, Thoreau’s background as a social reformer would have restricted him from supporting the train.

As a naturalist during the industrial era, Thoreau believed that the universe was governed only by natural laws and forces. In Thoreau’s point of view, the train violated the laws of naturalism because this product of industrialization seemed to be dominating American society. As shown in Sounds, the train is depicted as an unnatural and otherworldly object, conflicting with naturalist ideals. As a transcendentalist, Thoreau believed that American society and its institutions harmed an individual’s virtue. In this case, the train, one of society’s creations, would have been seen as a threat to a person’s purity. His transcendentalist beliefs are further portrayed in Sounds, as his solitude living in Walden reinforces the transcendentalist goal of self-reliance.

For Antebellum America, industrialization was a critical factor for development. The nation’s shift from having an agrarian economy to an industrial one enabled the Americans to achieve goals that were previously not feasible. Westward expansion and rapid population growth in cities were both made possible by new technological developments, such as the steam locomotive. While some groups of people benefited from America’s Industrial Revolution, others were not as fortunate. Nevertheless, America’s industrial age provided the foundation which the nation required in order to grow into one of the world’s great powers.