1. Copy what is in YELLOW!

2.  Largest industry at the time was textile.  Even though the textile industry was the largest business, factories were still small.  “Photo” on the left depicts an early textile mill.

3.  Francis Lowell created the – “Lowell/Waltham System”  Used water-power looms.  Hired non-family supervisors & managers  Created the corporate model. Work your way up through the ranks to become a supervisor.  Used integrated spinning and weaving to manufacture goods in large quantities.  Relied on adult female labor.  Praised by Charles Dickens for better treatment of employees.

4.  Manufacture by interchangeable parts was not new – it had been previously confined to making muskets and revolvers.  This idea was taken and introduced to other industries  The Springfield (MA) Armory was an early factory prototype.  250 employees – largest factory in the U.S. until after the Civil War.  Used a piece rate to pay Employees.  Labor was more specialized.  Uniform standards promoted parts to be easily interchangeable.

5.  Ideas spread to other areas of manufacturing.  Ex: The reaper by Cyrus McCormick  The “American System” received its name at the exposition of 1851 in London.  U.S. factories remained relatively small.  Family owned and managed  Few corporations – unlimited liability  Little use of steam power

6.  Telegraph, patented by Samuel Morse in 1837, started concurrent revolution in communication.  By 1860, about 50,000 miles of wires extended over the eastern U.S.  Dramatic effect on business communication.  Facilitated U.S. industry move from local markets to national markets.  Richard Sears used the telegraph to see gold watches – the first electronic commerce. Samuel Morse

7.  Answer the following questions as a group:  What is the importance of interchangeable parts?  What is the importance of being able to communicate through a telegraph?  What was the largest industry of the early industrial revolution?  How did this industry cause problems between the north and the south?