The Influence of 19th Century Industrialization on US Development

This essay examines how 19th-century industrialization, particularly the rise of the steel, iron, and oil industries, shaped the current industrial landscape of the United States. It highlights the pivotal role of these industries in fostering American economic growth, with a focus on how the need for railroads spurred iron production and how the discoveries of Bessemer and Kelly revolutionized steel manufacturing. Pittsburgh's significance as an industrial hub due to its rich raw materials and the subsequent demand for transportation systems are also discussed. The essay further explores how the growth of these industries led to the rise of the automobile and aeronautics sectors, ultimately establishing the United States as a global industrial leader. The author also emphasizes the geographical advantages and the historical discoveries that have sustained US industrial dominance, referencing the modern automobile industry and the continuing importance of Pittsburgh as an industrial center.

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How 19th century industrialization shaped the current US industrial development
This essay will be taking references from chapter 17 of the book “Unfinished Nation:
A Concise History of the American People” (Binkley 2014), regarding the steel iron and oil
industry that were set up as the foundation in the country, to foster the growth of American
economic growth of today. USA had never been behind in terms of advancements in the
nation, in comparison to other nations in the last few centuries. But it is the iron and steel
industry and the oil industry, the foundation of which created the platform for the US
economy to foster at the present. This is the sole reason why USA today is one of the largest
producers of iron and steel in the world right now, and also one of the largest exporters of the
same. To understand how the current situation of these industries can be accredited to the
history of the United States of America, it is important to study the history itself.
The need for building railroads across the country needed the production of raw iron
in the country towards the late 19th century. The production soared during the 1870s and 80s,
as 40,000 miles of railway tracks required the iron industry to produce in numbers. That was
the time when USA became a reckoned producer of iron in the world already (Stearns 2018).
Steel production picked up too and gradually began to make a mark in the metal industry.
Following this, Henry Bessemer and William Kelly came up with breakthrough discoveries
for the industry of steel. They discovered the technology of turning iron into a much more
durable version of it; the durable steel. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania became one of the firsts
where the industry first started to foster in. This is because the area was rich in the raw
materials which were required to manufacture steel (Taranath 2016). The demand for other
forms of fuel which were born out as a result of increased demand for steel, were also easily
available in Pittsburgh. This made Pittsburgh the industrial hub in the west, particularly for
America. The spread of the steel industry also created a demand for increased transportation

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systems in the country, to support the development of the industry (Tarka et al. 2017).
Although not directly related, this can be linked to what followed afterwards.
Increased demand in steel created the opportunity to manufacture increased number of
automobiles in the automobile industry to suffice market demand (Hudson and Sadler 2017).
Everything that followed this happened like the butterfly effect. One thing led to the other to
make USA what it is today. The increased production of automobiles in turn, and also the
need for lubrication in the steel industry itself created a new and increased demand for fuel in
the nation. This gave way to the foster of the oil industry. Once again, Pennsylvania became
the hub for this purpose. It was a well known fact that the region had been rich in petroleum
reserves. George Bissel, a Pennsylvania business man demonstrated that petroleum could be
converted into substances like lubricating oil and naptha. This was enough for industrialists to
capitalize on the discovery and as a result, the first oil well had been built up in the region by
1859, producing around five hundred barrels of oil every month (Dieterich-Ward 2018). The
foster of these two industries, alongside the invention of self-contained engines not only
contributed a large chunk to the country’s GDP, but also made advancements in the
civilization and lifestyles of the Americans, as it led to an outburst in the growth of
automobiles and aeronautics industries. By the time this happened, United States of America
had already gained its status as harboring the most advanced civilization and culture in the
world, pertaining to the growth of these industries in the nation. It is no mystery that USA
still remains as the most industrially developed nation in the world even today (Jorgenson,
Gollop and Fraumeni 2016). The present landscape of the nation would have been impossible
if it were not for the foundation that history had built for the country.
Once America began to get ahead in the industrial race, others just set out to follow
and catch up. However, no country really could. This is because of the geographical
advantages of the country which are supportive of the industrial growth in USA even today.

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Pittsburgh still remains to be the industrial hub in the country, being the largest producer of
steel and oil in the country. No other country has ever had such advantages which do not
require any special effort in the acquisition and transportation of two of the most important
components of the industrial revolution; steel and oil (Cinar, Gakis and Pardalos 2018). This
has also contributed to the business growth in the country, further cementing the economy of
the United States of America. Automobile giants such as Ford, Subaru, Toyota, Nissan, Fiat
and Honda motors, just to name a few, are all based in the United States (Fetterman and
Freitas 2017). As mentioned, each of these companies are giants in the automobile industry,
with each having a fair share and demand in the market (Guajardo, Cohen and Netessine
2015). Michael Anniston, a Ford employee reveals in an interview which has been conducted
to serve the purpose of this essay, that geological conditions and advanced transportation
systems in the country are the only reasons why doing business for the company has been so
much convenient in the country. This advanced transportation system too, if seen from the
perspective of the historic reflection discussed earlier in the essay, had developed during the
late 19th century, when the need for proper transportation was required to be a necessary
infrastructure in the support of the iron and steel industry. The foundation regarding
transportation, which had been laid during that time, has only been capitalized on and
improved over time as they required to be, in order to ensure that it can support the modern
version of the industry as well. This is alongside the fact that Pittsburgh being the hub of the
raw materials makes the process even more convenient because of the proximity factor.
It should be noted that although proximity and transportation facilities to serve as the
perfect infrastructure have made things great for the development of the industrial sector of
the USA, the discoveries which had been made in the history that started the industrialization
of USA in the first place, are the sole reasons why the country is where it is at today. From
the high production of iron due to the need of railroads, Bessemer’s and Kelly’s discoveries

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about the durable steel, the subsequent growth of the iron and steel industries which in turn
led to the necessity for the oil industry to foster, the subsequent automobile and aeronautics
industry which led to the growth oil and petroleum production in the country, every phase has
a part to play in shaping the current America which is the leading country in industry and
technology.
If Bessemer and Henry did not come up with their discoveries in durable steel, it
could have possibly taken another century for someone to do so, and subsequently, the fast
development in the country in the area of industrialization would have never been triggered.
This industrialization in turn created the need for the oil industry to foster, and the collective
growth of these industries led to the eventual rise in the automobile and aeronautics industries
to foster in the country (Bagchi 2016). Therefore, it is very much evident that the country did
not achieve the status of being the most industrially developed country in just one day. It had
commenced in the late 19th century to become what it is today. From there on, the practice
and trend of the country’s industrialization made it possible for the country to keep
modernizing itself according to the requirements of the modern generation (Pan 2016). From
a little philosophical point of view, the butterfly effect states that if a butterfly flaps its wings
at the right time and in the right direction, it can cause a hurricane somewhere else, due to the
series of events that would follow. In US’s history, it was the discovery of durable steel and
the subsequent growth of the oil industry which proved to be the flap of the wing at the right
moment and in a right direction.
From the above discussion, it can be concluded that USA has had a rich history of
industrialization, which commenced towards the late 19th century. It was this foundation
which gave way to newer opportunities like the growth of the oil industry and the subsequent
growth in the automobile industry. The current scenario of the US economy would have been
very different if any one event in the history of the country’s industrialization had not taken

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place. The essay clearly outlines how one event in the history gave way to another event, and
so on, to make the industrial scenario of the country what it is at present.

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References
Bagchi, A.K., 2016. Industrialization. The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, pp.1-10.
Brinkley, A. (2014). The unfinished nation. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
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Tarka, T.J., James III, R.E., Withum, J.A., Plowman, B. and Shih, C.Y., 2017. Pittsburgh
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