Landscapes of Industrialization in the 19th Century

(with three examples)

I. Defining “industrialization”

-when: approximately 1790-1860 in US (slightly earlier in Great Britain)

- what: most fundamental change is a shift in energy regimeunderlying human society (from human/animal power to (1) water power; (2) carbon-based energy [coal and later petroleum])

-why so transformative? combination of industrial technology and capitalist markets “capitalist industrialization”

II.Industrializing New England’s rivers (the textile industry)

A. Who?

-Entrepreneurs—e.g., Samuel Slater, Boston Manufacturing Company (Francis Cabot Lowell, et al.)

B. What and where?

-series of textile mills on New England’s rivers

-Waltham, 1813

-Lowell, 1821

-Manchester, 1825

-Lawrence, 1844

C. Environmental effects on New Englandlandscape

-flooding of some lands, dewatering of river in other places

-habitat degradation for many species

-destruction of fish runs (e.g., Atlantic salmon, shad)

-water pollution

D. Social effects

-loss of control over river for many; -industrial labor (Lowell mill girls)

-loss of access to farmland & subsistence resources wage labor

E. Opposition

-legal challenges—but law evolving to favor industrial over public uses of the river

-protests—e.g., James Worster

III. Effects at a Distance: The Cotton South

A. Industrialization and the (global) demand for cotton

B. The South not always the “Cotton South”; when and why the South turns to cotton (multiple causes!)

-demand

-planters’ market orientation

-technological innovation

-federal land policies

-availability of cheap labor

-climate/ecology

C. Social effects of the turn toward cotton

--demand for landIndian removal(Indian Removal Act of 1830 under Pres. Andrew Jackson)

--increasing dependence on cheap labor (spread of slavery; intensified forms of slavery)

D. Ecological effects

-landscapechange/deforestation

-soil depletion, land abandonment

-erosion

-boll weevil (1894 )

E. Connections between ecological degradation and the intensification of slavery—cotton plantation economy required massive exploitation of land and labor…

IV. PNW Forests

A. Demand for timber and shifting geography of the lumber industry: New England Midwest South PNWAsia, South America

B. Technological change in the PNW lumber industry (industrial forestry)

-narrow-gauge RRs

-donkey engine

-high head logging

-steam shovels

-tractors

C. Ecological effects: deforestation

V. Conclusion: sources and impacts of industrialization

A. Sources: industrialization based on shift in energy regime, but also requires:(1) labor; (2) natural resources; (3) desire

B. Impacts:

-economic: increased overall wealth (but inequality may be very high)

-environmental: more intensive, more widespread, and more thorough exploitation of resources; over long-term, shift to carbon-based energy regime is unsustainable

-social: changing nature of work; greater dependence on the market; local communities benefit from distant ecosystems, but increasingly lose control over their landscapes

-cultural: commodification and distancing