From the late 18th century to the middle of the 19th century, an industrial revolution took place in the world, involving almost all the states of Europe and the United States. The industrial revolution changed the usual way of life and had a strong impact on the political and social sphere. All European countries experienced it differently and at different times. In the United States, there was a unique case: two economic regions, although developing independently, were highly dependent on each other, and up to the Civil War, there was a kind of cooperation between them. The North supplied industrial goods, and the South – cotton. At the same time, the North and South were more different than some European countries: the North developed industry and used free labor, while the South strengthened its agrarian economy and slavery.
The industrial revolution began in the immediate aftermath of the American Revolution, which brought about socioeconomic shifts in the country. Control of resources is passed to the private entrepreneur1. A unified domestic market began to take shape2. There are several points of view on the periodization of the industrial revolution in America. Some think that the upheaval began in the last decades of the 18th century, others think that it came later, also because of the embargo of 18073. Others think that the industrial revolution began in the 20s of the 19th century.One way or another, it was in the period from 1815 to 1850 that all the necessary prerequisites for turning America’s economy into one of the world’s major economies emerged in America.
Thus, the North was building a national economy, while the South was building a regional one. This affected economic interests, since the North tried to integrate the whole of the United States into a unified economic system, while the South confined itself to regions where cotton could be grown and relied on independent large and medium-sized plantation farms. Northern producers, who had advanced in industrial development, needed protection from foreign competition, so they demanded high import duties4. In this case, the South would have had to buy low-quality Northern goods at inflated prices.
In the ideological preparation and execution of the bourgeois revolution in America, an active role was played by a group of poets known as the “Garth Ford Wits,” who satirically mocked England and the American supporters of agreement with it. The most talented among them were T. Dwight (1752-1817) and D. Barlow (1754-1812). After the end of the War of Independence, however, the “Hartford Wits” became the defenders of the conservative section of the American bourgeoisie. Of this group of poets, only D. Barlow, becoming a friend and supporter of T. Paine, defended democratic demands.
The poetry of the American Enlighteners is joined by the works of one of the founders of Negro literature, the poetess Phyllis Wheatley (1753-1784), whose collection of poems became famous not only in America but also in England. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the first novels in American literature appeared 5. The father of the American novel is called C.B. Brown (1771-1810), who continued the tradition of gothic and fantasy novels.
Thus, the industrial revolution, which took place at the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries in American society, was reflected in all spheres of his life. Changes in lifestyles and consumption strategies have affected the outlook of Americans and the emergence of new trends in culture. The most obvious changes occurred in the field of literature, where original genres of poetry that expressed the mentality of the nation took shape.
References
- The American Yawp. (2018). Americanyawp.com. Web.
- Jerzy Sobieraj. (2014). Collisions of conflict studies in American history and culture, 1820 – 1920. Frankfurt, M. Lang-Ed.
- Frances Milton Trollope. (1839). Domestic Manners of the Americans.
- Potter, A. (1841). Political Economy:Its objects, uses and principles:Considered with reference to the condition of the American People, etc.
- Ramey, L. (2019). A history of African American poetry. Cambridge University Press.