The Roots of American Industrialization
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Overview
How did the Eastern United States of the antebellum era make the successful transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy? Previous studies have identified declining soil fertility and increased competition from the Midwest as incentives for Easterners to abandon farms for factories. But as David R. Meyer points out in this groundbreaking study, agriculture in the East was, in fact, thriving during this time, even as manufacturing began its period of explosive growth.
In The Roots of American Industrialization Meyer reexamines previous studies, provides new evidence, and presents a new explanation. He argues that agriculture and industry both grew and transformed, thus constituting mutually reinforcing processes. Eastern agriculture thrived from 1790 to 1860, and rising farm productivity permitted surplus labor to enter factories and provided swelling food supplies for growing rural and urban populations. Farms that were on poor soil and distant from markets declined, whereas other farms successfully adjusted production as rural and urban markets expanded and as Midwestern agricultural products flowed eastward after 1840. Rural and urban demand for manufactures in the East supported diverse industrial development, and prosperous rural areas and burgeoning cities supplied increasing amounts of capital for investment. Metropolitan regional hinterlands around Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and, to a lesser extent, Baltimore, experienced broadly similar transformations of agriculture and manufacturing, forming the eastern anchor of the American manufacturing belt.
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Synopsis
"A well-researched description of American industrialization before 1860."—Economic History Review
Editorials
Journal of American History
Meyer's analysis is clearly formulated, carefully argued, and in its terms comprehensive.— Thomas J. Misa
History: Reviews of New Books
Claiming that his analysis moves chronologically forward beginning with 1790 rather than starting with assumptions borne from an understanding of industrialization as it existed in 1860, Meyer provides the reader with some powerful insights.
— John Heitmann
EH.Net
Meyer... makes a useful contribution by reviewing how industrialization started in the agrarian United States.— B. Zorina Khan
Choice
The idea that regions need not specialize in either farming or manufacturing is an idea familiar to economic historians, but this book offer an interesting and insightful analysis of the American East from 1780 to 1860.
Business History
Over the years numerous scholars have tried to explain the origins and nature of the industrialisation process in the United States. For a variety of reasons, the versatile and prolific geographer David R. Meyer is dissatisfied with conventional explanations, and in his stimulating new study, The Roots of American Industrialization, he attempts to set the record straight.— Peter A. Coclanis
Economic History Review
A well-researched description of American industrialization before 1860.— Joshua L. Rosenbloom
Geographical Review
A very fine book and a major contribution to the history of American economic development... Unpretentious but richly rewarding... Delivers on its promises and leaves the reader with much material to chew on.— Richard Walker
Enterprise and Society
Impressive study... has much to offer to historians of antebellum America.— Sean Patrick Adams
History: Reviews of New Books
Claiming that his analysis moves chronologically forward beginning with 1790 rather than starting with assumptions borne from an understanding of industrialization as it existed in 1860, Meyer provides the reader with some powerful insights.— John Heitmann
Journal of American History -
Meyer's analysis is clearly formulated, carefully argued, and in its terms comprehensive.
History: Reviews of New Books -
Claiming that his analysis moves chronologically forward beginning with 1790 rather than starting with assumptions borne from an understanding of industrialization as it existed in 1860, Meyer provides the reader with some powerful insights.
EH.Net -
Meyer... makes a useful contribution by reviewing how industrialization started in the agrarian United States.
Business History -
Over the years numerous scholars have tried to explain the origins and nature of the industrialisation process in the United States. For a variety of reasons, the versatile and prolific geographer David R. Meyer is dissatisfied with conventional explanations, and in his stimulating new study, The Roots of American Industrialization, he attempts to set the record straight.
Economic History Review -
A well-researched description of American industrialization before 1860.
Geographical Review -
A very fine book and a major contribution to the history of American economic development... Unpretentious but richly rewarding... Delivers on its promises and leaves the reader with much material to chew on.
Enterprise and Society -
Impressive study... has much to offer to historians of antebellum America.