Industrial Revolution

From its earliest days late in the 18th century, the Industrial Revolution became an ongoing process that spawned continuous changes in virtually every area of society, first in England, and soon after in the United States and elsewhere. The Industrial Revolution—perhaps more aptly named industrialization—emerged side by side with evolving capitalism and continuing impulses for democracy. It shaped our economy, politics, and culture, while gradually urbanizing our geography and harnessing the land's resources to fuel factories and their outputs. It continues to be a force in the global political economy.

In general, the Industrial Revolution is credited with producing economic surpluses that led to higher living standards, improved health and nutrition, population growth, and longer life spans for large segments of the population. At the same time the Industrial Revolution was creating great wealth, however, it also was creating great poverty around the world.

From the outset, the Industrial Revolution put economic pressure on smaller, middle-class manufacturers who relied heavily on labor. Newer factories required significant amounts of capital for equipment and ultimately concentrated capital and ownership of resources and production methods into fewer hands. As a result, a class of owners emerged with the power to secure both significant influence on the government and legislation designed to help facilitate increased profitability, including lax environmental laws that allowed factory owners to transfer the costs of their pollution to the general public (externalities).

The Industrial Revolution triggered increased consumption of coal to fire machinery, unlocking massive amounts of carbon that had been stored in the Earth and releasing pollutants into the air, water, and soil. The interplay between supply and demand is evident in the implementation of increasingly efficient production techniques and a growing population that intensified resource use and created environmental problems. Warnings about resource depletion and pollution, especially after the Civil War, led to calls for conservation and some government regulation. The Conservation Movement emerged after 1900 and engaged the government in efforts to manage industrial resource use and control pollution.

[Page 233]In addition, the government was increasingly drawn into industrial development to ensure efficient commerce with the construction of transportation and communications systems, as well as a banking system to ensure the orderly transfer of funds. Government has played an active role in facilitating market development since the nation's beginning, through internal improvements that reshaped both settlement patterns and the landscape to facilitate market development.

Although actively assisting market development, over much of U.S. history, government generally took a passive role in resource conservation and protecting workers and communities from the environmental hazards that result from industrial processes. Minimalist government, or laissez-faire government, took a hands-off approach to any policy prescription that might infringe on an industry's profitability.

Even today, the Industrial Revolution is driven largely by the need for factory owners to be profitable. Competitive markets force continued technological change to increase production through product and process innovations that allow short-run profit increases. Over time, a system of government subsidies and incentives has evolved to assist businesses in these functions. These policies often have environmental implications because they can shape the nature and level of pollution from factories.

...