Market Revolution: Farmers

Market Revolution Name Institution Market Revolution In the late 1700s, the U.S. was no longer a colony of Great Britain, and there was a shift from farming to trade across borders because farmers eventually got involved in the market. This marked the market revolution where work was defined based on monetary value allocated to it, thus allowing the division of labor (Sellers, 1991). Farmers produced goods for local and foreign markets, and as the demand for goods increased, mass production became a key component in America. Infrastructure development facilitated the effective transportation of people and goods while at the same time easing the production process in factories. For any market system to flourish, the right infrastructure must be established. As mentioned by Sellers, (1991), inaccessible transport modes made it hard for farm products to be transported to other areas and “… people who settled at any distance from navigable water mainly produced use values for subsistence rather than the market commodity values for sale.” However, this changed with the establishment of a more reliable transport system which did not only make transportation easier but also encouraged mass production. The construction of the Erie Canal in New York City in 1825 was a key improvement in the transportation system (Davies & Frink, 2014). It allowed transportation of goods at a cheaper and more convenient rate. The cost of transportation reduced by more than 90%, an aspect that saw an increase in production in other areas such as shoe-making (Davies & Frink, 2014). While the success of the Erie Canal was largely felt in New York, it encouraged the development of transport infrastructure in other states which wanted to reap the benefit of a convenient system. Thus, more states invested in a transport system and the transportation of goods outside the local areas increased, thus enhancing the market revolution. The growth in manufacturing also accounted for the market revolution more so due to the increase in demand for local products. In 1790, the first spinning mill was established by Samuel Slater in Rhode Island (Conlin, 2014). This spinning mill increased the rate of production while minimizing the cost of production. As noted by Conlin (2014), the mill “turned out yarn at a far faster rate than seventy-two women sitting at seventy-two spinning wheels in seventy-two cottages could have done.” The increased production rate ensured that the increasing demand for products would be met at a more profitable level. As a result, other spinning mills were established. Other than the spinning mills, the first woolen mill in America was established in 1793 (Conlin, 2014). These developments in manufacturing marked the growth not only in the textile industry but also in the food industry where more efficient flour mills were developed. Profits and productivity became the driving force in the economy, and with time, more people were shifting from a subsistence economy to a commercial one. To move from subsistence farming to commercialized farming, inventors also contributed to the market revolution in the United States. One of the inventions that had an impact on farmers was the cotton gin. It was invented in 1793 at a time when separating cotton seeds and the fiber was too time-consuming such that mass production was limited (Conlin, 2014). The machine increased efficiency in the production of cotton and farmers were able to target markets beyond their locality. The demand was especially high because the textile industry had grown in America and beyond and as such, there was a need to improve the production process to meet the high demand. This also increased the commercialization of commodities because as the demand increased, so did the purchase prices. The moldboard plow, introduced by John Deere in 1830 also increased efficiency in soil tilling (Lal, Reicosky, & Hanson, 2007). With this kind of invention, more farmers focused on improving efficiency and more resources were committed to acquiring the inventions. This further enabled commercialized farming because farming could be done at a faster rate, thus increasing productivity. Such inventions also led to the emergence of factories as more business-oriented individuals became attracted to the booming textile industry. The Waltham mill, established in 1813 by Francis Cabot Lowell became one of the earliest mass production mills for cotton garments (Sellers, 1991). Through this mill, wage labor became the common form of labor, and more women sought wage labor in factories. The women working in this mill were mostly daughters of farmers who wanted to supplement the family income. Lowell was able to incorporate different stages of cotton garment productio...