The first American Industrial Revolution begins just before the 1800s as the United States tries to become more self-reliant and less dependent on European imports. The trade disruptions leading to and during the War of 1812 as well as borrowed British textile technology expands industrialization and manufacturing in the North.
As people move from rural areas to population centers looking for work, rapidly growing cites experience over-crowding, threat of fire, disease, poor sanitation, pollution, problems with housing and spikes in crime. The sheer number s of people drive down factory wages and non-existent labor laws make working conditions worse. In between the masses struggling to make a living and the very wealthy emerges a Middle Class made up of managers, accountants and businessmen who run and supply factories and mills.
In the aftermath of the War of 1812, as trade begins to normalize, demand for cotton rapidly increases due to textile mills in the American North and Great Britain. Advances in agricultural technology make cotton even more profitable. Working and living conditions deteriorate on plantations as greater numbers of people are born enslaved to bring increasingly more land under cultivation.
