Industrialism and its impact

The Rise of the Industrial StateThe Age of Industry

The Problems of IndustrialismThe Working-Class Response

The Agrarian Response

The Rise of The Industrial State

Before the Industrial Revolution came to Canada, Canada was a pre-industrail country, based on farming, fishing, and lumbering.

However, once the Industrial Revolution hit Canada the country became an industrial capitalist society that was filled with mills, factories, and railroads.

The Rise of the Industrial State

The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the Eighteenth century and slowly to come to North America.◦U.S – 1815◦Canada – 1840’s

Signs that it had reached Canada:◦Railway Tracks◦Telegraph lines◦Factories◦Steam and iron technologies

The Factory System

During the Industrial Revolution Canadian industries began to multiply in number and to shift from small-scale craft production to mechanized factories and mills.

At first these establishments were concentrated in Montreal, but then spread to cities like Toronto, Hamilton, London, and Brantford.

These factories and mills were making things

like boots, iron, flower, soap, paint, and steam pipes (just to name a few).

The Railway-Building Crazy

Railways were now the sign of an industrial age. In 1850 only 120 km of railway tracks were laid. By 1865 over 3300 km was in use.

Railways were mainly financed by British immigrants and were extremely important for transporting goods and other technologies faster. Railways also opened up remote locations for people to settle and connected large cities. They also created jobs.

Railway Companies◦ St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railway 1853◦ Great Trunk 1853◦ Western Railway 1854◦ Northern Railway 1855

The Rise of the Industrial State

Trade between Canada and Britain had always been strong, but with the industrial boom Canada and the U.S. started to trade.

Both American western settlement and the Civil War (1861-1865) generated healthy demands for Canadian food products and lumber. Also the steady infusion of British capital for the railways provided additional development capital for Canadian industries.

The Maritime Provinces

The Maritime provinces had great trading ties with the U.S. however, they did experiences difficulties because of the lack of railways in the provinces. In the Maritimes in the 1950’s had only 400km of railway laid compared to 4000km across the rest of the country. These caused shortages of capital, native or imported, to promote growth.

The Lowell System

The Lowell System◦An American system of employment of young women as

textile workers.◦Women worked for lower wages because they lacked skills. ◦Women who worked on neighboring farms who wanted to

make so money before “settling down”. ◦Most women were from respectable homes and the Lowell

System boasted keeping an eye on the women’s every day lives.

◦Life was hard for women in the Lowell System because wages were low, and working hours were long, and conditions were harsh.

◦ In the 1840’s the women in the Lowell mills went on strike over wage reductions and asked the state for shorter work days which they won.

Economic Depression

In the late 1873 a worldwide economic depression hit both Canada and the U.S. In Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes businesses closed their doors and banks failed. Thousands of men travel the roads trying to find work.

Alexander Mackenzie was prime minster at this time (1873-78). His Liberal party started to fail which deepened the depression even more so.

Protective Tariff of 1879

The protective Tariff of 1879 that was passed by John A MacDonald, prime minters after Mackenzie, helped to encourage a minor industrial boom. Tariff’s are taxes placed on items like carriages, cars, woolen clothes, railway cars, screws paint ect… MacDonaled raised the tariff on items like above to 25-41.1 percent.