Jocelyn Velazquez

Period 5
U.S History
10-26-2012

From the years 1860-1920 a new society was beginning that changed the world completely.
This was known as the industrial revolution. It was a change from agricultural life to an
industrial society. During this time period a lot of people suffered, but I believe the pain of the
industrial revolution was worth the gain because of advances in technology, new amendments
and changes in economy.
During the industrial revolution there were a lot of advances in technology. As the
society became wealthier and busy they needed new ways for light source and an easier way
for communication. In 1882 Thomas Edison introduced a system electric lightning known as the
light bulb (Hackett). The invention of the light bulb was important because now factories could
run all day without stopping. Factories could produce more products to gain more money. This
invention also led to many kind of machinery like powering locomotives and street cars. The
telephone which Alexander Graham Bell created in 1876 shrunk the world to immediate long
distance communication with messages being conveyed around the world in a matter of
seconds. (Nosotro) The telephone made is easier and faster for people to communicate with
each other. If people wanted to talk to someone they didnt have to send a letter that would
take months to get to the other person; now they could just call.
The industrial revolution also led to new amendments. Since there was a lot of changes
going on new amendments were needed. The new amendments made were 17 and 19.
Amendment 17 says direction of U.S senators by the people instead of state legislature9Otto).

Jocelyn Velazquez
Period 5
U.S History
10-26-2012

This is important because it gave the people the power to right to elect their senators. It
allowed them to choose who th4ey felt was going to do a better job. It also prevented
corruption from city bosses that would take advantage of poor people. They would bribe the
people by giving them money food or a job in exchange for their vote. Amendment 19 is for
womens suffrage. This is important because now women are allowed to vote .Womens vote
can be heard and they could vote for what they think is right and is better for society. Now the
people in the government had to take in mind that women can vote to.
In addition the industrial revolution led to changes in economy. On February 25 1913
the 16th amendment was passed and it said that Congress shall have power to lay and collect
taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several
States, and without regard to any census or enumeration (Farlex). This was an advantage for
poor people because now they paid taxes on how much they would earn. This benefited
because they didnt have to worry about paying a lot of taxes. Wealthier people paid more
taxes since they had more money and the taxes were fairer for society. Abundance of natural
resources was another way how it helped with the changes in economy (Otto) Since they had
large amounts of oil, iron and coal it was advantage cause they used those resources to build
railroads and keep the trains going and factories working.
Even though many people suffered and died during this time period it was still worth is
because we got new advances in technology, new amendments to better society and changes

Jocelyn Velazquez
Period 5
U.S History
10-26-2012

in economy that also made society better. Now we have a lot of new technology in our society
and improvement in how we live now in days and it all started with the industrial revolution.

Jocelyn Velazquez
Period 5
U.S History
10-26-2012

Work Cited
Farlex.Sixteenth Amendment. The Free Dictionary. West's Encyclopedia of American Law,
edition 2. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group. 10/17/2012.
Hackett, Lewis. Industrialization: The First Phase. Industrial Revolution. 10/17/2012.
Nosotro, Rit. Roots of the Industrial Revolution. Hyper History. 2000-2010. 10/19/2012.