The Emergence Of A Self-Dependent America
Thomas Jefferson
With increasing political tensions in the early 1800's, in 1807, Thomas Jefferson set in place the Embargo Act. This embargo cut off American shipping to Britain and France with hopes to damage their economies and in turn, have them agree to stop the impressment of American Sailors. However, this embargo only damaged America's economy and created an environment that required Americans to manufacture their own products. This was one of the many sparks that helped to light the fire of American Industry.
Inventions
Many innovations in technology also helped to start the American Industrial Revolution. As seen earlier in Britain, new ways of producing cloth were being created that allowed the usual home production of goods to be turned into a new generation of factory production. In other words, the outwork system ( in which parts for a product are created in different homes and put together elsewhere ) and the factory system ( in which all processes of producing a product are conducted in one building ) were set into place. Without new inventions by Americans, such as the cotton gin, and Slater's mill, these "changes" would never have been able to take place.
("U.S.History, Pre-Columbian to the New Millennium" )