Industrial Growth In colonial times, most Americans lives in the same place that they
worked, which was usually a farm. When they wanted or needed something,
they made it. Using their hands and simple tools, people made much of their
own furniture, farm equipment, household items, and clothing,
In the mid-1700s, people began producing goods through new
methods. In Great Britain, inventors-built machines that did some of the work
involved in cloth making, such as spinning thread. These new machines ran
on the power of flowing water, British cloth makers built factories, called
mills, along rivers. In the mills, they installed large numbers of machines. To
tend the machines, mill owners paid people wages, regular payment of
money in return work. People began to leave their homes and farms to work
in the mills and collect wages. The historic change is so important that it is
known as the Industrial Revolution,
The industrial Revolution reached the United States around 1800,
Changes began in New England because of its geography, First, New
England's poor soil made farming difficult. People willingly gave up farm work
to eam wages elsewhere. Second, New England's many rivers and streams
offered the waterpower needed to run factory machinery, Third, the area had
many ports. These ports allowed the shipping in of raw materials, such as
cotton, and the shipping out of finished goods, such as cloth.

1. How did the industrial revolution develop before it hit the United
States?