MANUFACTURES
\mˌanjuːfˈakt͡ʃəz], \mˌanjuːfˈaktʃəz], \m_ˌa_n_j_uː_f_ˈa_k_tʃ_ə_z]\
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American manufactures began with the making of glass at the Jamestown colony. At first the chief manufactures in the colonies were of ships, lumber and iron. Domestic manufactures continued till long after the Revolution to be an important portion, especially in the article of cloth. Soon the amount of American exports of manufactured articles was so great that English manufacturers complained. In 1699 Parliament enacted that no woolen manufactures should be shipped from the colonies. The iron manufacture was repressed by a series of laws beginning in 1719. Export of hats was forbidden in 1731, and several other similar prohibitions were enacted. The Revolution stimulated manufactures and States tried to foster them by bounties. Yet in 1789 they were still in their infancy. The country was mainly agricultural, though there were some important manufactures of heavy iron goods, paper, glass, gunpowder, rum, leather and textiles, and excellent ships were built. The slightly protective tariff of 1789 increased manufactures, the War of 1812 still more so, insomuch that in 1815 the amount of capital in the cotton and woolen industries was probably $50,000,000. After the war a great development of American manufactures began, those created by the war demanding increased protection, and receiving it in the tariffs of 1824 and1828. Manufacturing towns arose, and American life ceased to be exclusively agricultural and rural. This development, however, was almost entirely in the North. When the Civil War broke out, the South was almost without manufactures, while the industrial life of the North was becoming more and more varied. Since the war the manufactures of the United States have developed to such an extent that they are the leading manufacturing country of the world, and make one-fourth of its entire total of manufacturing. The amount of manufacturing done in the United States seems to have about doubled from 1880 to 1890. The history of some of the leading industries is treated in separate articles.
By John Franklin Jameson
Word of the day
Quinones
- Hydrocarbon rings which contain two moieties position. They can be substituted in any position except at the ketone groups.