In the early 180Cs, over 80 percent of the United States labor force was engaged in agriculture.
sophisticated technology and machinery were virtually nonexistent. People who lived in the cities and
were not directly involved in trade often participated in small cottage industries making handcrafted
Line goods. Otherscured meats, silversmiths, candle or Otherwise produced needed goods and commodities.
(5) Blacksmiths, silversmiths, candle makers, and other artisans worked in their homes or barns, relying on
help of family,
Perhaps no single phenomenon brought more widespread and lasting change to the United States
society than the rise of industrialization. Industrial growth hinged on several economic factors. First,
Industry requires an abundance of natural resources, especially coal, iron ore, water, petroleum, and
(10) timber-all readily available on the North American continent. Second, factories demand a large labor
supply. Between the 1870's and the First World War (1914—1918), approximately 23 million immigrants
streamed to the United States, settled in cities, and went to work in factories and mines. They also helped
build the vast network of canals and railroads that crisscrossed the continent and linked important trade
centers essential to industrial growth.
(15) Factories also offered a reprieve from the backbreaking work and financial unpredictability
Associated with farming. Many a dults, poor and disillusioned with farm life, were lured to the cities
by promises of steady employment, regular paychecks, increased access to goods and services, and
expanded social opportunities. Others were pushed there when new technologies made their labor
cheap or expendable; inventions such as steel plows and mechanized harvesters allowed one farmhand
(20) to perform work that previously had required several, thus making farming capital-intensive rather than
labor-intensive.
The United States economy underwent a massiv e transition and the nature of work was permanently
altered. Whereas cottage industries relied on a few highly skilled craft workers who slowly and carefully
converted raw materials into finished products from start to finish, factories relied on specialization.
(25) While factory work was less creative and more monotonous, it was also more efficient and allowed
mass production of goods at less expense.
What aspect of life in the United States does the passage mainly discuss?