While I was blathering on about the War of Independence, you may have wondered: "where did the Americans get enough rifles and cannon to beat the British military? That's an excellent question and I'm glad you asked. The answer? The Industrial Revolution.
The Industrial Revolution got started a few years before the American Revolution. Before that, Americans made money by growing and selling crops & livestock; plus cotton, linen & wool; maybe some lumber—they were farmers.
It was ideas, advances in technology, that began to industrialize America. Steel is a big idea. It's an alloy of iron and carbon and is stronger than iron. Another great idea is interchangeable parts. Before interchangeable parts, firearms like muskets were handmade, one at a time. Every part of a musket was unique to that musket. BUT, if you cast a hundred triggers, firing pans, barrels, screws, nuts & bolts that are all exactly the same shape & size, you can start cranking out a hundred muskets that are all alike. You could take the barrel off of one musket stock and put it on another and there'd be no difference in how well they fit. The factory system is a great idea—one guy shapes stocks all day, one guy bores and fits barrels all day, another guy puts together trigger hardware all day—each is a specialist and together they work quickly. Don't forget steam! Steam engines made it easier to mine iron ore and power sawmills. Industrialization means less work, more product and cheaper prices.
"Hold on there, Manders!" I hear you bellowing as you fling your individual fruit pie at the computer screen." This is supposed to be The Western Civ User's Guide to Reading & Writing! What in the world wide web does the Industrial Revolution have to do with reading and writing?" Hang with me, and I'll tell you all about it.
https://www.thepilot.com/news/features/rifles-of-bear-creek-a-look-at-the-colonial-kennedy-long-rifle-factory/article_fe30303a-3155-11e8-80ba-6fbf4b3f0741.html
Back to the beginning of The Western Civ User's Guide to Reading & Writing.
Don't forget: I wrote another Western Civ User's Guide! Back to the beginning of The Western Civ User's Guide to Time & Space.
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