Library of Congress
Loc: The Industrial Revolution in the United States (Teacher's Guide) [Pdf]
The Industrial Revolution was a complex set of economic, technological, and social changes that occurred over a substantial period of time. This teacher's guide gives background information, and suggestions for stimulating student...
Henry J. Sage
Sage American History: American Economic Growth 1820 1860
Article on the structural changes in the American economy between 1820 and 1860 as technological innovations and advancement flourished leading to considerable growth in industry.
Other
Eastern Illinois Univ.: Childhood Lost: Child Labor During Industrial Revolution
A unit on child labor during the Industrial Revolution. The focus is on using primary resources to learn about this issue and this time in American history. Includes many images and documents. The unit is cross-curricular with activities...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Us History: The Industrial Revolution
U.S. History unit with interactive materials on the Industrial Revolution in America.
C3 Teachers
C3 Teachers: Inquiries: Industrialization
A learning module on the Industrial Revolution in America that includes several supporting questions accompanied by formative tasks and source materials, followed by a summative performance task. Topics covered include how manufacturing...
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Economic Growth and the Early Industrial Revolution
A very thorough look at the industrial growth in the North because of the advent of the Industrial Revolution in America. See what industries grew, how factories became more productive, and find out how the states cultivated economic...
Other
Modern World History: Effects of the Industrial Revolution
In this textbook unit, students learn about working and living conditions during the Industrial Revolution, the growth of cities, public health issues that emerged, child labor, the impact of factory work on families and on women, the...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: The Industial Revolution
At one time, humans, fueled by the animals and plants they ate and the wood they burned, or aided by their domesticated animals, provided most of the energy in use. All life operated within the fairly immediate flow of energy from the...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Benjamin Bradley
Learn about inventor and African-American slave, Benjamin Bradley, developer of a steam engine large enough to run the first steam-powered warship.
Digital History
Digital History: The Industrial Revolution [Pdf]
This site covers both the initial Industrial Revolution in the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and the second revolution that highlighted new inventions and the businessmen who financed industry. Read brief...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Was There an Industrial Revolution?
This lesson plan from EDSITEment discusses the actual factors leading to the Industrial Revolution in the post-civil war era. Contains many links to primary source materials.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Industrial Growth
By 1860, when Abraham Lincoln was elected president, 16 percent of the population lived in urban areas and a third of the nation's income came from manufacturing. Funds were flowing into large-scale industrial development and into...
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Inventions and Resource Development
Outline of the burgeoning inventions and discoveries that characterized a second industrial revolution in the U.S. during the later half of the 19th Century.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Lands of Promise
Outline about the promising economic times of an expanding America during the 1800s, including changes taking place in New England, the South, the Midwest and West.
Digital History
Digital History: The Introduction of the Factory System
The factory system revolutionized manufacturing and the employment of unskilled workers to man the factories. Read about the young children, women, and, later, immigrants who provided the labor to the textile mills and other...
Digital History
Digital History: Labor Protests
A sure sign that manufacturing was moving from the home to the factory was the organization of skilled workers to protest wage reductions and working conditions. Read about the tension between these skilled workers and their employers as...
Digital History
Digital History: The Movement for a Ten Hour Day
A brief look at the success the workers in several industries had in reducing their work day to ten hours.
Digital History
Digital History: Social Mobility in the North
Read about the ideal of social equality in the North in the early and mid-1800s and determine if upward mobility was really a possibility for even unskilled laborers.
Scholastic
Scholastic History Mystery: Industrial Revolution: The Luddites
Students try to guess the mystery subject Carlotta Facts, the History Mystery Museum's professor, is studying. They read the clues, do some online and offline research, and then attempt to identify the game's mystery prople, the Luddites.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Lehigh Valley Tempo: Canal History
The Lehigh Valley became a major part of the Industrial Revolution after coal was discovered in the area. In this short video, learn about the canal system that was built as a way to transport the coal from the local mines to New York...
Yale University
Yale New Haven Teachers Institute: West River 1776 1896: Study of Early Industry
Presents detailed information on the development of industry in Westville, Connecticut 1776-1896. Discusses where and why development happened. Includes lesson plans, but slides referred to are not provided.
Have Fun With History
Have Fun With History: Industrial Revolution
Multi media learning module with videos for students and teachers to learn about the Industrial Revolution and how America moved from and agricultural society to an urban machine-based production in the 19th Century.
PBS
Who Made America?: Francis Cabot Lowell:consolidated Manufacturing
A brief biography of Francis Cabot Lowell which describes his role in the industrial revolution in the United States. Read about the factory system, the so-called Lowell girls, and mechanization of cloth manufacture.
PBS
Pbs: Who Made America?: Innovators: Francis Cabot Lowell
This American industrial pioneer left as his legacy a manufacturing system, booming mill towns, and a humanitarian attitude toward workers.