How did the Industrial Revolution change life for Americans in the early 1800s? Did it change life for the better? Why or why?

The industrial revolution is also known as the Gilded age, because gilded things look shiny, but are ugly underneath. This was the case for the people of that time period. As manufacturing became the North's specialty, more factories were built, which created more jobs. As farmers started going into debt and losing their land because most were poor, they began moving to cities and looking for jobs there. This is known as urbanization. The large amount of people flooded the area, and unable to afford homes, they moved into overcrowded slums, often without safe water. More desperate people meant a massive amount of workers to fill a limited amount of jobs. Most jobs at this time were un-unionized and would have dangerous, unsanitary working conditions and very low pay. As the working class became poorer, the distinction between social classes became clearer and still affects the way we view social classes today. The rich CEOs were able to do whatever they wanted in their business because of the government's policy of "laissez-faire", meaning "let things take their own course". Greed and corruption became rampant.