All stories have one thing in common: instability. Often, as in Pride and Prejudice, instability takes the form of inadequate parenting. In other works, instability in a marriage, job, or country troubles the hero and forms the basic conflict. Since this instability always causes the hero’s problems, the story focuses on restoring stability and, consequently, the hero’s ability to function correctly in society. Stability’s importance is not limited to stories, but is a key factor in real relationships, as well as agriculture, economics, and politics. During the turn of the century, European nations joined the Industrial Revolution because they had relatively stable governments and economies, capable of supporting such a huge movement. Although a young and inexperienced nation, America was able to enter the Industrial revolution because she possessed stability, manpower, and natural resources.
Stability in the government and the economy prevented revolutions, protected businessmen, and freed capital. Before the industrial revolution could begin, America needed a stable government to protect her people. Obviously, the Industrial Revolution could not have begun during the Revolutionary War because citizens were more worried about winning the war than industrial advancement. After America had established herself as a nation, she was able to turn to internal matters, building roads, establishing government, and punishing lawbreakers, forming a stable foundation for society. Just as importantly, America’s stable economy freed capital to fund businessmen and their projects. Since bankers were not worried about financial crises or governmental turmoil, they were confident enough to loan the capital needed to start the Industrial Revolution. The stability in the government and the economy provided protection and capital, enabling entrepreneurs to build the factories that characterized the Industrial Revolution.
Though Americans lacked manpower to work in factories, they came up with two solutions. Industrial growth requires manpower to work in factories. Although there were many people in America, they were more interested in farming their own land than in working in someone else’s factory. In order to solve this problem, Samuel Slater developed the Rhode Island system which employed children for 33 cents a week. This solved the manpower problem by providing cheep, available labor. However, Francis Cabot Lowell objected to child labor and proposed that unmarried women be employed instead. Though the Lowell system was more expensive, $3 a week, many adopted it. Together the Rhode Island and Lowell systems solved the labor problem, providing workers who powered the Industrial Revolution.
America needed natural resources to fuel the factories, to make products, and to offer inexpensive goods. Wood, coal, and water were America’s greatest assets in the Industrial Revolution, providing seemingly endless supplies of energy. At first the factories burned wood from America’s bountiful forests and then coal from mines to operate the machines. Many factories also used water power to turn huge wheels that then powered the machines. Cotton also proved essential to American industrialism, forming the basis for the textile industry. Metal was used, not only to manufacture exports, but also to replace the wooden parts in machines. Most importantly, America’s natural resources allowed businessmen to sell inexpensive goods since they did not need to import essentials like wood, metal, and coal. America’s bountiful natural resources provided the material that constructed the Industrial Revolution.
Available capital, cheap labor, and the abundance of wood, coal, and metal in America enabled her to enter the Industrial Revolution. Fundamentally all these things were possible because America had a stable foundation. Capital was available because bankers were confident in the economy; labor, because people were not fighting wars to stabilize the government; natural resources, because a stable agricultural system efficiently provided for the populous. This stability begins on the most basic level: the ordinary citizen’s stability. Modern governments cannot afford to eradicate religion because religion stabilizes society by stabilizing individuals. Our societal turmoil, most clearly seen in the current economic crisis, is the result of the instability of the individual. Since ordinary citizens did not have a religious foundation that instructed them to fight greed, save money, and strive for something greater than wealth, they made foolish, greedy choices that plunged, not only themselves, but the entire world into financial crisis. Since the stability of individuals determines the stability of society, reestablishing religion as the foundation of individuals and societies is imperative to success and survival of our nation.
-- Katie (grade 12)
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