In the last third of the nineteenth century American life moved to a new tempo. Rapid industrial growth was the keynote. While American industry had been developing steadily since the 1820's, it now experienced an astonishing upsurge. In Britain the Industrial Revolution had spanned a century; in American it occupied only a third of that time. Within a single generation Americans moved out of the horse-and-buggy age into the age of electricity and steel. The characteristic features of modern America now took shape: the vast, mushrooming city, machinery and mass production, the mammoth corporation.
In the last third of the nineteenth century American life moved to a new tempo. Rapid industrial growth was the keynote. While American industry had been developing steadily since the 1820's, it now experienced an astonishing upsurge. In Britain the Industrial Revolution had spanned a century; in American it occupied only a third of that time. Within a single generation Americans moved out of the horse-and-buggy age into the age of electricity and steel. The characteristic features of modern America now took shape: the vast, mushrooming city, machinery and mass production, the mammoth corporation.