There is a lot going on in the Antebellum period, 1820-1860. Essentially according to Charles Sellers in The Market Revolution, there was a population increase in the preceding years, especially in New England. Meaning there was less land available for young families starting out. These families or even single young men had to move west. A former Professor of mine used to stress to us the people would move according to latitude. So if you were in Massachusetts you would move west into northern New York, or if you were in New Jersey or Pennsylvania you moved into Ohio etc. I am not saying this is this case as there are no absolutes in history but it is an interesting concept. Anyway, if you were looking for land you had to go west, but if you did not have the means or ability to purchase, improve, and cultivate that land you moved to the cities.

But population movement is not enough to explain all of this. There are many reasons why the industrial and market revolutions took off. Walter Licht in Industrializing America attempts to explain this. His thesis is that you cannot have an expansion in industry and commerce without and expansion in agriculture. Once agriculture is successful and enough food is produced to drop prices then there is enough available capital to purchase other goods, such as furniture, clothing etc. Once people begin to purchase more and more consumer goods those prices drops as well increasing the demand for those goods and the labor to produce to them.

This movement of populations to the cities not only included young single men but young single women as well. It also increased the pool of unskilled labor in the cities. Prior to this skilled labor produced the goods required by urban and rural areas in a quality over quantity manner. Skilled laborers could be silversmiths, book binders, butchers, morticians, leather workers etc. There was a whole mode of production which is called the Artisan-Journeymen relationship. Where artisans would take upon an apprentice, they would train the apprentice until he developed into a Journeyman where he would seek out employment with another Artisan perfecting his craft until he saved enough money to open his own business. (apprentices would often runaway) With the influx of unskilled labor into the cities it ultimately destroyed this relationship, it took quite awhile for this relationship and labor structure to dissipate. However, it was not overnight. Previously to the industrial and market revolutions it was assumed that a journeymen would be able to start his new business and a succeed. However that became increasingly difficult in this period as unskilled labor filled the need for journeymen and the pace of the economy quickened resulting in the need for more labor and more unskilled labor.

One final note, industrialization did not occur only in the big cities such as New York, Philadelphia and Boston. It occurred in smaller towns and cities across the country from Trenton NJ, Birmingham AL, Syracuse NY and Dover DE. There is a tenancy to study industrialization in the larger cities but there is a bevy of studies out there that focus on industrialization in many different areas of America.