American History The Development of the Ironwork...

The perspective of many historians and textbooks usually consist of the same general understanding of specific issues in American history. For example, key events or battles such as _____, or common trends that aid in the understanding of how society operated at that point in history. However, many American history textbooks avoid the topic of widespread manufacturing industries in the south, and their simultaneous development with the much more powerful agricultural industry. Set in the Deep South, the state of Alabama cultured an ever growing ironworks industry that manufactured items spanning from farming tools to railroad tracks. In addition, Georgia, which is still famed for their agricultural industry though their famous peaches,†¦show more content†¦Already, it can be deduced that having a local ironworks would have a positive effect on the local economy, as it would be significantly cheaper to purchase tools that had much lower shipping costs because of where they we re manufactured. In addition, this ironworks was one the earliest, and inspired others to start ironworks. For example, the Alabama ironworks received information published about them in the Franklin County Tuscumbian in 1824 . The article described the ironworks as being having a forge, furnace, and saw and grist mills. This means that the forge supplied their own fuel, purified iron ore, and wrought the iron into tools for farms. Despite many ironworks not still being here today due to the civil war, it is understood that there were many ironworks in Alabama that aided in the southern economy through both aiding plantations and though the eventual exports. Another significant ironworks in Alabama was the Shelby Ironworks. Although most of the ironworks development was during the civil war, it consisted of major developments during the antebellum period leading into the civil war. One of the significant advantages to this forgery was that there was a very large deposit of iron ore near the furnace, giving the ironworks a great advantage when it came to quality and quantity of their products. Like the Tannehill ironworks, the Shelby ironworks also sold tools to local farm in Alabama. However, they also sold raw