Final answer:
The Industrial Revolution greatly transformed the American economy from primarily agricultural to significantly industrialized. This resulted in mass urbanization as people moved from farm work to industrial jobs, and it caused profound socioeconomic changes.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Industrial Revolution had a profound impact on the American economy. Prior to the revolution, the United States was mostly an agricultural nation, where the majority of Americans were farmers. However, by the late nineteenth century, there had been a significant shift as the Industrial Revolution catalyzed the growth of industries and the urban workforce. The use of new inventions and the discovery and exploitation of raw materials enabled widespread industrialization. Large-scale production in factories became the norm, and this rapid industrialization resulted in more Americans leaving agricultural jobs to work in urban industries.
This economic transformation can be categorized as a shift from an agrarian economy to a more industrial economy. Innovations such as the McCormick reaper and the Cyrus plow reduced the demand for manual farm labor, contributing to the migration from rural to urban areas. This shift was further exacerbated by the exploitation by banks and the railroad industry, which imposed high interests and transportation costs on farmers. Meanwhile, the burgeoning industrial sector faced its own challenges, including saturated markets due to overproduction of goods, which affected both domestic prices and international trade.
In summary, the Industrial Revolution transformed the American economy from being dominantly agricultural to significantly more industrialized, with all the associated economic and social changes that entailed.