Setting The scene
In the 1800's before electricity was around. More Americans lived on farms other than cities. Cities attracted many Americans who were eager for work. Despite the cities benefits like accessibility to markets, it was still a dangerous place to live. No indoor plumbing was available. So people did their "business" outside by digging holes or other things. Garbaged was tossed in the streets and without the Departments of Sanitation, flies and animals gathered to them. Fires and sickness' spread easily and kids worked as hard as their parents. The invention of the railways made travel a lot quicker. Opportunities for education and employment for women were limited. They usually worked in domestic services or factories. In the 1850's woman went into nursing, medicine, and offices more frequently. Edison's inventions were needed because more jobs would have been available with new business' being established and his inventions in entertainment would help lighten up the dark and dirty industrialized century.