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Reconstruction and Industrialization

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Assignment 1: “America’s Post-Civil War Growing Pains” Reconstruction and Industrialization 1865-1900 Four years after the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter the Civil War ended with the Union’s Victory over the Confederacy. Though the war was over, there were still many problems that needed to be resolved in order to reunite the states as a nation. The time period in which steps were taken to rebuild the nation is known as reconstruction. Reconstruction lasted from 1865 until 1877. The influence of reconstruction can be seen in the society and also in politics during that time period. Following Reconstruction the nation had to rebuild its economy; industrialization brought in more factories and industries which helped to …show more content…

292). The expansion of railroads was also a great advancement made during the industrial revolution. Railroads were built throughout the country and allowed for good to be transported more easily, cheaper, and more reliable (Schultz 2012, p. 293). With industrialization came more jobs, and because majority of industrialization occurred in big cities this encouraged farmers to leave the fields and moved to cities to work in factories (Schultz 2012, p. 293). With the constant growth of businesses and manufacturers in the north, the population of northern cities grew. In a forty year time span the population on New York City grew by 1.2 million people (Schultz 2012, p. 302). This growth was called urbanization. Since the cities were growing at such a rapid pace building developers cut codes and built make shift buildings called tenements for people to reside (Schultz 2012, p.302). Tenements were low income apartment buildings. These apartments were small and cramped and sometimes referred to as railroad flats because their layout was similar to that of the box railroad cars (Apartment House, Encyclopedia Britannica). With the high demand of materials and jobs factories were being built in the same manner as the tenements. These buildings did not follow building codes and resulted in many fires (Schultz 2012, p. 303). Perhaps one of the most devastating fires was that of the Triangle Shirtwaist

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