How Did Industrialization Affect The Economy After 1870

“People were forced to work in harsh, dangerous conditions in order to be able to provide for their families” (Document 8). Although most people were grateful to have a job, the conditions that they were forced to work for in order to provide for their families were unfair to them, and their families. Just because they obtained a job one day, doesn’t mean they would have it the next day, for example, if an employee was sick, or injured and had to miss a day of work the employee wasn’t guaranteed to continually have the job after they finally recovered. “I am at work in a spinning room tending four sides of warp which is one girl’s work” (Document 1) working conditions such as these are very harsh for the employees, not only do they have to keep up with the work of four people. Not only do the employees have to keep up with the sea of work, they also have to attempt not to get injured with the very harsh conditions lots of employees did in fact end up with serious injuries. “5 in the morning till 9 at night…” (Document 7) Those were the harsh working hours according to twenty-three year old Elizabeth Bentley. Long hours such as those were very common for factory workers, which made life hard for employees. Not only was harsh working conditions bad, but also the worst consequence that came about through the Industrial Revolution was child

The workers are under so much pressure and are expected to work and give so much that they don’t even want to skip a day of work because they don’t want to be seen “slacking” and be behind and earn nothing, as Lyddie once thought, because she used to fear going out sick and falling behind in her production and having her pay drop (stated on page 100). They are given breaks that are not nearly as long as they should be, and they are so void of energy that they can’t do things that are actually enjoyable for them (such as Lyddie not reading her book). The factories are too worried about getting more work done and profiting that they don’t pay attention to the workers’ needs. Plus, for the amount of time that they work and how much stuff they get done, they don’t get paid nearly as much as they

Labors did not have very good wages and it was problem during the Gilded Age. Labors’ had to live by paternalism, meaning that George Pullman owned them. It seems as if labors never got a profit for the long hours that they worked in the sweatshops. All the money goes straight back to Pullman, because they had to pay for rent and their goods and groceries provided by him. So basically, Pullman didn’t consider them valuable because there was always someone looking for a job. These reasons led to several unionizations like the Knights of Labor where they had to pay their dues to go on strike and fight for them. Anyone from radical to bosses could join this union except bankers and lawyers, which made no sense. They fought for workplace rights but where they did wrong is when they demanded outside workplace rights such as free public schools for their children. This union caused deaths

The Industrial Revolution in the United States took place during the 18th and 19th centuries. This revolution was one of the most prominent turning points of American history as it modernized the workforce, developed American economics, and impacted the way people lived their lives. Before it began, America was mostly a rural society, people farmer to make a living and all work was done at home (“Industrial Revolution”). Afterwards, individuals began to become depend on factories to produce the products they once hand-made.

Between the years 1870-1900, Americans began to respond to the effects fostered by these corporations. From urban factory workers to rural farmers, Americans began to organize against these big businesses. With mass industrialization, more job’s were made available to women, these jobs were often in factories with terrible conditions, sweatshops. There was a sameness about working in mass production factories. Thus, working in these modern mass production factories created a homogenous environment that diminished individualism and the need for skilled workers. (Doc. C) Strikers were common during this era, workers participated in strikes and joined labor unions, such as The American Federation of Labor and the Knights of Labor, due to the terrible working conditions. The American Federation of Labor, headed by Samuel Gompers, was specifically for skilled workers and argued for better wages and a reduction in working hours. (Doc. G) Although urban workers were greatly impacted by the growth of these corporations, they were not the ones. Farmers, suffered

Industrialization and urbanization that happened in America after the civil war, is a good manifestation that the country was moving along the right path. After the war, progress in terms of investments, industrialization and urbanization was inevitable. After the civil war in America, people from the south who had been displaced and the people who were free could now move to the west to work in the cattle drives, fight the Indians and also begin a new life as farmers. Social Darwinism philosophy was adopted, and everyone believed that the poor had the right to be rich. The paper will focus on the right path that the country followed in the feudalism period between 1865 and 1914 when the country became a feudal society based on the capital and not on the land.

During the Gilded Age of late 1800’s and early 1900’s, a time period that essential government intervention was provided in big business and banking to protect workers, promote sound banking practices, clean up the cities and make them healthier and to improve rights for underrepresented Americans. The Gilded Age, growing production and industrialization was rising at an enormous rate. In the North, factories were booming and inventing new and more efficient ways to produce goods. This created more employment opportunities, and for some a way into the middle-class of society. Men, women and children were entering the workforce. Mass production in factories and industry made it possible to lower the prices of goods and made them more readily available for the public consumer. Railroads expanded across the U.S. making it more economical to ship and receive goods. The steel industry was making leaps and bounds in new processes of making a stronger and better product. Electricity was becoming more available to areas that were without power and the perfection of the lightbulb by Thomas Edison brought light into homes and factories, changing the way society shopped, worked and the way they took part leisure activities.

Imagine having to wait a long period of time for a letter from your beloved because they had to send it through horse. Or even better, imagine having to wait for wheat or meat restock in your city due to the distance the store purchased it from. America industrial growth couldn’t have occurred without the industrial giants of the period. The industrial giants gave the states more opportunity to create and move quicker to provide the nation.

This onslaught of capitalism directly revolutionized modern industrialism as well as the industrial city. Machines morphed the predominately agricultural nation to a herd of factory and corporate workers. Swarms of people, both native and immigrant, flocked to major cities. “The present century has been marked by a prodigious increase in wealth-producing power. The utilization of steam and electricity, the introduction of improved processes and labor saving machinery, the greater subdivision and grander scale of production, the wonderful facilitation of exchanges, have multiplied enormously the effectiveness of labor.”(George, p.20) The major problem with this newfound industrialism was the way in which the workforce was treated. Capitalism was supposed to provide a way out, a way ascend the financial and social staircase, if you worked hard enough. This however was not the case, if you were a loyal, hardworking employee you simply got to keep your job, and if you were in any way injured or incompetent you were fired.

The work that these laborers did was degrading and dehumanizing. They were given one small task to complete a bigger goal, but they were never able to get the satisfaction of completing a product. This was very detrimental to the mental state of the workers and did not help them to make better quality products, because they only had one small insignifiant job in the whole process. They were easily replaceable and the work was so simple that children could easily do it. Document C shows that ten years before this time people specialized in a job, but as time progressed the job was subdivided and subdivided until the point that instead of knowing the whole trade, the workers know one small part of the whole job. The owners did this for cost cutting and to make production faster. No matter how hard one worked they often did not find joy in their work and they were unable to advance very far in the company. The labor unions did little in helping them to move up in the world if anything it made it harder for the workers. They had to sign contracts saying they would not join unions or else they would lose their jobs. Document D shows the contract that many had to sign saying they would join or be affiliated with the labor unions while employed, the companies tried to make it sound appealing, giving the guise that they would make life better and change things for the better if the workers

“I regard my workpeople just as I regard my machinery...When my machines get old and useless, I reject them and get new, and these people are part of my machinery” (Sands 12). A foreman at a textile mill in Fall River, Massachusetts spoke these words in possibly the worst time during American labor history, the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution, large numbers of people in the United States flocked to work in factories where they faced long hours, unsanitary and unsafe conditions and poor wages. Labor unions, or groups of organized workers, formed in the United States to ensure workers the right to a safe workplace and a fair wage in the face of capitalistic factory owners seeking wealth. In exchange, union

Factory work and hours upon hours of manual labor disabled lower class workers from seeking benefits from the corporations. The need for labor unions and the rights of workers was necessary because even though prices went down, wages for workers also went down (Document G). Labor Unions, such as the Knights of Labor, were created to protect the rights of workers, but because of the many unskilled workers (Document C), some unions were specialized in organizing skilled workers and others in unskilled workers. The rich thrived in this corporation-driven society, but the poor became poorer. A primary source from a low class laborer working in the industrial system would help provide insight on the demand for labor unions and the direct effect of the growth of corporations. It would also help contrast between the rich and poor. Document E discusses the life of the upper class- the wealthy. Carnegie, the “man of Wealth” believed in his Gospel of Wealth. He believed that the rich shouldn’t die rich. Basically, he discusses the need for the rich to live a modest live, which is ironic considering his name is found on many modern United States libraries and buildings. Life was much easier for the wealthy because of the growth of corporations, enabling industry controllers like Carnegie to live an easy life (especially with the decline of prices and cost of living, as seen in

Throughout the years in 1865 to 1900 many things changed in the U.S. society mostly for the better. As though industrial continued on to throughout the late 1900s and the early 20th century. Many believed these causes of changes were good for the U.S because especially in document one it shows how throughout the years prices on like fuel and lighting prices did go down by a lot. Many people were noticing the change in prices so many immigrants decided to migrate over the U.S. which eventually did cause some prices to go up a little since so many people came.

During the Industrial Revolution everyone had to adapt to the massive work load that was created. Back then demands for products was so high, the only thought and concern the Business Man had was how he was going to keep the currency rolling in. They used Humans as machines, without care and regards to their health and well being. Once they were faced with consequence for their disregard for life, laws were put into place to protect the workers. This in turned probably caused them more money and slower production in obeying the law.

The advent of industrialization was marked by increased employment, increased scale in production in goods and services, as well as a considerable, increased in the realization of profits my huge industries. The wave of change in industrialization was not only characterized by the large-scale exploitation of alternative sources of energy that were more efficient but also increased urbanization and the large-scale exploitation of raw materials most of which were provided by nature. Such changes continuously had an increase in the degradation of the environment, particularly so as nations competed to outsmart each other in the and be the forefront in large scale production of products. The exploitation of energy sources such coal in