Industrialization After The Civil War Essay

The phrase ‘Rise Of Smokestack America’ is often used in reference to the industrial revolution during which America’s industrial growth led to the growth of factories and modern cities, the development of social classes due to division of labor and race. During this period, the American labor force transformed tremendously as the nation evolved from a largely agricultural society into a relatively modern society.

The Industrial Revolution was of great importance to the economic development of the United States. The new era of mass production kindled in the United States because of technological innovations, a patent system, new forms of factory corporations, a huge supply of natural resources, and foreign investment. The growth of large-scale industry in America had countless positive results, but also negative results as well. Industrialization after the Civil War affected the United States in several ways including poverty, poor labor laws, and the condition of the people.

After the civil war, especially during the late 1800s, the US industrial economy has been thriving and booming which reflected on the numerous improvements that occurred in transportation through new railroad, in new markets for new invented goods and in the increased farm yield. However, most of this wealth has been captured by the capitalists, they looked down on the working poor class and expected them to submit to them. Also, they had control over the government seeking to maintain a system of monopoly to allow them to grow richer from others. Thus, they were controlling both political and economic conditions of the country.

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.

The civil war had a large sum of effects on the American economy during and after the war proper. Firstly, the war stimulated the development of several instrumental inventions, and caused need for widespread use of many creations currently around. These innovations included many weapons, as well as new medical techniques and railroads. Secondly, the civil war took slaves away from the south, which were an integral part of the southern agricultural business. Lastly, the Civil War cost a large amount of money, which put America at a monetary deficit, further stimulating the economy.

During the rise of industrialization, the United States had just ended the Civil War and was starting to move on. People had an aspiration at this time to make a more than decent living for themselves, and the economy was at the right spot for this to be possible. This time period in American History is referred to as the Gilded Age, termed by the famous author Mark Twain, which simply means covered in gold; however, Twain did not necessarily mean this in a good way. He believed right under the surface of this gold plating was still problems with the American society that didn’t look so appealing. This essay will discuss how practices during the rise of industrialization during the Gilded Age shaped the American work and labor force.

During the Civil War, factories were built by the Union to defeat the Confederacy. After the Civil War, those factories continued to thrive which consequently led to the Gilded Age. “Gilded” meaning that something is wrapped thinly in gold, but doesn’t look good underneath. Industrialization collectively ruined the crop market, created monopolies owned by corrupt individuals, and restricted upward movement of American society. In response, industrialization had a negative impact on US society in the years 1865 to 1900.

Just like labor unions, these too left a big impact on many workers. New inventions opened up many job opportunities for the working class. The introduction of electricity as a light and power source created jobs to work the power plants, although this did also increase the working hours in factories since the lightbulb could illuminate a building at night allowing for full visibility during work even after sunset. The Open-Hearth process also created jobs; mining more coal, creating the steel, building skyscrapers, and producing lubricating oil. In the automobile industry, Henry Ford revolutionized the way in which factories worked by introducing the assembly line.

After the Civil War the United States became a much more industrialized society. Between 1865 in 1920 industrialization and proved American life in many ways. However industrialization also created problems for American society. This paper will introduce my previously crafted thesis statement where I stated my opinion on how industrialization after the Civil War influenced US society, economy, and politics.

“The assembly line sped up the manufacturing process dramatically. ... Mass Production.” This show that when the assembly line was invented in 1913 by Henry Ford, it allowed things to be built faster and that led to cheaper labor cost and cheaper products for the people and this led to a better economy. A big invention that changed a lot for factories and people was the light bulb, “The major economic impact of the light bulb was that it allowed factories and other businesses to run even in the night.” This shows that the light bulb allowed factories to produce more goods even at night and this allowed more jobs being given and more products that were being exported and sold, all that helped the economy

After the Civil War, the United States went through a period of rapid industrialization which affected the nation dramatically. Industrial growth, the spread of railroads, the rise of big businesses, and the appearance of labor unions during these decades created a modern industrial economy, and American workers and farmers faced new challenges in adapting to these changes.

Social Darwinism and the Gospel of Wealth were concepts developed to provide reasons for the wealthy class created by capitalism through two distinct ways; Social Darwinism applied Charles Darwin's theories of natural selection in the marketplace and those naturally selected to control it. On the other hand, the Gospel of Wealth was more critical and impacting on its effects, as it used religion to justify the wealth accumulated by those that were selected by God. The Gospel of Wealth was more successful because of it emphasized philanthropic works and it was based on common man's ideals that ruled protestant thoughts. By contrast, Social Darwinism was a newly developed concept in science that offered little to the lower classes and ignited race conflicts between the different social classes based on their ethnicity.

Industrialization was very beneficial to American business owners. Following the civil war, industries transformed into modern powerhouses. Big business owners who seized power in these industries became even bigger. New inventions led to new thriving industries. Iron, for example, was replaced with ultra-strong steel. Andrew Carnegie built the biggest steal business in the world. One main reason why steel was in such

“The survival of the fittest”- the root of Social Darwinism. Charles Darwin, who was a naturalist ruled out that an adaptable species would only survive and reproduce. The concept is the same in Social Darwinism, but was not introduced by Darwin. Social Darwinists such as Herbert Spencer and William Sumner claimed that in a society, only the wealthiest and powerful survives in contrast with the poor and impotent. This applies especially to the people living under Laissez-faire capitalism in which the government does not control the business. Andrew Carnegie’s ‘gospel of wealth’ contradicted with the common believes of Social Darwinism. Andrew proposed that the wealthy should distribute their wealth to level up the discrepancy between people.

The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period where there were predominantly agricultural or rural societies in America became industrialized and urban. The industrialization of rule-populated areas originally started in Britain in the late seventeen-hundred early eighteen hundreds. Before the Industrial Revolution manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand held tools or basic machines in the house . You can compare them to the modern day dishwasher or washing machine on how basic they are in the average house today. Industrialization marked a shift of power from agriculture and farming to special-purpose machinery, factories, mass production and assembly lines. (ibid) The assembly line is considered to be a major part of the Industrial Revolution because it made the workers running the machines to speed up the process of building. workers were trained to do a specific task in manufacturing a product like for example if the workers were building a car one person would be trained to put the wheel on the car and