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Essay on Industrialization After the Civil War

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Assignment 1.2: Industrialization After the Civil War
Strayer University- HIS 105
August 3, 2014

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.
There were three major aspects of industrialization that influenced U.S. society, economy, and politics; the emergence of big business, new technological innovations, and the spread of railroads. Between 1867 and 1920, the United States was transformed from an …show more content…

Soon other lines followed throughout the country. Railroads affected almost every aspect of American life. The rapid spread of the railroads provided the basis for a tremendous westward movement of population. It also carried raw material to, and finish product from factories to consumers in a more efficient way (The USA online, n.d.). The railways became highly profitable business for their owners. Five specific groups were especially affected by industrialization: Native Americans, African Americans, children, farmers, and immigrants. Due to federal and state policies, Native Americans were removed from their traditional land into reservations, which were often smaller, more undesirable land. The Dawes Act of 1887, which broke up reservation lands, was ultimately detrimental to Native Americans. Settlers and federal troops pushed the remaining free tribes off their homelands in the Great Plains, and killed most of the buffalo population on which Native Americans relied for survival (The USA online, n.d.).
African Americans moved from southern farms to the North. In the North, they lived in segregated neighborhoods, faced violence, and were given the worst jobs. Conditions in the South were even worse, because state laws deprived them of civil rights and segregated them from whites (Schultz, 2014).
Before the Industrial Revolution, children learned how to farm and perform other chores by helping their parents. After the Industrial Revolution, children in

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