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Industrialization Of The Second Industrial Revolution

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The Second Industrial Revolution, which reached its peak during 1870 to 1914, marked a significant turning point in American history. Before this era of progression and industrial excellence, America was on the verge of expansion like never before. From the vast amounts of land gained through the Annexation of Texas in 1845, the British retreating from Oregon in 1846, and the Mexican cession of Southwest territory guaranteed by the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo of 1848, (Engelman) America was able to expand their territory and access new resources. Industrialization and factory growth in the North was just budding and beginning to create economic success, along with spurring a rise of urbanization and migration of foreign workers to America. …show more content…

Other plentiful resources include coal, iron, oil, and ore (Pacheco). The utilization of these resources led to a variety of new inventions. Using iron, one valuable invention that was created to make agriculture more efficient was the iron bladed plow, created by Jethro Wood in 1819, that could plow through all types of fields (Alchin). Perhaps the most important advancement was the development of railroads, such as between 1863 and 1869 when the first transcontinental railroad was built using iron. This railroad linked the east and west—the Atlantic to the Pacific—which was a true phenomenon during this time (Alchin). Both these revolutionary creations, the bladed plow and the transcontinental railroad, among many others, allowed the economy to prosper, due to the use of the natural resources. The railroad increased efficiency and wealth for citizens nationwide, as this “opened up new markets for farmers, industrialists, and bankers who could now bring crops and cotton from the Mississippi River Valley, wheat in the Midwest, and manufactured goods in upstate New York into a global market based on credit” (Engelman). Another significant reason why our economy prospered during this revolution was the expanding labor force available to work in factories to mass-produce products. The opportunity to work in industrial factories attracted millions around the world, which lead to a population explosion within cities, as almost “11

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