Role Played by Scarcity of Resources in a Given Historical Period

In the late 1800’s America’s industry was on the rise, in this completely new era many factories were born and introduced to the American people. Many people also had to help build railways as well as many other ways to help transport or make goods, this would help build industrial America. But many people would face crucial conditions working in factory, it was unsafe for many people, even some young children who had to work faced a lot of injuries. Not only this, but many people would be out of work because the factories were taking over the work force. One of the most successful people in this time period was John D. Rockefeller, he owned 90% of refineries in America, he made his living by selling, transporting, and refining oil.

Coal became the fuel that fired the furnaces of the nation, transforming the Appalachian region socially and economically. Unfortunately mountain people didn't realize the implications of their mineral wealth. Many sold their land and mineral rights for pennies an acre to outlanders. Appalachians became laborers rather than entrepreneurs. Coal became a major industry which was extremely sensitive to outside fluctuations in the economy, leading to boom and bust cycles. The industry was controlled by interests outside the region, so that little of the profit remained or was reinvested.

2.During the years 1860-1890, Michigan's commercial development was dominated by the sawing, harvesting, milling and marketing of timber. Michigan politicians (under the influence of the state's Lumber Barons) fought hard to stop a bill that would have allowed Canadian lumber to enter the U.S. duty free. The lumber was desperately needed to rebuild a major American city after what terrible disaster?

While a number of the most important reform movements of the late 19th and early 20th centuries grew out of efforts to combat the negative effects of industrialization, the main focus of their efforts was not the impact of the Industrial Revolution on the natural environment. Although some reformers, such as Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot, were deeply worried about the consequences of economic development on the natural environment, the most influential, most effective reformers were primarily concerned with the impact of the rise of big business on small businesses, industrial workers, and consumers, and with corruption in government that reformers believed resulted from the economic power of large corporations.

The growth helped transport goods more efficiently and diversify the market. Document 5 shows that from 1850 to 1900, industry based on animals and humans decreased while industry bases on water and coal increased. This provides evidence that industry was more reliant on resources instead on animals and humans. Water and coal resources effectively created power sources and pushed forward industrialization (Doc 5). Document 7 states “In 1882 the Carnegie Steel Company.. Inaugurated a policy whose object was to control all the factors which contributed to the production of steel, from the ore and coal in the ground to the steel billet and the steel rail.”

In the late 1800s, technological innovations began to revolutionize American lives. Every aspect of the US was changed dramatically. Modern businesses started and replaced aged ones. Americans were able to live more productively. However, this sudden progress for the American citizens seemed to strike the U.S. government during a time when they weren't equipped. The U.S. government had just finished recovering from the Civil War and was not prepared to deal with all these new advancements. Even though the second Industrial Revolution of machinery had a beneficial impact on the US economy in the late 1800s and early 1900s, it was limited, and the lack of government regulation essentially hurt the country’s development as a whole.

According to historian Alfred Crosby, environmental historians “are worried about the durability of the intricate organic and inorganic relationships that support us all (1189).” The connectedness of the organic (human) and inorganic (the environment) relationship is important because there are moments in history when scientific and environmental explanations shed light on the causes or outcomes of a historic event. Johnson could have expanded upon the Mexican Revolution, investigating if the war caused food, water, and other resource shortages that prompted U.S. immigration of Mexicans. Other factors of potential exploration include pollution of resources, diseases, or degradation of the surrounding environment, which could result from warfare and caused living in the affected areas to be impossible, resulting in the leaving of the Mexican people. Moreover, the resurfacing of discrimination and segregation of Mexicans by the Anglo society could be better understood by factors such as diseases, scarcity of resources, and overpopulation. Behavior can be examined under an environmental scope as environmental factors can “[play] an active role in molding human actions (Chakrabarty 205).” If cities in the U.S. became heavily

During the time of 1900-1917 working conditions in America were horrible. “President Theodore Roosevelt had championed the conservation movement to save human lives”(progressive era

During the 1800s, our nation experienced a technological revolution. The United States’ population increased immensely due to immigration and to the development of technological advancements. During this time period, our country was transformed into a more industrial nation. Technological advancements occurring during this time, such as the Erie Canal, the expansion of railroads, and the invention of the cotton gin permanently changed American life.

History has the tendency to cause a great deal of curiosity. For instance, someone may wonder what the War of 1812 was and what difficulties the United States had in waging the War of 1812. They also might ponder about why the War of 1812 was widely viewed as a victory for the United States or how the war lead to an increasing pattern of diplomatic cooperation between the United States and Britain. Our very own seventh president, Andrew Jackson, has meant a great deal in our history and some may ask what it was about his presidency that distinguished him compared to his predecessors, or how he refined the role of the president. Last but not least, there remains the important question about what factors lead to the increasing production of

The Civil War changed and molded the nation onto a path never taken before the Gilded Age, leading to the use of machinery, agricultural advances, and monopolies. Farmers and industrial laborers noticed something in common- the growth of the United States was rapidly moving westward: in size, population, opportunity, and technological advances. With this rapid growth steadily increasing, industrial workers became frustrated with the unsafe workplaces, limited rights, and long shifts with low pay. Farmers recognized the growing need for agriculture in the west as the nation was expanding, but ran into trouble as the realization set in that monopolies were influencing nearly every aspect of the United State’s government and economy. The Gilded

Arguing flaws in the expansion of Appalachia’s postwar economy, Eller responds this led to “growth without development”. With the coal industry flourishing

Richard Walker in his California’s Golden Road to Riches, described California’s economic order as “prospector capitalism,” or “resource capitalism.” Walker quotes David and Wright (1997:1) in order to describe this form- “intensity of search; new technologies of extraction, refining and utilization; market development and transportation investments…” (http://geog.berkeley.edu/PeopleHistory/faculty/R_Walker/CaGoldenRoad.html, Walker). This statement has clear comparisons to Takaki’s America Errand as both put a large focus on economic expansion via technology, increased transportation, and market development. Similar to when Takaki’s argument that the land must not go to waste, in the four statements that correspond to the dimensions of the capitalist economy it is written that “nature…converted into ‘resources’ or nature staked, claimed, and commodified”

In his book, Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Marc Reisner’s main thesis is to show the inefficiency, greed, and inherent difficulty in the American West’s never-ending struggle to turn its unwelcoming desert into a lush garden. One of his main sub-points is that the West is not meant to support millions of people. It has a wide range of geographic challenges throughout the entire region. Its inconsistency and diversity is a primary cause of its water problems. For example, Reisner notes that the West consists of “plains so arid that they could barely support bunchgrass; deserts that were fiercely hot and fiercely cold; streams that flooded a few weeks each year and went dry the rest; forests with trees so large it might take days to bring one down; . . . hail followed by drought followed by hail;” (23).

The discovery of anthracite coal in Pennsylvania in the late 1700s led to the development of a robust coal industry in the eastern part of Pennsylvania that grew rapidly and contributed greatly to the history and the economy of Pennsylvania. The book The Face of Decline written by Thomas Dublin, Walter Licht, provides a well written historical and personal account of the discovery, growth, and finally the collapse of the anthracite coal industry in Pennsylvania in a chronological format. Half way through the book one starts to notice some changes in the authors format to cause and effect. The change occurs in order to discuss the cause and resulting effect of events in the region and the solutions. The story is one of great growth and opportunity in the early years which are highlighted by the documented economic growth experienced and supported through testimony within the eastern Pennsylvania coal region. After a period of economic prosperity and community growth from 1900 through 1940 challenges began to erode and occur that created problems for the community and the economy that the coal industry provided. Finally the region’s economy suffered horrendous losses as described by interviews of local residents and families who lived and experienced the rise of the region’s economy. Many of the scars are still evident by the blight and decaying scenes one would experience by traveling through the region’s communities that once fueled the American economy with the energy