The Evils Of The Industrial Revolution And The Progressive Era

The Industrial Revolution began in England in the late 1700’s. The Industrial Revolution was a time of new inventions, products, and methods of work. The results of the Industrial Revolution led to many short and long-term positive and negative effects. These results have been assessed from many viewpoints such as the factory workers, the factory owners, the government, and other people who observed the conditions in industrial cities.

During the Industrial revolution many people started to believe in the idea of Liberalism. At times it was difficult. People were imprisoned or persecuted because of their ideas. Riots even occurred because the government and some of the upper class would not stand for the Liberalists’ new ways to improve society. Aristocrats refused to change their ways. But through it all, liberalists persevered and brought about one of the largest changes in society that we are still experiencing even today.

The Industrial Revolution was a good struggle that Britain had to go through. There were many endeavors that Britain faced. Britain’s Industrial Revolution was a positive outcome that had many negative attributes. Britain’s battle would be similar to running a cross-country race. During a race, you face many labors that you have to go through. Some of these would be feeling too tired, having pain in your legs, or feeling like you want to give up. Compared to Britain, these difficulties that someone has during a race are the hazardous factories or the unsafe working conditions in the coal mines.

This is seen in the meatpacking industry where the conditions were horrific. Sinclair exposes the truth of Capitalism in America as hypocritical and deceitful. Furthermore, these changes in American society influenced the work of Upton Sinclair and particularly in “The Jungle”. Sinclair examines several societal changes during the turn of the century where his literature reflects the changes of a newly emerging

What led to progressivism was the Industrial Revolution. This brought prosperity to America but at a great cost. While the big businesses were booming and making America a stronger country the middle and lower class was suffering. This was called the “Gilded Age” because when an outside country would look at America it would assume they are fine but on the inside it isn’t. This all changed however when the people had enough of bad working conditions, unfair wages, dangerous machines, and child labor. Through the persistence of the people and the help of two very progressive presidents named Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson they changed the country for the better. Progressivism was effective on a national level for some aspects but not all.

Paradoxes as well as contradictions have been expressed in describing previous time periods. Stated from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...for the good or for the evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only” (Dickens 1). Specifically, Dickens had referred this quote to a French revolution, but the statement can pertain to many other historical events and continues through today. In the American Industrial Revolution, the outcome left multiple views of whether it was considered a pro or a con. However, the American Industrial Revolution has demonstrated both numerous challenges along with countless benefits to the country.

England's previous success from the Agricultural Revolution gave leeway to the Industrial Revolution of the seventeenth and eighteenth hundreds. Previous landowners and investors of the Agricultural Revolution were able to start or participate Corporations and Businesses to seek great profit. New machinery and technological innovations were frequent due to the demand for faster, more efficient technology. Working class families, who were arguably the sole reason for the grand success of the Industrial Revolution, moved from their farms into crowded and dirty urban towns to work long hours in harsh factories for little pay in hopes of one day living a decent life, while the middle class gained many luxuries and lived lavish lifestyles

I’ve always wondered how people from 1800’s felt about the Industrialization Era and I’ve also asked myself so many questions. For example, I’ve asked myself “Did they see any benefit or did it bring lots of trouble to the people in the United States”? Sometimes I’ve tried to imagine myself in their place and honestly, I wouldn’t want to be in their place. Industrialization rose to the top when factories started to develop machines like steam engines, railroads, and telegraphs , just to name a few. This machines allowed factories to grow world wide because it made manufacturing easier, traveling faster, and communication better because now people were able to get in contact with people from long distance. The Industrialization Era was the transition from home businesses, where products were usually hand made, to machines making the products in factories. Machines were very helpful in factories and of much use because work was done faster and it brought the companies more money but as for the workers, it wasn’t a good thing because machines took many jobs from them. For the consumers it was also a positive thing because things were more affordable. Although industrialization had many benefits, it also brought negative impacts such as working conditions, low wages, and child labor. In response to this negative impacts, people created unions to help out with this problems because the laws weren’t doing their jobs.

Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle was the most impactful during its time. This book was written to portray Capitalism in a more realistic manner, to show how inhuman, brutal, and violent the unregulated economic system could be to those working in labor. Sinclair uses Jurgis’s family to prove the effects an unfair economic system has on the working class. During this period of industrial prosperity, immigrants came to America with total faith in the “American Dream”, that their hard work will be rewarded with wealth and stability. But they soon find out that this dream is as hollow and shallow as the hearts of the men they worked for. Sinclair proves how sinful Capitalism is, between selling meat coated in disease and forcing small children into

The working conditions in the US in the 20th century were diffcult since workers had to struggle to survive on the daily bases.The Jungle written by Upton Sinclair does not only highlight the life of American workers but also uncovers the infleunce of capitalism in the US, where workers and employees were destined to fight for a living, while the upper-class reaped the benefits of national wealth.The Jungle gives many examples of the contemporary labor issues which are still a detriment to U.S. capitalist system and traditions of the labor unions. Sinclair demonstrates the gap between employers and the employees in his book .

The aftermath of the Industrial Revolution left America’s economy and cities in a prosperous state. Immigrants flocked to the United States in search of the American Dream, and rising cities like Chicago thrived off of the meat packing and steel industries. However, the American Dream for many newcomers wasn’t all that it seemed; corrupt political bosses and machines ruled major city politics, making the working and living conditions of immigrants employed for these corporations unsubstantial. After going undercover in a meat packing plant, muckraker Upton Sinclair published The Jungle in 1906 to expose the repulsive conditions that the lower class worked in. An initial reading of this piece focuses strongly on the ideas of a capitalistic society

Rapid growth of business, industrialization and monopolies, contributed to the Industrial Revolution in the United States during the Progressive Era. Following a policy of laissez- faire failed to control big businesses. Although some critics may believe that the government negatively impacted businesses during the Industrial Revolution, the regulations put onto businesses positively contributed to economic growth and protected the American Citizens from the big businesses.

It was fueled by the want to make more money, and that greediness of the rich caused horrible working conditions for the working. Capitalism had corrupted the government, and the voting process. Unions and socialist movements such as the Knights of Labor tried to help the conditions of the working poor, and many other progressive movements came during this time period. Upton Sinclair in his novel The Jungle was able to raise awareness of the problems of capitalism. His novel challenged the norms and traditions of the U.S making his novel extremely progressive, and he was successful in conveying his message. His message was important then, and it continues to be important by showing the problems of the poor and the exploitation of the

From the period of late nineteenth through early twentieth century, American civilization endured vast changes based on the western exploration of the country as well as the industrial revolution it had undertaken. The different genres of its people all endured hardships and historic changes from the times of the Native Americans being forced out of their lands, to changes in population with the amassing amount of immigrants and lack of jobs through the Gilded Age, all the way through the change of the United States becoming an empire based on its acquisitions. But through all these events whether viewed as positive or negative, the powers that were in control, always viewed these changes as progression of the country.

The Industrial Revolution had many positive and negative impacts on society. The positive include cheaper clothes, more job opportunities, and improvement in transportation. And the negative would include exploitation of women and children, workers work long hours and environmental damages. These are just a few that I believe had an impact on the Industrial Revolution.