Causes Of Industrialization In The Late 1800s

Late 1800s early 1900s Industrial America

Industrialization came to America not long after the Civil War. From the industry being only a third of Britain’s industrial output to becoming the most industrialized and the richest nation on earth. The entire history to this is amazing, after all, who would have thought this would be the outcome of the Civil War.

The United States of America went through rough times in history but the country made its way to prosperity. When we talk about wealth and success in America, we might want to enter into the period after the Civil War. There are many causes that influenced the industrialization but the main cause is considered to be the national finance system. The US Dollar was introduced as the first

America had iron, coal, oil and an enormous amount of grain to feed the growing population. The population from 1870 to 1900s grew from 40 million to 76 million and about a third of that number was the cause of immigration which took America to a higher level once again. “Around two-thirds of the inflow consisted of “newer” nationalities and ethnic groups — Russian Jews, Poles, Slavic peoples, Greeks, southern Italians” (Hamby 208). From an agrarian rural nation, America turned into an industrial and urban nation. Immigrants were flowing in and “An additional 8.8 million more arrived during the peak years of immigration, 1901-1910” (Newman, Schmalbach 359). Immigrants had many reasons to move to this economically prospering country. First of all, they did not have jobs as good as this newly industrialized city offered, some faced religious persecution, like Jews in Russia. America, in comparison of their homeland, offered freedom, employment, and great settlement. New York City is a great example, by 1898, it became the commerce and finance center with a population of 3.4 million. The second largest city was Chicago by 1900, Cleveland became a leader of oil refining, and Pittsburg became the center of iron and steel

The poor, which were employed, were hit by this the hardest. Most laborers worked 60 hours a week not receiving a pension or any injury compensation which was needed much at that time since America had the highest rate of industrial injuries in the world with a shocking number of an average of 35,000 people dying on their job each year. Due to all the problems people faced during that time period, helping each other and becoming like family became usual. “For all the problems, and there were many, the cities promoted a special bond between people and laid the foundation for the multiethnic, multicultural society that we cherish today” (“City Life in the Late 19th Century”, www.loc.gov).

Social Darwinism was one of the most harmful innovations of that time. It was an argument about the ability of government regulation over a business and the laws the government would give out to help poor people. As a result, unions grew and would fight for the conditions to get better. Many of these times violence would be a major factor like during the strike of 1894, strikers were killed and a great deal of property was destroyed. Unions wanted to prove that an equal economic system was desperately needed, otherwise, America would become