Compare And Contrast The Industrial Boom In America Between 1865 And 1900

While America was still in the Gilded Age, the industrial boom of America happened right alongside. The years between 1865 and 1900 saw many monumental changes, including the exponential expansion of America’s railroad system. With government incentives of land and money, railroad companies worked hard and laid miles and miles of new track down on America’s land. Most notable of these track was the Transcontinental Railroad. With the government giving the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad land and money grants, construction was finished with record speeds. After 4 years the track was complete, uniting the east and west sides of America with a continues vein. The East and West coasts of America, previously unconnected, were

Corruption was rampant amongst railway tycoons and they weren’t ashamed to buy off the government and have their way on economic matters. Congress in response implemented the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 to try and reduce the control of the railway owners. The growing transportation system allowed for more raw materials to be transported to continually evolving plants to be refined and created into usable products. Inventors like Thomas Edison invented new devices that revolutionized daily life and moguls like Henry Ford took the concept of mass production and perfected it. The late 1800s brought about several industrial giants, such as Andrew Carnegie and his steel business and John D. Rockefeller. Through his own drive and leadership abilities Carnegie created a steel company that at its peak, produced one-fourth of the nation’s Bessemer steel. Carnegie eventually sold out to J.P. Morgan for 400 million dollars and spent the rest of his life financing public libraries and other charitable organizations. Rockefeller, similar to Carnegie in his work ethic, built Standard Oil Company, a monopoly that eventually controlled 95% if the oil refineries in America. Such big companies scared people though and in an effort to reduce their power, the government put in place the Sherman Anti-Trust act in 1890. This act was useful on paper, but was largely ineffective once put into