“Evaluate the ways that farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age (1865-1900) Include: Granger Movement and Farmers Alliance as well as Strikes and Labor Unions (AFL, etc…)”
After the Civil War erupted between the United States and the Confederate States, America began to explore the idea of becoming an industrial nation. During the Gilded Age, what was labeled as “The Second Industrial Revolution” began to change the lives of the American people forever. The Industrialization began to alter not only how they worked, the education they received in school and how the government and businesses ran, but because there were so many new forms of technology being created, their everyday lives and eventually
…show more content…
The farmers were affected by the Industrialization as they were forced to look for other jobs because factories and machinery were being used to do their work. This sent many of them to the city where they explored the new technology and learned how to use it to their advantage. They did this by learning to focus their energy on food production and the quantity as well as the quality of the food produced (using new seed drills and iron plows), and then sold the crops to business owners to sell. The farmers who did not go to the city to explore the technology still did well for themselves. Due to the increased need for other resources such as oil, steel, and coal, they left farming to work as miners and support their families. When issues arose in the farming industry (lowered prices of crops, railroads charging farmers high prices for shipping, and less demand for for crops,) a Farmers Alliance was formed (Farmer’s Southern Alliance.) They gained 1 million members to come together to help solve the economic issues for farmers. Another Farmer’s Alliance that was created to improve the economic conditions, was the Colored Farmers’ National Alliance. They were created for the same purpose as the Southern alliance, but only African American farmers were in this organization. Overall The farmers during the Gilded Age were accepting of the Industrialization and even found ways to incorporate the technological advances into their lives, and when problems arose they thought of