Essay On The Economy After The Civil War

After the United States Civil War, the states, both North and South, had to go through reconstruction. The economy during the Civil War had been completely destroyed. The Northern states were more industrialized while the Southern states relied more on agriculture. The two regions merged together to try to get things back to normal. This marked the beginning of Industrialization. Once developed, the United States relied on Industrialization for much of everything. It brought many new inventions and ideas of how things were run. Industrialization changed the United States economically from big businesses, politically due to imperialism, and socially from urbanization. The economy was forever changed due to industrialization and its main contributor

Industrial labor workers worked for long hours and received very little pay. The treatment of industrial labor workers would evolve into many speaking out and for unions to form. The largest industry of the time was the Railroads. They allowed for quicker transportation of goods, people, and communication. Railroads were continuously developing into new areas of land from East to West. Many industrial labor workers began to strike and protest for more pay, fewer hours, and safer working conditions. For example, the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 influenced The American Railway Union to form. Jessica Piper in the article, The Great Railroad Strike of 1877: A Catalyst for the American Labor Movement, states, “Since there was little prevailing ideology of working-class solidarity, labor unions were unsuccessful and often viewed as criminal organizations ” (Piper, 94). This shows how the labor unions were very ineffective. Since the economy relied heavily on industries such as the railroad, if it were to come to a halt, the Government would come in to shut down any strikes to get things back on track. The government ignored the

Imperialism was the United States wants to continue to expand and gain more power in not only the nation but the world. This would help America gain political control along with economic benefits. Industrialization influenced a greater influence to the ideas of westward expansion and manifest destiny. The expansion of territory meant more materials and better access to surrounding areas to help the market of industrialization. Since the beginning, the United States gradually and continuously expanded and claimed more territory west. Americans were most interested in the materials the land had to offer and were most interested in the mining of gold. Families would travel west to settle on new land in hopes of finding gold to make them wealthy. Industrialization heavily influenced westward expansion from, for example, the railroad industry. The railroads allowed for expansion and transportation to speed up. This meant faster transportation of not only people but transporting goods from one place to another. The Article, The City and Westward Expansion: A Western Case Study, states, “If they lived along a railroad, they usually decided that their location might be an entrepot of trade and a distributing center for the surrounding region” (Stelter, 190). The main railroad from East to West was the transcontinental railroad. Towns if not cities would develop in their surrounding areas. These cities would