Industrialization's Rise The great titans of the U.S Industrial Revolution could never have become so gigantic if they did not play their cards perfectly. And they did indeed play their hands correctly, by taking advantage of all the resources they had available to them at the time. Not only did the great titans of this era, such as Standard Oil, invent and utilize a great number of machines to amplify the magnitude of business they could conduct, they also employed and took advantage of the grand pool of immigrants to employ. Furthermore, these "Robber Barons" invested further in this Industrialization, with some like J.P Morgan pooling his money into even more inventions. How Industrialization came about to begin with is entirely reliant …show more content…
At this point in time, there were several ‘Migrations’ of many unemployed immigrants or exodusters that were prime pickings for any business that wished to gain cheap laborers. For example, during the Great Migration of African Americans “More than 80 percent of African American men worked menial jobs in steel mills, mines, construction, and meat packing” (Openstax, Chapter 19, Section 2). These levels of immigration and subsequent employment showed precisely what levels of profit Industrialization could bring, thus encouraging more to …show more content…
This is primarily due to the cost cutting measures instituted in response to the new opportunities that Industrialization provides. With all this new technology there no longer needs to be skilled workers to use it, and thus the wages that need to be paid to these new factory workers can be greatly minimized, much to the worker’s dismay. Furthermore, these workers need to be within proximity of the factory to reliably work there on time, thus contributing to overcrowding within cities and areas where they work. Working conditions were not spared either, with the average factory work week of “sixty hours, ten hours per day, six days per week, although in steel mills, the workers put in twelve hours per day, seven days a week”. (Openstax, Chapter 18, Section 3) being the