How Did The Industrial Revolution Affect The Economy In The Late 1800s

In the years following the American Civil War, the United States of America was left with the task of rebuilding and restoring a broken nation. As the country was rebuilding, the nation saw immense economic growth due to the fast increase in industry. The development of new railroads and new communication networks caused goods and services to become more accessible. The demand for them also increased. There was an abundance of natural resources being extracted and the United States was being thrust into the industrial revolution. The years of American industrialism brought rapid change to American’s way of life. The Industrial Revolution brought technological advances to America that greatly increased the rate goods could be produced. The

According to Cherny, “The number of farms in the United States in the nation grew from fewer than 205 million at the end of the Civil War to nearly 4.6 million in 1890.” (Cherny, pg. 29) The result of the increase in farms was the fall of the crop prices because of the rise in production. Another issue with an increase in farms that was adding to the struggle was that the cost of railroad freight was high. This caused many farmers to go deeper and deeper into debt. As a result, the Populist Party had its beginnings with the creation of small parties. These parties had an issue with the problem of debtor farmers. The Populist of the late 1800s saw a concentration of wealth; the monopoly of the railroads, grain markets, and industry were devastating farmer’s along with laborers and miners. They found it very difficult to survive. Nothing was being done to help the farmers in large because of the influence of these corporations had in the government, so the “Populists called for government ownership of the railroads and all means of public communications” (Cherny, pg. 35) as a way of restraint the big corporations. The rich controlled the government and William Jennings Bryan’s fight was to bring the issue into the public eye by way of the Democratic Party, which closely resembled the views of the Populist party. Bryan argued that the fight was the Christian thing to do. Putting limitations on corporations

Even though Theodore Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan were political opponents, the message of governmental reform became more main stream after the assassination of President McKinley. After McKinley was assassinated, Theodore Roosevelt took over the office of President with his progressive ideas. Similarly, to the rise of Populism from the difficulties of farmers, Progressivism saw its beginnings rise from the difficulties of citizens in urban areas and working in industrial America. Just as there were an increased number of farms during this period, there were massive increases in immigration that led to the increased ability to form large high-volume factories. Therefore, “By 1900, the U.S. population numbered 82 million, and an estimated 10 million Americans were living in poverty.” (Shi, pg. 779) There were also little to no regulations on these large industrial corporations. An industrial worker would labor for long hours “in unsafe, unsanitary, and unregulated conditions for extremely low wages.” (Shi, pg. 791) Many children were working in the same conditions instead of attending school. All of this occurred while giant holding companies were making millions. The progressive movement would continue the fight against these corporations and a corrupt government that protected them. In Roosevelt’s view, “The problem caused by explosive