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How Did The Railroad Affect The Economy

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After the Civil war and reconstruction came to an end many people were still farming and working for themselves. Soon after, “The United States underwent one of the most rapid and profound economic revolutions any country has ever experienced.” (GML 593). Railroads allowed for a national market of goods to be transported from coast to coast. America's economy was growing and “By 1913, the United States produced one-third of the worlds industrial output— more than the total of Britain, France, and Germany combined.” (GML 594). The railroad business was one of the leading corporations back in the day. There were other major businesses that were growing and competing against one another in order to control an entire industry. People like John D. Rockefeller (Oil industry), Andrew Carnegie(Steel), and J.P. Morgan(banker) were now three of the wealthiest men …show more content…

There were now some very large corporations in power “like U.S. Steel (created by financier J.P. Morgan in 1901 by combining eight large steel companies into the first billion-dollar economic enterprise)” (GML, 598). Carnegie and Rockefeller were also able to build a monopoly for their industry and became very successful. I thought it was very crazy the top 1 percent of the population received the same total income as the bottom half and also had more property than they did. Although some of the wealthy did donate money to libraries and schools I feel like more could’ve been done to help out those in poverty. Although there were some people that wealthy a majority of people were living in poverty. The American workers weren’t happy with what was going on. Many formed

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The late 1800s and the early 1900s saw an extraordinary increase in the size and the amount of people living in cities in America. Thousands flocked to cities like New York and Boston looking for work in Americas thriving industrial economy, where it was promised that anyone could get wealthy through hard work. As more people began to move into cities the amount of room was beginning to run low, which eventually lead to the first skyscrapers being built in order to create more room. Wealthy individuals who lived in cities lived extravagant life styles, being able to buy the best homes, cloths, and products available to them without having to worry about anything but their social statues. The working class however were living very different

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Consequently to the Civil War, America changed. There was an increase in population, therefore more resources and jobs were needed. Agriculture led production in America and with the surplus in population, a new industry began. The Industrial Revolution, which created innovations, mass production, and factories, was only the beginning of this new phase in America. Then, the industry’s leaders capitalized upon these fresh opportunities and assets.

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The Gilded Age, created a big impact with the use of technology, it affect the people and the environment of that time period. Many things helped contribute to this affect, like the Bessemer Process, railroads, oil, and light. The Bessemer process help make steel at much faster rate; therefore it helped make railroads and skyscrapers for the future. Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest men at the time, helped with the steel industry and production. He was the man who made the steel industry grow and make it built things that we thought weren't even imaginable during that period.

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Just as the railroad created economic growth it also brought a lot of corruption with it. The railroad companies were given government bonds that were funded by the taxpayers and they were also given enormous amounts of land to build on. There was little incentive to function efficiently or responsibly. ‘Stocks were manipulated, as bosses bought struggling eastern rail companies, spread rumors that the railroad line would link to these companies.’ (Coffey, W, Corruption and the Transcontinental Railroad, http://waltercoffey.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/corruption-and-the-transcontinental-railroad/).

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How and why did transportation developments spark economic growth during the period from 1860 to 1900 in the United States? The period from 1860 to 1900 was marked by significant economic growth in the United States, fueled in large part by the development of transportation infrastructure. This essay will examine how and why transportation developments sparked economic growth during this period, exploring the impact of railroads, canals, and steamships on the American economy.

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In 1830 the Baltimore and Ohio railroad tested a steam powered train this lead to Americans developing their own railroads.(pg. 256) Railroads helped transport goods and people move across the country faster than ever before. Railroads were used for many other things including transporting mail from one place to another. This helped people communicate with one another faster. By 1810 and 1820’s the number of letters delivered sent out went up by five million annually and cut the time in half to reach between cities and states.

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Additionally, due to the railroads being built all across America, new raw materials were able to be moved from city to city allowing for rapid industrial and manufacturing growth which America always was challenged of since its break from Britain. The industrial revolution following the Civil War also differed as agriculture began to become more valuable to a developing nation. For instance, whereas before farmers were isolated from one another and lived in separate homes, due to the reliance of the nation to use the profits derived from agriculture to get more money to buy manufacturing goods stimulating industry more farmers began to move to the cities changing their lives completely. Due to the decrease in the agricultural, scattered, and isolated communities in the Midwest, America was able to become a more compact economic, independent, and industrial powerhouse. For generations, America had relied on old-fashioned, traditional ways of creating

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Moreover the growth of railroads made it possible for the establishment of business organizations across America because people were much more closer and urbanization played a huge role in making many people and cooperation’s to create and expand their businesses throughout the country making them well known to the public and also help create employment opportunities in the places where businesses where

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This was evident through several different aspects of society. One aspect was that a large portion of the wealth was concentrated to the rich, and that severely strained the economy. “The richest one percent of Americans owned over a third of all American assets. Such wealth concentrated in the hands of a few limits economic growth” (“The Great Depression"). Because so much money was owned by the wealthy, the economy was not able to flourish.

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This was also a time of no personal or corporate income taxes. This allowed the heads of businesses to become very wealthy such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockfeller. A few people were becoming very wealthy and otheres were growing more poor. " Class divisions became more and more visible," (pg. 601).

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The businessmen of the late 1800s and early 1900s treated their workers horrible and made all their money on the backs of hard working men and women. The workers who made these men rich were dirt poor. These men and women had families but even working as many hours a week could barely support their families. Many people got hurt in the factories and were given little or no compensation or help leaving them and their family no way to make money.

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With the advent of the railroad, many of these issues disappeared. Railroads had a major impact on advancing the American economy, transforming America into a modern society, and improving an antiquated transportation system. The building of railroads created rapid economic growth in America. Railroad companies employed more than one million workers to build and maintain railroads. At the same time, coal, timber, and steel industries employed thousands of workers to provide the supplies necessary to build railroads (Chapter 12 Industrialization).

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