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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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