A burst in Industrial inventions, such as the Refrigerated Railcars and telegraph, and process that happened in the mid-1860’s and lasted until the 1890’s, is often referred as the Second Industrial Revolution and more broadly, the Gilded Age. The increasing production of Oil by Rockefeller and Steel by Andrew Carnegie, later J.P. Morgan with US Steel Company, expanded the technological capabilities of America. Railroads, with the use of Steel rather than Iron, became stronger (carry heavier loads) and the development of the Transcontinental Railroad opened a whole new way for Americans to search for new opportunities. The American West, to a small extent, provided significant opportunities for groups like the Railroad and the Real-Estate Investors to make immense profit by using their power and influence to bully others, however, the west, to a large extent, provided little opportunities for people like the Farmers and Miners because they were often poor and moved west for a new life but faced drought and large companies. …show more content…
Farmers moved west, with the aid of the Homestead Act of 1862 which granted 160 acres of land to those who lived on the land for 5 years and improved it, but they faced Real-Estate Investors and Land Speculators. In total, about ¼ of American Farmers were operated by tenants and Mortgage interest rates ranged from 8-40 percent because eastern loan companies felt deserved for helping develop the country. These Real-Estate Investors and Land Speculators were given a significant opportunities to earn lots of money, just at the expense of smaller businesses and