What Was The Effects Of The Second Industrial Revolution

Impact of the Second Industrial Revolution

After the Civil War followed a period where the United States rapidly started industrializing. This period was called the industrial revolution. This affected both working and upper class Americans. But, what effects of the second industrial revolution had the most impact on the United States? The effect that had the most impact will be determined by which had affected the most people and for the longest period of time. Although exploitation of labor, capitalism, views of government changing, and new laws and unions forming were all effects of the second industrial revolution, exploitation of labor, and capitalism had the biggest impacts on the United States.

The first effect of the industrial revolution

In Labor In America it states that,”...general demands for increases in pay. When such demands were not met, strikes broke out”(Dulles 226). Strikes were a common effect of exploitation of labor. When they got fed up with the conditions of their workplace the people would go on strikes. In hopes of changing things. Of getting treated how they deserved. Of getting paid what their labor was worth. Not miniscule payment that they would barely live off of, while their employers got rich. Also in Labor in America it states that,”...the great Pullman strike…the uprising of railway workers…”(Dulles 166). The Pullman strike was one of the strikes that had a large impact on the U.S. Since this strike was of railroads and trains, no mail was able to be delivered for the duration of the strike. Meaning that all the people who had outgoing or incoming mail were affected by this. It was not a long term thing since it was shut down by the government, but it did affect a large portion of people. No one was able to receive mail. Which can be potentially dangerous, since this was one of the only ways to communicate from long distance at the time. If even one of those letters in that mail was of extreme importance then, it could have caused major problems. This strike was because the workers felt they were being exploited and deserved more pay than they were receiving. But sometimes pay was not the problem, but rather how long the workday was. In the ruling of the court case Muller v. Oregon it states, ”The statute of Oregon of 1903 providing that no female shall work in certain establishments more than ten hours a day…”(Muller v. Oregon). During the time of industrialization women were paid a lower salary than men and worked longer hours.