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Industrialization After the Civil War

Industrialization after the Civil War Final Paper

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The civil war in America between 1865 and 1920 brought about many changes in the lives of the American people. It made a major turning point in the American history as it affected almost every aspect of life. This saw the state experience a rapid economic growth ranking it the world’s dominant industrial, economic, and agricultural power most. The major aspects of industrialization included the society, economy, and politics. Society was a major aspect which saw the discovery of electricity by Thomas Edison transforming the operations of the businesses by enabling night operations hence shifting from daylight operations only as it was before which boosted the economic activities.  People could now trade both during the day and night without any limitations. Many companies were built which provided job opportunities to many people. The country gained capital which enabled many citizens to invest in the industries and factories in the North. The government policies were meant to protect the US industries by keeping the taxes low and the tariffs high.  The development of the new transit system also promoted the Americans’ social interaction as people were able to travel to far distances in quest to explore more business opportunities. The congestion in the cities was also reduced since most people would relocate to the suburban areas and only come to the city for specific reasons.

The economy was also developed as the railroads were developed which made transportation easier and led to opening of national markets hence spurring economic activities and improving the public transit systems.  The efficient railroad system ensured that the farmers had good access to the depots and the manufacturers would locate their plants anywhere due to accessibility to the road network without having to worry how their goods would reach the clients.  It is no doubt that as soon as a new idea cropped up and seemed profitable, the Americans would haste to grab the opportunity and exploit it. However, due to the chipping in of a new dynamic society, it was not easy to distinguish between an innovation and replication. The innovators would just embrace the idea and diverse it in more significant ways by improving them. This made the large industries to develop the more and merging some other smaller ones.

As the industries developed, the political power also grew stronger. As the businesses tried to influence the government interventions for their own benefits, the instances of corruption in the government continued to spread.  This is because most of the political leaders did not consider the poor people living in the urban areas in their actions as they gave government contracts and land grants to their friends and supporters.

However, despite many benefits that were brought about by the industrialization, some disadvantages also befell some American groups as a result such as the women and children, middle and lower class, and African-Americans. The middle class workers expanded and this led to increase in the professional employment. This meant that most of the jobs were given to the professionals and the lower class workers were left without jobs.

Women and children remained to be disadvantaged in the revolution era since they were offered some jobs for little pay for heavy workloads hence continued to suffer in the society.  Little children would be forced to work for long hours with little or no breaks and this violated their childhood rights. The women were discriminated so much that they were not given the incentives for the innovation in businesses by the government as the men. For instance, the economic identity for the married women was incorporated under that of their husbands who owned the legal control of their property and the income they received (Franklin et al, 2017). The married women could not enjoy the freedom to trade on their own or enter into any business contract without the consent of their husbands. This meant that they could not make decisions on their own and thus progressing businesswise was quite difficult for them. Such boundaries discouraged them from trailing entrepreneurial opportunities and thus some opportunities would go unexploited because of their husband’s and government’s failure to involve them in business matters.

A similar situation was also faced by the African –Americans who faced a lot of discrimination despite the eradication of slavery and the passage of Amendment to the constitution which granted them full right to ownership of property (Gordon, 2016). They were limited to bank credits, comparable income levels and limited access to trading activities. Their efforts to acquire property would be destroyed and legally extra confiscated.  Their inventive activities were also discriminated and even their opinions in decision making were taken for granted or simply no one would seem to be concerned. The black entrepreneurs were good in certain aspects such as hair and beauty care and some other activities such as entertainment and transportation but their efforts were put off by the open discrimination. One would prefer to get services from their fellow American even if they are poor just to avoid being attended to by an African-American.

References

Franklin, J. H., & Higginbotham, E. B. (2010). From slavery to freedom. New York: McGraw-

Hill Higher Education. Press.Bottom of Form

Franklin, John Hope, & Higginbotham, Evelyn. (2017). From Slavery to Freedom. McGraw-Hill

College. Press.

Gordon, R. J. (2016). The rise and fall of American growth: The US standard of living since the

            Civil War. Press.