Industrialization – Railroads
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Joey Mohsen
12/31/17
APUSH
Mr.Carbone
Railroads
Industrialization refers to the development of industries in a country or region on a wide scale. Between the post-Civil war years, 1865-1900, the United States experienced an era of Industrialization due to a few noteworthy factors. These factors proved to be strengtheners of the United State’s epoch of industrialization, some of these factors included technological advancements, Immigration, and federal government policies.
Technological Advancements played a key role in the boost of industry after the civil war until the end of the 19th century. The end of the Civil War led to a population boom as soldiers returned home and a rise in industrialization as soldiers entered the workforce. America was ripe for industrialization with its growing natural resources and “yankee ingenuity”. After the civil war, american outputs of coal and iron surpassed those of Britain for the first time in history, and the United States led world technology. One of the most imperative technological advancements was the expansion of railroads. In 1850, the United States had approximately 9,000 miles of track laid, but government land grants led to a significant improvement in rail because by 1865 the United States now had over 35,000 miles of fresh rail. This trend would also continue because by 1890 the United State now held over 200,000 miles of rail. Railroads transported materials from region to region, unifying the United States and aiding in self sufficiency. The advancement of railroads aided in the expansion of industry because now goods could be transported from east to west faster and in larger quantities which was huge for industrialization. Essentially railroads carried people and supplies to the West and raw materials to the east. With the advancement of railroads the U.S. was now able to successfully trade internally and limit external dependence. Now with the industrial boom, offices and factories reached higher than ever before. Changing demand of building materials led to a switch of building materials, from brick and wood to steel, glass, and concrete. These new materials allowed urban centers to bloom like never before. The Carnegie Steel Corporation founded by Andrew Carnegie was sold to J.P. Morgan, creating the United States Steel Corporation. The Bessemer process was put into effect, and it included purifying iron to create steel. This crucial process changed construction at that point on, and made steel skyscrapers and suspension bridges possible. Furthermore there were drastic improvements in the use of oil, coal and electricity. Thomas Edison set up a research factory that helped invent a lot of things including the light bulb, and he opened the first electric power plant in NY. Electricity was crucial at the time of industrialization because it replaced steam engines because it was drastically more efficient. Additionally, George Westinghouse invented the alternating current, allowing long distance wire transportation. John D. Rockefeller was a significant man in the oil industry. He started the Standard Oil Company, which quickly became a monopoly. Rockefeller became the richest man in the world. All of these technological advancements ignited the explosion of industrialization after the Civil War.
The work force was not only made up of returning troops and former factory workers but also new immigrants who were in need of a job in America. The expanding economy needed an ever increasing work force, and large numbers of immigrants came to the United States during this period. People were also moving from rural areas to the urban areas. The availability of many workers to work in factories helped to keep wages lower, which helped companies earn bigger profits. During the first years of the Civil War immigration declined, but by 1863 it had rebounded to 170,000 new arrivals. Throughout the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s hundreds of thousands entered the country each year, nearly 800,000 in 1882 alone. By 1880 over 5 million immigrants came to America. These new immigrants were from eastern and southern europe and were unskilled and sometimes illiterate. They came to America in search of jobs and these immigrants and their children ended up taking up over half the workforce. One of the most important claims about the impact of immigration on industrialization centers on the creation of economies of scale, both in the production of and the demand for industrial goods. With electricity to power machinery, it became possible to redesign the organization of factories to create an integrated flow of work (assembly lines) to take advantage of a larger number of workers in one location. Larger factories were located in cities where labor was more plentiful. And cities were disproportionately the home of immigrants. Even in 1850, when only 15% of the American population lived in cities, more than one-third of the population of most large American cities was foreign born. Assuming that second generation immigrants were as numerous as the foreign born, it seems reasonable to conclude that almost all large American cities were predominantly composed of immigrants and their children as early as 1850. Immigrants were generally more willing to accept lower wages and inferior working conditions than native born workers. Great efficiencies in production led to higher profits that could be reinvested in new technology, which led to even more production and eventually higher wages for workers. The creation of economies of scale was possible only with the growth of cities and urban industries. So the increase of immigrants led to more goods needing to be produced which opened up more jobs for these immigrants coming in. Industry depended on immigrants as a lot of their workers were immigrants and a lot of th materials were consumed by immigrants. Together the new technology and immigrants helped fuel the industrial explosion but those are not the only things that enhanced the industrial explosion.
Policies of the Federal Government after the Civil War helped strengthen industrialization. In the early years of