After the Civil War, American businesses and industries grew rapidly. After the war as industries expanded, millions of Americans left their farms to work in mines and factories. Smaller workshops were soon replaced by factors that contained complex machinery as a substitute for simpler hand tools. America was the world’s leading industrial nation in the late 1800s. By 1914, the nation’s gross national product was eight times greater than it had been after the Civil War came to an end. A factor that contributed to the nation’s industrial success was the abundance of raw materials. Some natural resources that the United States had were timber, coal, iron, and copper. They were primarily located in the West. This was beneficial because companies would no longer have to spend so much money importing the resources from other countries. As more citizens settled in the western region, industrialization accelerated as well as the transcontinental railroad. Railroads were significant for the nation as it transported settlers, miners, and resources back to factories in the East. Railroad construction dramatically expanded as it linked distant regions of the …show more content…
It pushed westward from Omaha, Nebraska, in 1865. Laborers faced harsh weather conditions and sometimes the Native Americans. Labor, money, and engineering problems proved to big obstacles for the project. Workers of the Union Pacific included Civil War veterans, newly recruited Irish immigrants, miners and farmers, cooks, adventurers, and ex-convicts. On the other hand, the Central Pacific Railroad began because of engineer Theodore Judah. He sold stock in his fledgling Central Pacific Railroad Company to four Sacramento merchants. The Central Pacific hired about 10,000 workers from China because they lacked laborers in California. Workers were able to complete the Transcontinental Railroad in around four years even after facing physical
The Transcontinental Railroad was comprised of nearly eighteen hundred miles of track, much of which was laid by Chinese and Irish immigrants (Immigration 1). Chinese immigrants had settled in California during the Gold Rush but were not allowed to become full citizens (Immigration 1). With the need for labor to work on the railroad, the Chinese were hired, although at a lower rate of pay than Americans and other immigrants (Immigration 1). The Central Pacific Railroad had employed over twelve thousand Chinese workers by 1868. They even set a record, laying ten miles of railroad track in twelve hours (Immigration 1). Over twenty-five thousand Chinese immigrants settled in the United States in 1868 and 1869 and eventually obtained citizenship (Cultural 2). The Union Pacific Railroad employed mainly Irish immigrants, many of whom had served in the Civil War. After the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, many new immigrants settled in the western states and territories. Immigrants who came in through immigration stations, such as Ellis Island, used the Transcontinental Railroad to move to new western towns. The railroad advertised with the hope of attracting European, African, and Russian immigrants to populate small western towns along the
It is true that the Civil war saw the beginning of a decline of individual economic opportunity. During an era known as "The Gilded Age" lasting from the end of the war until 1900, large corporations dominated the U. S. economy. The population went from being composed of predominantly farmers and small business owners to large business owners and shareholders. Technology began to revolutionize corporations, such as the construction of national railroads. Big business also led to monopolies, where one company would have full control over a specific area leaving others struggling. To resist big business labor unions, such as the American Federation of Labor, formed although they were usually no competition for big corporations. Between the end of the Civil war and 1900 manufacturing increased by four times leaving many farmers and small business owners moving to the city. After the stock market crash of 1929 everyone seemed to suffer an economic decline and it was no longer limi...
The mid-19th century is one of the major turnarounds in the history of the United States. That is the time when America became an industrial giant and emerged as one of the most powerful countries in the world. The Industrial Revolution changed the people’s way of living in the whole world, especially the United States, from hand and home productivity to machine and factory. America rose from a rural and agricultural country to an urban-industrial that introduced new technologies. The United States has been through a lot of ups and downs in spite of its emergence and three books tell the story of the Industrial America from three different perspectives.
The first transcontinental railroad employed over twenty Chinese laborers and as time went on the numbers increased. The Central Pacific Railroad Company saw how beneficial Chinese immigrants would benefit their workforce and before they knew over 50 Chinese workers were employed. The White American workers saw how hard the railroad labor was and were reluctant to take on such hazardous tasks. In addition, railroad work was hard in general, plus management was chaotic, leading to a high attrition rate ( ). The Central Pacific took off around 1864 and Superintendent James Strobridge and Director Charles Crocker both were in align to employ mostly
It originally took about 6 months to get from the west of the US to the east, but now it only took 7 days. With railroads expanding all across the country, agriculture was affected in a mostly positive
Although not a natural resource, railroads were considered one of the key factors in almost every widespread industry. It allowed companies to quickly send products across the entire nation without using expensive and time-consuming caravans or wagons. Cornelius Vanderbilt was a prominent leader in the railroad industry at this time. He was already in his later years by the time the Gilded Age rolled around and didn't even get to see the uprising of some of the greatest leaders of the time. The railroad companies took advantage of their necessity by constantly overcharging customers, especially farmers. This led to one of the first labor unio...
People immediately began to migrate to the area now known as The Great Plains, and populations in the states along the route began to prosper at record percentages. The original railroad sparked inspiration for other tracks that could branch off of the main line and go to other areas of the country. By the year 1893, there were about four different transcontinental railroads and modifications were made to the original cars, such as a freezer box that was designed to keep crops fresh during the few day voyage. This new improvement also provided the country with several new jobs that were never needed before. All areas such as construction, maintenance, and operation workers were now needed to ensure that things went the way they were supposed to and that the hard work and dedication that went into this six year project did not go to a waste and give the opposite effect than
Throughout the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, the United States economy changed dramatically as the country transformed from a rural agricultural nation to an urban industrial gian, becoming the leading manufacturing country in the world. The vast expansion of the railroads in the late 1800s’ changed the early American economy by tying the country together into one national market. The railroads provided tremendous economic growth because it provided a massive market for transporting goods such as steel, lumber, and oil. Although the first railroads were extremely successful, the attempt to finance new railroads originally failed. Perhaps the greatest physical feat late 19th century America was the creation of the transcontinental railroad. The Central Pacific Company, starting in San Francisco, and the new competitor, Union Pacific, starting in Omaha. The two companies slaved away crossing mountains, digging tunnels, and laying track the entire way. Both railroads met at Promontory, Utah on May 10, 1869, and drove one last golden spike into the completed railway. Of course the expansion of railroads wasn’t the only change being made. Another change in the economy was immigration.
After America acquired the West, the need for efficient transportation heightened. Ideas circulated about a railroad that would spread across the continent from East to West. Republican congresses ruled for the federal funding of railroad construction, however, all actions were halted for a few years on account of a war. Following the American Civil War of 1861-1865, the race to build transcontinental railroad began in 1866. Lincoln approved Pacific Railway Act of 1862, granting two railroad companies the right to build the first American transcontinental railroad, (Clark 432).
During the late 1700’s, the United States was no longer a possession of Britain, instead it was a market for industrial goods and the world’s major source for tobacco, cotton, and other agricultural products. A labor revolution started to occur in the United States throughout the early 1800’s. There was a shift from an agricultural economy to an industrial market system. After the War of 1812, the domestic marketplace changed due to the strong pressure of social and economic forces. Major innovations in transportation allowed the movement of information, people, and merchandise. Textile mills and factories became an important base for jobs, especially for women. There was also widespread economic growth during this time period (Roark, 260). The market revolution brought about economic growth through new modes of transportation, an abundance of natural resources, factory production, and banking and legal practices.
American had an economy based on manual labour which was replaced by one dominated by industry and the manufacture of machinery. It began with the expansion of the textile industries and the development of iron-making techniques, and trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways.
The Pacific Railroad bill of 1862 launched the transcontinental railroad construction project. The Pacific Railroad bill granted 6,400 acres of public lands and government loans ranging from $16,000 to $48,000 per mile of track completed to the Union Pacific Railroad and Central Pacific Railroad companies. (Pacific Railroad Bill) Following the Pacific Railroad bill a series of federal and state acts between 1862 and 1871 granted more than 130 million acres of public land and supplied additional monetary loans of approximately $150 million dollars to the expansion of the railroads. (Gillon p.652)
The railroad created a more economic means of transporting the grains and produce from the breadbasket of America to the markets in the population centers of the coast.
Although the American Civil War mainly occurred because of slavery, the fact is that slavery had a lot to do with economic and social issues.
The population of the North consisted of forward thinking individuals. They realized that a change had to be made from agriculture to industry if they were to prosper and for them to use free labor to accomplish prosperity would be to take a step backwards. This ushered in an small and early Industrial Revolution. Factories and mills that produced finished goods sprung up all over the Northern United States along major waterways. These factories produced fabric, iron, machinery, weapons. Raw materials such as cotton was bought from the South and then sold back to them in the form of clothes. Iron workers made iron railroad ties for the growing railroads across the country. More machinery was being built than ever before. These machines were able to multiply the work that could be accomplished. These industries drew in people from rural areas because they were paying for work. As more people came, they settled around the factori...