The Second Industrial Revolution

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America’s Gilded Age, roughly between 1877 and 1890, was a time of expansion. Apart of the Gilded Age was the Second Industrial Revolution, and during this time America endured “one of the most rapid and profound economic revolutions any country has ever experienced” (Foner, 2012, pp. 586). Many people were affected during this time especially the working class, but the Industrial Revolution brought so many technologies and innovations which propelled a transition to a new economy (Atkeson and Kehoe, 2001, pp. 2). Economic growth was dispensed very unevenly. Eighty percent of the population was the working class and only for a minority of these workers there were new found freedoms (Foner, 2012, pp. 594). Technical skill was now a factor instead of who owned what (Foner, 2012, pp. 594). For the rest of the working class, their economic situations remained a constant burden on their shoulders. Working sixty hour weeks, industrial workers had no pensions, no compensation for any injuries that occurred, and the possibility at any time that they could become unemployed (Foner, 2012, pp. 595). Having new machinery, and new inventions being incorporated into everyday life, workers whose talent could not compete with these were losing their jobs such as hand weavers (Effects of The Industrial Revolution). The conditions that these laborers were working in were tough with very hazardous situations. For example, “the process of purifying iron…demanded that workers toiled amidst temperatures as high as 130 degrees in the coolest part of the ironworks” (Effects of The Industrial Revolution qtd. Rosen 155). Not having any compensation for any injuries and these hazardous situations was tragic. While a minority of the working class had fr... ... middle of paper ... ...ally on people. Owed to all of the developments/enhancements to transportation, mass production of goods being transported all over the world was possible. Laws and regulations were coming about because of all the injuries due to the machinery which made the living and working conditions for people a lot better. A middle class was now emerging because of how much these innovations were improving the economy. Though the hardships that the working class faced are worth mentioning, the innovations that were created during this time outweigh all of that. It outweighs all of that for the simple fact that these inventions were created in order to decrease the hardships that many people were facing. All of this leads to improvements in transportation, communication, and agriculture. These are three things that America needed in order to be successful over other countries.

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