Industrial Evolution: America's Shift from Agrarian to Industrial Society

The United States in the 1870s was highly agrarian focused, centered on the local community with individuals taking pride in their work. This was a time where small businesses and farms were the center of the American economy. In a striking comparison, the early 20th century marked an era of heavy industrialization and a wider view of the nation as a whole. The decades in between were filled with violent and rapid change in all aspects of American life. By and large through the expansion of business across state lines, an explosion of growth in railroads, and huge leaps in the technologies responsible for efficient industry. These aspects were the driving force behind the new America that was born from the haze of industrialization. In the post-civil war era, most business was limited to the state that it took place in, through the 1870s and onward however, there was a huge growth of interstate businesses. The fuel for this growth was the agricultural sector, it expanded to
Their expansion brought with them both industry and people, allowing for more people than ever to settle the Midwest quickly and efficiently (T&S 580). The most important thing that came from the creation of railroads was that it made the United States seem significantly smaller. Traveling across states no longer was a journey that would take several days, all it took was a short train ride. The railroad industry itself became a force to be reckoned with, “creating the modern practice of political “lobbying’” (T&S 580). Railroad companies used this practice to essentially buy out congressmen in order to build support for favorable laws. Compared to the relatively small industry that existed in 1865, the railroad business by 1897 had grown by a factor of nearly 6 times (T&S 580). Suddenly business in America was changing, the industry fueling this drastic change was also feeling shifts in the traditional