Running Head: AMERICAN INDUSTRIALIZATION POST THE CIVIL WAR

The Industrialization of America

Post the Civil War
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AMERICAN INDUSTRIALIZATION POST THE CIVIL WAR

The Industrialization of America after the Civil War

Introduction
Once the Civil War ended in 1865, progressive leaders and intellectuals felt the need for a
movement throughout the nation that will serve the purpose of unification of the South and the
North. This was rightly thought to be the panacea for the emotional wounds which were yet to
heal among both the Confederate and Yankee supporters. Modernization or Restoration of the
nation was therefore taken up, accompanied by Industrialization of the nation from 1865 to 1920.
This period is referred to as the Gilded Age after Mark Twain referred to it in his book of the
same name, co-authored with Charles Dudley. It is this industrialization which played the main
role in America taking over the mantle of the world superpower with the highest standard of
living, from the UK and the other West European colonial nations.
It will be presumptuous to project the idea that all industrial activity started in the US
started only after the Civil War. Historians call the period from 1820 till the beginning of the
Civil War, as the first Industrial Revolution. Here the big industries were the New England
Cotton mills, which used Souths cotton as raw material. (The Boott Cotton Mills of Lowell,
Massachusetts is an example of these handful of big Mills.) At the end of this period, the
occupation of the majority of Americans however, remained agriculture. (Olson-Reimer, 2013).
In the US, rail-tracks were already present from before the civil war. These were now made into
a dependable railway track system, connecting important places from to both the coastlines. This
work was done with federal funds either directly or though the states. Waterways and Roads soon
followed , thereby allowing an infrastructure base very conducive for growth. With the help of
banks and lending institutions, entrepreneurs could easily obtain loans and extend their
production so that countrywide markets could be tapped into. (Customer needs being attenuated

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by advertisements). New and better technologies were being discovered almost continuously by
engineers and scientists. With the help of all these developments, the US started to aim for and
achieve productivity enhancement (i.e. more in all sectors from agricultural products) to
complicated machine parts. The hallmark of this second Industrial revolution was less human
resource requirement as deployments of machines replace the necessity of human labor.
Effect on Society, Economy and Politics
The 2nd Industrial Revolution led to many changes in number of aspects, of which we will
examine only three, namely society, the economy and politics. The American economy suddenly
started to boom as demand increased and more (when the war ended) and more manufacturing
plants were set up. In addition to consumer goods, mining and metals, landscaping and
construction, Steels ordinary and special, Polymers etc. became fast growing industries. As
industrial work was seen as a more rewarding way of working, a virtual exodus of people from
farming to industrial plants took place. The rural-urban divide was thus created and the nations
social demographics changed.
As productivity went on growing through Taylorism ( and later by adopting Demings
conclusions) in the workplace, with the increase of numbers manufactured, unit prices fell due to
the economics of scale. As the rich became richer and the poor -poorer, political power centers
like the Tammany Hall Democrats of New York City and Boss Tweed ensured that wealth be
the sole important criteria for being favored with government contracts, inside information about
government auctions, etc. that is corruption became an expected activity. Rich entrepreneurs
united forming corporations which sold parts of it, as shares in the stock exchange.

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Social Darwinism prevailed in society which was the concept that private property
held greater value than individual interests; poverty was the fault of the impoverished and
sinful; and the social classes were not equal - especially rich and poor, capitalist and laborer.
(Olson-Rheimer, 2013). The big corporations were all powerful as they received the indirect
backing of the Congress, States (as they could grant company charters), Cultural Leaders and
Religious Institutions, Law Enforcers and Supreme Court decisions which were mostly on the
side of the rich corporation. ( Ibid)
The effect of Industrialization
Industrializations effect on the Native Americans was pathetic to say the least. The Red
Indian tribes had always been a free and nomadic people. They now found themselves
imprisoned in Indian Reservations- not very much unlike Wild Life Conservation centers. Of
those who preferred to stay outside the reservations, some became alcoholics in their tryst with
western culture. Very few have succeeded in carving out their own places in society.
If we consider the ex and freed slaves, then yes slavery had been abolished on paper but
not from minds of the people of American Caucasians. The civil rights movement took place and
Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, but even today racism has not died out. Caught in
circumstances of crime and violence, it is impractical even to question the black youths
attraction to crime, since the answer is obvious. It is the have and the have-not classification is
still relevant today, which is the answer. As Dr. Gayle Olson-Raymer says the US economy
was built by the haves on the backs of the have-nots. . The negative effects of a development
were simply placed in the have-nots side of the fence and the benefits-placed with the haves. For
example, urbanization was necessary for enhancement of productivity, the benefits of which like

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extra profits went to the haves. The have-nots wages did not increase and they still had to live in
congested conditions. Children of the haves went to fancy private schools whereas children of
the have-nots worked in factories, in dangerous conditions, these factories being owned by
corporates belonging to the haves.(Shultz,2014)
Lives of Americans in the Gilded Age.
Therefore, the life of the average young Americans who is presumed in the havenot category(as is much more common) was not a very comfortable life. He has to try hard to
find and build a footstep for himself daily at work and lives in his congested urban neibourhoods.
Very often, his parents work hard all day to make ends meet and yet the creditors are never late
in coming to collect their dues. He often marrieds a girl from the same background and settles
down, forgetting his own American dream, but teaching his childrens version to them. He was
often frustrated but there was little he could do. Charlie (lucky) Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy
Siegel, Albert Anastasia, etc. all came from these backgrounds. They wanted to have a better deal
and turned to organized crime. Luciano is known as the father of the mob today as he set up one
of the most efficient criminal money making systems, specializing in mostly everything from
contract murders to prostitution to narcotics.
In conclusion, the second Industrial revolution can be said to be directly responsible for
the position of the US as it is today. Post the two world wars in Europe, sanity prevailed and
efforts were made to neutralize the negatives from American Capitalism which succeeded to
some extent. Anti-trust laws were made, passed and implemented and the judiciary often became
the watchdogs who guarded over the founding fathers statement that all humans are born equal in
such measures which the founding fathers had probably not envisaged themselves.

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References:
Epps, C. (2014). Industrialization after the Civil War002pp1-6, Acamedia.edu retrieved from
www.academia.edu on 2nd August 2015. URL
https://www.academia.edu/7327623/Industrialization_after_the_Civil_War002

Olson-Raymer, Dr. G. (2014) Industrialization, Urbanization, and Immigration in the Gilded

Age Published on the Internet. Retrieved from
1

http://users.humboldt.edu/ogayle/hist111/industrial.html

Shultz, K.M. (2014). HISTORY: Volume 2. Independence, KY 41051: Cengage Learning

1 This informative resource has unfortunately not been maintained after 31/12/2014 on which
date Dr. Gayle Olsen-Raymer has retired from Humboldt University. As of now, it can be used
safely .

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