The United States became a global industrial power in the decades that followed the Civil War. Numerous new sectors, such as steel production, electrical generation, and petroleum refining, developed as many older ones grew. Railroads significantly increased in size, integrating even rural areas of the nation into a market economy.
American society was altered by industrial progress. It created a thriving middle class and a new class of affluent industrialists. Additionally, a significantly larger blue-collar working class was created. Millions of recently arrived immigrants and much more migrants from rural areas made up the workforce that enabled industrialization. The diversity of American society increased more than ever.
The era’s economic success wasn’t experienced by everyone. The majority of workers were frequently unemployed for at least a portion of the year, and when they worked, their earnings were generally poor. Many workers supported and joined labor unions as a result of this circumstance.
In the meantime, farmers also experienced difficulties as a result of rising production and competition, which resulted in lower prices for agricultural products. Many young people moved to the city in quest of better career possibilities as a result of difficult circumstances on the farms.
Americans born in the 1840s and 1850s would live through a time of significant change. Some of these modifications were brought about by a broad technological revolution. For instance, their primary source of illumination would switch from candles to kerosene lamps to electric light bulbs. They would observe the transition of their mode of transportation from walking and using horses to steam-powered locomotives, electric trolley cars, and eventually gasoline-powered cars.
They grew up in a society where the majority of people worked in agriculture, and then they lived through the industrial revolution, which fundamentally altered how and where millions of people lived and worked. Millions of people would move from rural America to the nation’s quickly expanding cities, which they would see.
