There are events in every countries history that shape society, political climate, as well as social and economic views. In the U.S., three of the most important events are the civil war, the industrialization era, as well as the progressive era of the 1890’s to the 1920’s. Each of these events in history heavily transformed everyday life for the working class, the regulations on our businesses and markets, as well as race relations and conflict in the United States. These events heavily shaped the way we live today, and with the U.S. being a world power, shaped the worlds view on certain social conflicts.
The United States before the Civil War was a drastically different time in which race issues were not only explicitly backed up by government, but weren’t even seen as issues. It was completely legal to own slaves and to buy people to use for labor. After the Revolutionary War of 1775, slavery was implicitly standardized with African descent and had been this way for a long time. By the time the United States constitution was ratified in 1789, only a handful of free people of color had voting rights, and they were all male landowners. It was very rare to see a free black man, and even in that case, they would be less respected and seen as lesser than white people with the same wealth and status.
The Northern states were the first to abolish slavery, immediately after the Revolutionary War. Movements had rooted in the North to end slavery Nationwide. The South however, was much more hesitant in freeing their free labor. The argument can be made that Northerners were much more liberal and more understanding to the issues of all people. It should be noted, however, that slave labor wasn’t as profitable in the North as it was in the South, it’s much easier to get rid of something you don’t need. The majority of the Southern states’ economy was based on agriculture. Not having to pay for the labor expended on the slave owners land meant more money in their pocket. The South did not take lightly to the North’s demand for abolishing slavery altogether, claiming that the North was not understanding their perspective, and thus we’re neglecting the needs of a large chunk of the United States.
The election of Abraham Lincoln, a well-known anti-slavery Republican, in 1860 was one of the biggest events that led to the Civil War. Southern states felt as though the North was more powerful, and that their own voices and demands were not being heard. Seven states, deep in the South of the US seceded from the Union; Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas. This secession directly leads to the Civil War. Soon after Lincoln took office, the Confederate states threatened at attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. On April 12th, the first shots of the Civil War were fired with Confederate artillery onto Fort Sumter. After a couple of days of failed defense, the Union’s Commander, Major Robert Anderson, was forced to hand over Sumter to Confederate forces. As a result of the Confederacies victorious battle, four more Southern states had seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy; Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, as well as Tennessee. During this stage, Northern states were still confident in winning the war. They had an enormous advantage population wise in comparison to the South. The Union was now consisting of 23 states, fighting against the 11 states that had made up the Confederate Union. Although at first look, anyone would bet on the North, the Southern states were home to most of the nation’s Military driven individuals; consisting of some of the nation’s most prominent soldiers and commanders alike.
The Civil War lasted a long 4 years before the South surrendered in April of 1865. The Civil War was the United States’ most catastrophic war, resulting in roughly 620,000 lives lost and millions injured. In 1863, U.S. Government approximated that the war cost upwards of $2.5 million everyday of battle. The final official estimate in 1879 had totaled about $6,190,000,000, the Confederacy spent about a third of that, putting their cost at about $2,099,808,000. Adjusted for inflation, $6 billion in 1865 is equivalent to $71 billion now. These four years had drained the nation’s economy, but for the South, it had done even more damage than just that. Much of their land was ruined from the battles of the war, the lands that were used as cornerstone for their revenue and economy. Cities like Atlanta and Richmond were totally destroyed. Industrial infrastructures and railroads had been rendered unusable. Many property owners had their homes and estates deliberately destroyed and raided of their crops. The Confederate states also faced tremendous inflation rates that soared to over 9000% by the end of the war, not only did they need to repair their ruined land, but they had almost no financial backing to do so. The slavery that had built the previously existing wealth of the South was brought to an instantaneous end. In the year 1860, there were approximately four million slaves in the United States. By the end of 1865, there were none. The end of slavery did not, unfortunately, mean the end of racial conflict in the United States. After the Civil War, many citizens of the Confederate states, unhappy with its demise, had attacked African Americans physically and/or verbally, hindering them from job opportunities and even voting. However, the Civil War was the end of a dark time, and the start of equality between all races in the United States, something that many of us stand for today.
Before the industrial era in the United States, most citizens lived in minuscule, rural homes and towns and had centered their lives around farming. Life for the everyday citizen was difficult, their incomes were usually very low, and many were malnourished as a result of people producing their own food, clothing, tools, and furniture. Without specialization, societies lacked certain goods that were in high demand, and merchants needed new means to increase the rate of production. The clothing industry was one of the markets that was drastically transformed by industrialization. Before factory production and machinery, people had made their own clothing, typically in their own homes. American industrialization had started even before the Civil War, but still, the average American industry was small. Shortly after the war, however, American industry had transformed dramatically. Machines were quickly taking over hand-labor, and most factory workers were now exclusively there to man machines; this increased rate of production immensely. New railroads that spanned nationwide also contributed to sales for companies; they were now able to ship either goods or material to and from cities that they were based in. It expanded consumer base on a new level and sped up transportation. Inventors constantly pushed out new ideas and companies would build or manufacture them in bulk.
The industrial growth had greatly influenced American society and quality of life. Business activity was usually based in cities because of ease of access for consumers and the businesses alike. Because of this, people from all over the nation had fled to the cities in search of work in the factories. The huge growth in cities also raised awareness of the difference in lives of the rich and poor. The currently war-torn South was still lagging in technological and industrial growth; thus, the North was the center of business activity and production. This even shapes us today; a majority of the nation’s big cities are still in northern states.
With the improved machinery in factories, the workers were able to produce goods much quicker than they could have with basic tools. Workers in factories would each be assigned a different job in the production line, this division of labor sped up production. The faster production led to cheaper costs of production, and that directly lead to cheaper goods. The new railways in the United States played a key role in the boom of the industrialization era. During the 1850’s, the total length of railway lines soared from about 9,000 miles to more than 200,000 miles in under 50 years. Mining companies started taking advantage of railroads to ship raw materials to factories across coasts for production. It was much quicker than the older method of riding on horseback.
Originally published 15.10.2019