Throughout the history of the United States, there have been numerous amounts of occurrences, whether it be war, social justice movements or implementing new laws, that have influenced how we live today. The Second Industrial Revolution set the tone for the United States’ economic and social standing. With growing industrialism from the revolution, the Progressive era and its social and political activism grew from issues in the workspace, which created a platform for women’s suffrage, worker’s rights and exposing money-hungry businesses. Despite all of the positives that came with both the revolution and progressivism, it is often asked whether or not this was a truly successful time period for this country.
The Second Industrial Revolution is said to take place between 1870 and 1914 while the Progressive Era took place during the second industrial revolution; hence the call for justice following the economic and social changes of industrialism. The rapid territorial expansion allowed the United States to acquire new land, as well as new workers and resources. Prior to the industrial revolution, more than 80% of people lived in rural areas. Small towns soon became large cities and by 1850, more people lived in cities than rural areas in Great Britain. Urbanization brought new industries by concentrating factories and workers together as a source of wealth for the nation. Following the reconstruction period, the civil war and expansionism, there was growing labor immigrating from Europe, a large amount of natural resources and the market for manufactured goods began to expand. Transportation innovations, such as steamboats, the Eerie Canal, and roads made it possible to reach California’s port cities, to extract gold from mines and to open up trade networks across the Pacific Ocean. One of the most significant transportation advancements were the railroads. The railroad system brought a huge reduction in the amount of money and time it took to move heavy goods, which, economically, benefited the country. The federal government aided in this advancement by promoting agricultural and industrial development, enacting high tariffs in order to protect the United States industry from foreign competitors, and granting land to railroad companies for construction. Despite how great this growth of industry appeared to be, major depressions in 1873 and 1897 struck the economy hard. Intense competition between businesses and corporations caused a battle to gain control of industries. Companies began to fail while others ruled the marketplace; Carnegie and Rockefeller were two philanthropists who ruled the industry.
Rockefeller dominated the oil industry through strong competition, deals with railroad companies and production quotas that gave him an advantage over his competitors. With increasing industrialism, the conditions of labor began to change. Carnegie’s burdened his workers with long hours while other factory owners paid little to nothing to their workers due to unskilled laborers who needed to take any job offered to them. These businesses were known as Robber Barons, businesses who pursued unethical practices in order to eliminate competition and increase profits. The tenement houses where the workers would live during their employment were tightly spaced and occupied by dozens of workers at a time, all piled on top of one another with little to nothing to eat, bodily excretions and disease spreading fairly quickly. The Poor Law of 1834 were “poorhouses” with deliberately harsh conditions set up by the government designed to discourage people from staying on government aid. This led to the upbringing of Muckrakers, journalists and/or writers who shed light on the negative effects of these industrial changes, such as Jacob Riis who’s novel ‘How the Other Half Lives’ captured the class divide between the rich and poor and the life threatening living conditions of laborers, Jane Addams, who created the “hull house” in Chicago to bring together immigrants and middle class, and Ida Tarbell, who’s novel ‘History of the Standard Oil Company’ exposed the unfair practices of those in the oil business. With the help of these three and other influential writers, a trend of investigative journalism on social reform sparked and people began to share their opinions on the nations new ways of life.
From the 1890s to the 1920s, the Progressive Era peaked in its social and political reform by focusing on working conditions, unionization, industrialization and female suffrage. Most reforms happened at the state and local level; for instance, Robert La Follette and his Wisconsin idea of primary elections as opposed to hand picking. The Wisconsin Idea sought to eliminate dominate political bosses and to do away with monopolies and predatory wealth. It soon became the go to model for other states on the United States and implemented the direct election of senators which is a national practice today. The American Federation of Labor Union, Knights of Labor and International Workers World all forked and fought to shorten the work day, better work benefits and conditions and to put an end to child labor. Women in the Progressive Era helped spearhead social reforms such as the settlement houses and women’s suffrage. The National American Woman Suffrage Association campaigned for the 19th amendment, which is a huge turning point in history because women would not be able to vote in today’s society without it.
Despite all of the efforts to help groups that were overlooked and the spreading trend of finding one’s voice and standing up for reform, the Second Industrial Revolution, followed by the Progressive Era, still had some improvements to be made. As stated before, the government began to play a first hand role in promoting development, especially when it came to expansionism for the sake of new land for factories. They started by forcibly removing Indians from their western land in order to give to farmers and mining companies. This act of exclusion didn’t stop there. Under Wilson’s presidency during the Progressive Era, immigration policies such as the National Quota Law of 1921, Chinese Exclusion Act and Immigration Act of 1917 limited immigration based on ones nationality, specifically excluding all Asian immigrants. Wilson also didn’t make any efforts to desegregate the military and he perpetuated inequalities with the segregation of federal government. Even with the women’s suffrage movement, it used to only be excluded to native white women before it moved towards inclusion to working women. However, without the courage of all those who spearheaded change following the Second Industrial Revolution, the nation wouldn’t be the “Land of the Free” it is known for today. Like every great nation, it takes a few mishaps to spark the unity of its people and the freedom to voice one’s opinion. In all, the Second Industrial Revolution and the Progressive Era shaped the type of government, society and economy we have today.