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Example research essay topic: Late Nineteenth Century Second Industrial Revolution - 869 words

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The second industrial revolution started in the late nineteenth century and continued through the 1930 s. The revolution provided great opportunities as well as troubling times. The United States citizens struggled to gain control over their lives in an industrialized economy. Moreover, the second industrial revolution changed the lives and attitudes of the working class. The American working class benefited and also fell victim of the rise of industrial capitalism. Most of the workers even experienced a rise in the standard of living.

At the same time they experienced harsh and dangerous working conditions. The workers felt powerless. In the late nineteenth century, the demand for factory labor grew and so did the industrial work force. Immigration was the source of expansion. The new immigrants were coming to America to get away from poverty and oppression in their homelands. With the coming of these new groups of immigrants came constant ethnic tensions.

They were also paid very poorly and began to replace higher paid British. Irish, and American workers. American workers had very little job security. Many of the workers lost their jobs because of technological advances. Very few workers were ever very far from poverty.

The American workforce faced many other hardships as well. The performances of routine and repetitive tasks were difficult for the workers to adjust to. Machines now did many tasks once done by artisans. Factories employed workers ten hours a day and six days a week. Factory accidents were very frequent and commonly deadly. Many employers felt the need to increase the use of women and children in the workforce.

They could hire the women and children for lower wages than adult males. Women worked in almost all areas of industry. They worked for wages far less than necessary for survival. An astonishing number of young children under sixteen years of age worked in factories and fields. Eventually, laws were set for an age minimum of twelve years.

Unionization was beginning to become a very popular way for the workers to fight back. Since before the Civil War there had been small unions representing skilled workers. However, individual unions could not get the job done on a national scale. The first effort to create a national union was the Knights of Labor. The membership was open to all workers and especially all women. The union was very poorly organized.

The failure of railroad strikes made the union look bad and it eventually vanished. The second effort was the Federation of Organized Trade and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada. Later, it took the name of the American Federation of Labor. This union mainly represented skilled workers. Samuel Gompers, leader of the AFL, had a goal to secure wages, working hours, and working conditions. The AFL grew very rapidly.

However, the union made very few gains for labor. Despite the creation of these new labor unions, seemingly almost all the advantages lied with capital. With almost nowhere to turn, American workers looked to progressivism. Progressivists believed in the concept of progress and a time for change. The progressivity demanded reform in a number of ways. They felt that the economy needed to be reformed in order to regulate monopolies and to investigate trusts and big business.

The need for political reform was also very great. Municipal and state-level governments were under constant attack. The progressivity wanted to eliminate political parties from everyday life. Another important type of reform was the reform of social justice. Social gospel became a controversy in society. A group of journalists called the muckrakers were dedicated to exposing scandal and injustice.

The final type of reform was morality reformations. The temperance crusade brought popularity to the WCTU. The WCTU gave alcohol a very bad, immoral name. Reformers agreed that the growing immigrant population was creating social problems.

The solution was to limit the flow of new arrivals. With these reforms, the working class and progressivity were clearly regaining control of their lives. However, many more changes were to come. Franklin D.

Roosevelt had a plan to restore confidence in the workers during the rough times of the Great Depression. This plan was called the New Deal. He launched the Agricultural Adjustment Act to aid farmers by halting the fall of farm prices. The next step towards recovery of the American worker was to decrease the rapid rate of inflation.

The NRA, or National Industrial Recovery Act, issued a temporary blanket code which stated that a minimum wage be set as well as a maximum workweek and the abolishment of child labor. Roosevelt claimed that this would raise consumer purchasing power and increase employment. However, the NRA did not succeed because of the decline in industrial production in the months after the agency's start. Through the efforts of the thousands of hard working Americans and the support of most of the presidents, it seemed as though the working man finally had some rights. With a minimum wage and maximum working hours, no longer would the worker feel like a slave working for pennies. Still, however, the workforce would undergo many changes, but never again would it get as bad as it did during the end of the 19 th century.


Free research essays on topics related to: second industrial revolution, women and children, skilled workers, labor unions, late nineteenth century

Research essay sample on Late Nineteenth Century Second Industrial Revolution

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