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Question: What factors helped to promote Americas huge industrial growth during the period from 1860 to 1900? Industrialization in America did not begin until about a hundred years after it began in England and other European countries. Although once it began, it kept on going. Within forty years America was producing anywhere between double to five times the amount of steel that Germany or England was producing. This was called The Industrial Boom.
During The Industrial Boom many of the things that are used today were created, like the first car, telephone, light bulb, vacuum, even the shaving razor. Oddly, before 1860 America didnt even seem like it would ever become an industrial nation, but rather it would always be an agricultural nation. So what caused this transformation of a country that was mostly farms into one of the greatest industrial nations in the world? In the graph of Document # 2, it shows that between 1860 to 1900 there was an increase of railroad track of about 160, 000 miles.
This all began after the Civil War when congress decided to build a transcontinental railroad. Congress provided subsidies to railroad companies who built the railroad tracks. The railroad was probably the biggest factor in promoting industrial growth in America. To small businesses, the railroad allowed them to ship out mail and products more quickly.
It also created new ways of managing businesses which is now how most businesses are managed today. Aside from helping small businesses, the growth of the railroad created thousands of jobs for Americans. Steel workers were needed to turn millions of tons of iron in to steel; lumberjacks cut down forests for railroad ties, and coal mining jobs to mine coal to fuel the train engines. In Document # 1 it tells us that during the 1850 s the English government sent a committee of businessmen to observe how American industrialists operated their factories. The report that was given by the businessmen to the English government said everything that could be done to reduce labor was done. Even though the American industrial revolution began long after most European countries had, in a short time America surpassed them in advancements.
American factories were operating with machines and mechanical arms. This really reduced labor costs so they didnt have to pay so many workers to lift or pull heavy equipment. Another Factor that help to promote industrial growth was the idea of controlling the entire process of a product. This was thought up by Andrew Carnegie and he called it the Bessemer process. In Document # 7, the excerpt tells us that Carnegie made a policy and the object of the policy was that he wanted to control all the factors that contribute to making steel. Carnegie was one of the richest men of the century and gave most of his wealth away towards schools, libraries, and hospitals feeling that no one should die wealthy.
In conclusion The Transcontinental Railroad, the amazing technology advancements, and the Bessemer process all were big Factors in the growth of America as well as many other people and things. The Industrial Boom was a great time period for America and it formed America as we know it today
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Research essay sample on Transcontinental Railroad Industrial Growth
