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During the industrial revolution in the United States, tremendous economic prosperity resulted in social and political unrest. It seemed the rich were getting richer while the poor remained poor. The middle class was forged out of the industrial revolution but would be challenged at this time. Large influxes of immigrants would also create tensions among the social classes. Furthermore, textile, steel, railroad, and automobile industries were growing exponentially, employing thousands. The class struggles was a direct result of the division between labor and capital.
Peoples social lives are a reflection of their work lives. The success of ones career is directly correlated with their social welfare. The industrial revolution created conflicts between labor and capital in the work process, differing socially constructed views between the classes in regards to family and community life, and governments role in the capitalist economy... During the 1800 s, the United States was engrossed in the first half of the industrial revolution.
The textile factories, such as those discussed in Rockdale, were booming in northern states due to both technological improvements, such as water and steam powered machinery, and the success of agriculture in southern states. The railroad industry, one of Americas first interstate big businesses, was speeded up with the introduction of the Bessemer process of forging steel. Fueled by technological improvements in the steel industry, the transcontinental railroad was completed, joining Union Pacific and Central Pacific lines at Promontory Point, Utah. Railroads and factories started to dominated the American landscape. Railroads were connecting cities allowing commerce to flow more freely.
Furthermore, railroads linked remote regions of the country, such as the Idaho mines mentioned in Big Trouble. Factories were growing in numbers while also growing in size. Economies and industries would grow in the 1800 s, making the United States a world power. As a result, the United States experienced growing pains in the 1800 s. The economy was booming and unemployment was fairly low.
Unfortunately, all jobs were not glamorous, safe, or fair. Throughout the 1800 s, labor movements and unions were formed to try and fight these inequalities. Workers wanted fair wages, an eight hour workday, and the overall health conditions at work to improve. For example, successful strikes in Rockdale resulted in a ten hour workday, child labor was reduced, and education was increased.
Consequently, labor and social reform were products of each other and usually went hand in hand. Furthermore, reform did not come cheap or easy. If reform did not come from politicking, workers used strikes which often ended in violence, with people paying with their lives. After the Civil War, the railroad was big business in the United States economy. The railroad industry had spin-off industries, like mining, iron, and steel, that also became big. These industries practiced economies of scale which involved large investments of capital and labor.
While the costs of production decreased, the production and profits increased until the point of diminishing returns was achieved. For example, Andrew Carnegie employed these tactics and Carnegie Steel help to literally build the United States into a world power. As a result of these business practices and large number of immigrants, labor was seen as an expendable commodity. Frederick Winslow Taylor applied scientific management techniques to the way labor was performed. In turn, factory owners and foremen used taylor ism to determine the most efficient way to perform a task in a factory.
Thus, creating a quota system for workers. At Carnegie Steel, savvy managers would use this quota system to create competition between furnaces at the mill. The winner of the competition would get a silver shovel hung on their furnace, but no extra pay. The issue of pay, work hours, and conditions would come to a pinnacle in the late 1800 s and again in the early 1900 s.
From the 1870 s to the turn of the century, the United States economy was a roller coaster ride. Wages decreased which resulted in the standard of living decreasing. Furthermore, many workers did not have the leverage to complain because their employer owned the town and house in which they lived. In 1869, the Knights of Labor was formed and they pushed for regulating the railroads, known as the Granger movement. However, the Knights of Labor will enjoy most of its success in the 1880 s.
In 1877, the Great Upheaval occurs which impacts most of the country. During this time, the country was in a depression which resulted in the wages of railroad workers being lowered. Therefore, employees went on strike without a union and community members also joined. The strike had a domino effect and paralyzed the railroads and the economy.
The strike eventually ended with bloodshed and class warfare. The Knights of Labor grew in the 1880 s, taking any worker into their union. However, the union would eventually dissolve because of different laborers with different ideas. Furthermore, the Haymarket Square riot in 1886 would ruin their reputation as an organized group with means to obtain their goals.
The American Federation of Labor, founded by Samuel Gompers, would emerge from the Haymarket Square Riot. The AFL, known as a business union, was organized by trade but excluded blacks and women. Industrial Unions, like the Western Federation of Miners, were also forming at this time to include lumber and shipping industries. However, workers and their unions were their own worst enemy because they were not organized enough to use the political process to bring about change. During this time, the social fabric of the country was being stretched to the breaking point. In Rockdale, the nuclear family was an economic partnership which created strains on social lives.
The Dominant culture, the WASP middle class, was being challenged in their religious, family, and community lives. This class of people used taylor ism to society, imposing their ethnocentric belief that the American way is the best and only way. All immigrants were discriminated against and considered a lower class of people because they lived by each other and did not assimilate. The company towns, monopolies, and trusts of the time were creating class conflicts by limiting mobility for the middle and lower classes.
The aristocracy maintained these monopolies of industry and the access to information in order to maintain the status quo. Big businesses in the 1800 s were running the country just as much as the federal government. Billionaire banker J. P.
Morgan even bailed out the United State Treasury. Through lobbies and greasing the right politicians palms, big businesses were able to maintain their monopolies and power in the country. Business leaders were controlling the quality of lives of the majority of people in the country with little government intervention. With all the social and labor unrest in the late 1800 s, big business turned to the federal government for help. Rationalization in the Progressive Era was a movement by businesses which had three goals to help the American economy. First, big business wanted stability, no more erratic changes in the market.
Second, the Bureau of Corporations was established in 1903 to predict future plans and problems facing businesses. Finally, big business wanted stability in the labor force by eliminating upheavals and organized labor unions. In response, the federal government, realizing the importance of overseeing a free market, capitalist economy, established the Federal Trade Commission in 1913 which enhanced the Bureau of Corporation and was designed to outlaw unfair competition in the marketplace. In addition, Congress passed the Clayton Act which toughened antitrust standards first established Sherman Antitrust Act.
However, the Clayton Act was also being used to break up labor organizations. Furthermore, due to public reaction from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, the federal government passed the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act in an attempt to regulate and govern the food industry. Turning...
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Research essay sample on United States Economy Knights Of Labor
