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* Essential Question: What factors helped advance the integration of the national economy after the Civil War?

Reunited by the Union victory in the Civil War, America faced an era of reconstruction during which the value of the individual was reanalyzed and redefined in law. After the reconstruction, a sense of peace and prosperity calmed the American people. Given hope by their success in maintaining the Union, the Progressive Era ensued. The previously forgotten vision of Alexander Hamilton was reborn and finally implemented. America was no longer the land of the yeoman farmer. Denizens of rural areas moved to the city and sought to work in the gradually industrializing regions of the country. As big business gained power, the laborers sought to achieve the American Dream of economic prosperity through self-improvement in a laissez faire economy.

After the civil war, especially during the late 1800s, the US industrial economy has been thriving and booming which reflected on the numerous improvements that occurred in transportation through new railroad, in new markets for new invented goods and in the increased farm yield. However, most of this wealth has been captured by the capitalists, they looked down on the working poor class and expected them to submit to them. Also, they had control over the government seeking to maintain a system of monopoly to allow them to grow richer from others. Thus, they were controlling both political and economic conditions of the country.

Within a transformative decade for Texas workers, the Knights of Labor reached the pinnacle of its influence, failed a railroad strike in 1886 and eventually transformed into an agrarian and mechanics’ organization. (A&M and Reid 2009) The growing influence of the Knights of Labor improved the standing of socialists by extension. In reality, the union was not socialist organization by definition. However, Texas socialists support and political gamesmanship contributed heavily to the growth and development of the Knights of Labor. (Texas A&M University Press 2010) Advocacy for Texas laborers and support for the civil rights movement became the focus of proponents of socialist political policies. Labor strikes and litigation against Texas based businesses routinely failed, illustrating the economic entrenchment of corporations and their accompanying judicial and legislative alliances. As the political clout of the Knights of Labor waned, the weight of political influence regarding

The economic development of the Gilded Age affected American freedom in various ways. For instance, American's struggled to make sense of the new social order and sensed something had gone wrong with nations social development. American's views concentration of wealth as inevitable, natural and justified by progress. Feared lower class groups and use of government to advance own interests. Democracy becoming a threat to individual liberty and the rights of property.

Industrialization after the Civil War was a period where Industrial city were being built, there were jobs for people and the political aspect was having corruption. In this paper the main points in this paper discussed the major aspects of the Industrialization Revolution, such as groups that were affected by the Industrial society, and the affects the life of the average working American. While the Industrial Revolution was a great turning point in the history of mankind, it led humanity to great technological advancements, middle and lower class, African American rights,

The employers declared their opposition to these Boycotts by saying that were “un-american and anti-american”, and then they went turned to courts against the Unions. The most successful labor union, Knights of Labor was established in 1869 in Philadelphia. The Knights believed in a government determined by the people and production determined by the workers. Labor reform was one of the key objectives of the Knights of Labor. To the Gilded age labor reformers the debasement of politics and society rested in part on the capacity of the rich to corrupt governments in their own self interests. They Knights said that, “We declare an inevitable and irresistible conflict between the wage system of labor and republican system of government” (Rosenzweig,Pg 95-96). Knights of Labor extended their memberships to all of the working-class instead of just limiting to “skilled workers”. They broke the norm from other labor movements by including women, African Americans, Mexicans in their movements, who were previously shut out of the labor movement. While in some states, the Knights held combined assemblies where the Black and the White workers joined forces in demonstrations, some other places held separate assemblies and this garnered criticizm from some the skilled African American laborers(Rosenzweig, Pg 97). The knights excluded non producers such as lawyers, bankers, speculators, and

Recovering from the Civil War, the United States caught up to its European counterparts as an industrial competitor during a period referred to as the United States’ Gilded Age. However, as industry success skyrocketed with the rising demand for localized manufactured products, the divisions of wage and class between factory owners and workers sharpened, reversing the equalizing spirit that surrounded the period of Reconstruction and strived to incorporate all Americans into a free labor capitalist society. Swallowed by the Gilded Age, the common folk of the United States fell further behind in the scramble for wealth. Populists were committed to diminishing their financial reliance on the United States’ industrial companies with the government’s

Towards the end of the nineteenth century (1860-1900), America’s economy had gone through a transformation, where industries were developed. The rapid growth of industrialization was caused by many factors, including: abundant natural resources, educated labor force, and the encouragement of technological innovation. Because of new technological innovations, new machines were created for “easier” mass production. The new economy in which industrialization created, resulted in wealth in many Americans; however, there were many downsides to this; factories polluted the air, workers labored in dangerous conditions, and long hours. Because of these downsides to industrialization, labor unions developed: The Knights of Labor, the Industrial Workers of the World, and the American Federation of Labor.

Everyone was frustrated with work conditions and this led to the formations of unions around the country. The Knights of Labor was a very popular union that led the first major strike in the United States. The year was 1885 and Jay Gould’s Missouri Pacific Railroad was the target. The owner, Jay Gould, had recently cut wages drastically and fired union members. The Knights led the strike and eventually succeeded to improve wages for the railroad workers. With this great accomplishment the Knights gained

The Knights of Labor was a standard labor union comprised of individual workers across the nation. They were inclusive in terms, employing both skilled workers in crafts industries as well as unskilled laborers such as coalminers. (Rayback, 1966, p. 168). They had limited political objectives such as the eight-hour workday and the prohibition of child and convict labor. Their broader objectives were social: to improve the image and social status of the working man.

This new expansion allowed a new working class to emerge, and by 1890, two-thirds of Americans worked for wages (Foner 634). Along with these new factories came wealthy company owners who were known to run their factories nonstop with horrible working conditions. Most factory workers, worked sixty hours a week with no pensions, compensation for injuries, or protections against unemployment, and between 1880 and 1900, 35,000 workers perished each year due to factory and mine accidents (Foner 641). Many workers went on strikes to demand higher pay but employers simply replaced them with unemployed workers, leaving little hope of achieving freedom for the workers.

In the first half of the 19th Century the working class in the newly industrializing American society suffered many forms of exploitation. The working class of the mid-nineteenth century, with constant oppression by the capitalist and by the division between class, race, and ethnicity, made it difficult to form solidarity. After years of oppression and exploitation by the ruling class, the working class struck back and briefly paralyzed American commerce. The strike, which only lasted a few weeks, was the spark needed to ignite a national revolt by the working class with the most violent labor upheavals of the century.

After the Civil War, the United States went through a period of rapid industrialization which affected the nation dramatically. Industrial growth, the spread of railroads, the rise of big businesses, and the appearance of labor unions during these decades created a modern industrial economy, and American workers and farmers faced new challenges in adapting to these changes.

As America became more industrial more people left their farms and small towns to work in the city so they could pay their expenses, whatever they may be. This led to the minimal pay of workers while the owners became wealthy leading to a functional economy. Most would receive little money while the rest lived a life of luxury. Since more factories were opening children, women, and immigrants could now find jobs, which led to more production which gave more money to the owners of the factories. Americans feared that industrialists were changing freemen into “wage slaves.” “By 1920, nearly 20 percent of all manufacturing workers were women, and 13 percent of all textile workers were younger than 16 years old. In 1900, it was estimated that