There was a massive change in the American industries after the civil war. Before this era, human hand labor was mainly used, but this changed dramatically, and machines were now used to replace hand labor increasing the levels of productions for industries in America tremendously. Therefore, civil war caused industrialization to the North of America and caused devastation to the South of America as people mainly moved to the cities in search of industrial jobs. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the implications of industrialization in the United States on politics, economy and society between 1865 and 1920. It also confers about the groups affected by industrialization and explains how industrialization affected the common average Americans.
Major Aspects of Industrialization between 1865 And 1920
There are three major aspects that industrialization had an influence on in the civil war that took place in America namely; economical, society and politics. The first economical aspect is the improvement of living standards. Industrialization led to the development of so many businesses, hence increased competition. That way, many businesses worked on providing quality products for American citizens, to win more customers than their competitors, hence made the standards of living to rise. The second economical aspect of industrialization is that there was a drop in agriculture (Richard, 2016) . Agriculture dropped after the war because there was an overproduction of farm produce which definitely led to low prices of the same. Most of the farmers had taken loans to own land to have enough supply for people during the war. When the war was over, they were not able to pay back the loans since the market had reduced and hence sold less of their farm products (Richard D. B., 2016) . Thirdly, there is the economic aspect of the use of machinery. The more businesses and industries came up, the more the people embraced the use of machinery. Use of machinery replaced human labor in many manufacturing industries. However, there was the creation of employment in other economic industries such as transport industry whereby people were needed to operate the transport machines (Richard D. B., 2016) . With the creation of employment, it means that people had sources of income, hence they had the financial power to improve their living standards.
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Industrialization also had an influence on the society. As industries grew, child labor grew as well, which is a negative impact. At the same time, discrimination of women and children rose in the work places. This discrimination led to the growth of labor unions. However, these labor unions were not embraced hence violence occurred during labor events. Families also changed their lives of farming as they went to work in the industries. Lastly, industrialization brought in the growth of huge corporations affecting businesses owned by small families (Richard, 2016) . Meaning the small family businesses were overpowered by huge corporations and collapsed.
Lastly, there is politics that was influenced by industrialization because as it grew, political power grew also. The rich people in the society owned big industries. Politicians choose to work in favor of these businesses since they had their own interests attached (Richard F. E., 2014) . Interests like financial support, as returns for favors, during campaigns. This offering of favors was effected through forms of corruption like accepting a bribe. Political issues such as unequal distribution of resources and unequal developments, violence came up due to the corruption. Corruption has become a very big factor affecting governments.
Groups Affected By Industrialization
Groups affected by industrialization were immigrants, women, farmers, and African-Americans. Most people immigrated to America as industries grew. They came with different cultures and ethics and grew even giving birth to the African-Americans. This caused some fear among the locals hence legislations, like the Chinese Exclusion Act 1882 were implemented (Robert, 2017) . These immigrants were many and they occupied the urban areas hence got them overpopulated. Issues such as poverty, crime, lack of sanitation, and pollution cropped up making them urban areas unfit for human living. These issues grouped them as the lower class people and reduced their life expectancy. The other group of people affected by industrialization was women. As mentioned earlier, women faced discrimination in workplaces and this made their lives so hard. Farmers too were greatly affected by industrialization through the reduced market for their agricultural produce. Another way in which farmers were affected is the coming up of expensive machinery, which they could not afford (Robert, 2017) . Small-scale farmers were mostly affected by the large-scale farmers who could afford farm machine and hence offer better products.
Ways in Which Industrialization Affected Lives of Average Americans
Industrialization affected the lives of Americans both positively and negatively. As machines became largely used, people followed the path of industrialization leaving agricultural activities to die. The value of agriculture fell after the war, forcing people to move to work in industries and earn a living. Most of these industries were in the cities. This means, there was the movement of people to the cities in search of greener pasture (Robert, 2017) . The movement to the city was facilitated by the growth of transport industry. However, this movement broke social compositions of families. Another effect of industrialization, as mentioned before, is that there are better products in the market that made the living standards rise. As much as there are both positive and negative effects on the lives of average Americans, the positives seem to outweigh the negative making industrialization a helpful thing in the society.
Conclusion
Industrialization is said to have a political, societal, economical influence in America. Most of the political influences are negative since they gave rise to things like corruption and inequity. Societal influences are things like changing living patterns and finally, economical influences involve the growth of industries, and employment among others. Major groups affected by industrialization are women, immigrants, and farmers who happen to be the lower valued people in the society. The lives of average Americans have been affected positively by things like provision of job opportunities and improvement of living standards. However, there are some negative effects. Overall, industrialization seems to be a good result of the civil war in America.
References
Richard, D. B. (2016). Accumulation & Power: An Economic History of the United States. New York: Routledge.
Richard, F. E. (2014). Planning the Capitalist City: The Colonial Era to the 1920s. Richard E. Foglesong. Princeton University Press.
Robert, G. J. (2017). The Rise and Fall of American Growth. New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
