How Did The Second Industrial Revolution Affect The American Economy

The Second Industrial Revolution marked a period of profound changes to American society that were characterized by rapid growth of businesses, tenements housing thousands of residents, and an overall change in society as a whole. The Second Industrial Revolution was the time period when production shifted from handcrafted materials to mass-produced materials with machines. The rapid and unprecedented growth of the American economy created a necessity for a larger labor force, which created a number of problems that needed to be addressed. Changes to the American economy during the Second Industrial Revolution propelled the nation towards unprecedented growth but also undermined the idea of democracy and the American Dream by creating a wide

Despite existing imbalances,the extent of this wealth gap had never been seen before. The poor were crammed into filthy tenements, struggled to put a loaf of bread on the table, and often accompanied their children to a sweatshop each morning where they faced a 12 hour shift. Many of these poor people were immigrants who fled from their native countries for the fabled American Dream, only to come to something that fell far short of what they had envisioned. The situation was aggravated by the Laissez-Faire style government, which failed to address any issues, undermining the fundamental ideas of democracy. Counterwise, the rich at the top flaunted their wealth and hid the struggles of the poor at the bottom, a concentration of power in the hands of 4,000 families that combined owned more than the rest of the U.S as a whole. “The rich showed their dominance by showing how much money they could spend on things they didn’t need.” (The gilded age 2/9) Not only did the rich conspicuously consume, but they also hid the struggles of the poor at the bottom, casting a shadow over them, thus the naming of this time period being the gilded age. This difference in classes and power ultimately served to demonstrate an undermining of democracy and the idea of the American dream, shifting the American experience into one of the rich at the top or the poor at the bottom. The result of

As big businesses bloomed with figures that dominated the American picture such as John D Rockefeller, much more sinister things happened at the bottom. As families struggled to put food on the table, they treaded their way to work in the morning in droves. Nothing better awaited them there. “To reach their quota, girls had to work 84 hour weeks for a wage of 5 cents an hour”(garment industry). Not only were these people malnourished, but overworked, underpaid, and valued as something less than a human, a tool. Industrialization didn’t help with this either. An unstable economy caused by industrialization meant that workers were not sure whether they were going to get paid at the end of the day or not, going back to their already struggling families empty handed. In addition, new machines produced more goods in less time and usually only now required low skilled workers. Instead of being immersed into their job, workers became a part of the machine, a part of the production, surrounded by heavy machinery, dust, and hundreds of workers all constantly struggling in hopes to get a small raise or improvement to their lives. Not only were these workers no longer even looking for the “American Dream” most had been promised, most were struggling to cling onto the outer brims of society. Not simply a violation of democracy, but of human rights and ethical code itself. This abuse