Industrialization DBQ

Words: 491
Pages: 2

The years from 1865 to 1900 in American society were heavily impacted by industrialization. American citizens and workers gained little benefit from the effects of industrialization, but were oppressed by them. Society was negatively affected as monopolists began to take over economics, politics changed as workers began to form unions, and factory work changed due to new industrial techniques. All of these changes proved to be of little benefit to the common American citizen.

Industrialization in the late nineteenth century took place at the same time as several other long-term developments. Earlier in the 19th century, the transportation revolution created railroads to link products with consumers, leading to new markets and new centers of manufacturing. As immigrants began moving into American cities, the labor force grew for the now available industrial work. Also, the Civil War promoted the creation of new railroad ties and the manufacturing of industrial products such as steel.
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They also wanted better wages. David Wells, in Document 2, said that workers only perform one operation and if more work needs to be done, they can’t do it because they don’t know how.Document 3 cleverly illustrates the inequality of economic concentration and representation during this time period. In the Senate, by 1889, the political bosses, or the monopolists, held the absolute majority of the power to regulate government affairs. Delegates’ smallness in size portrays their inability to participate. The entrance for the people is also closed, indicating that the people could not individually influence affairs with the overbearing magnitude of the various political machines