History/Industrial Boom Essay

During the period of 1860-1900, there were many factors that helped to promote America’s industrial growth. There were many obstacles that kept America from industrializing such as scarce labor, plentiful land, and expensive labor. Once immigrants started to pour in they would work for a lot less money making industrialization possible. With more manpower, for less money they could increase the production at any place. The building of railroads and machines greatly helped industrialization along with the immigrants working for less money. A huge factor in industrialization between 1860-1900 was immigration. About 23 million people came from other countries and immigrated to the U.S in that time. Most of these immigrants had no skill and no rep in America when they got here. They worked for little to no money making labor very cheap and affordable for industries. The immigrants allowed companies to make money by treating them unfairly and using the money they made to further bu ild their company. Having a machine do a man’s job was great for industrialization. It allowed for a factory to save money and only pay one man, to run the machine, and have the machine do the work of ten men. Having machines made production a lot faster and allowed for less product to spoil saving the factory or company money. The machines were powered by either coal or water power, which were both very cheap. Factories found a way to increase efficiency while also saving money. During the period of time between 1860 and 1900, there were many needs in industry. These needs included communication, natural resources, power sources, cheap labor, and applied technology. According to a pie graph of American in the 1850s, 52% of all power came from animals while only 35% came from water and coal. By the 1900s, the use of water and coal more than doubled to 73% of all power sources. Transportation such as the railroad system was a very important part of industrialization. Transporting material goods could be sped up and could be delivered to farther places. Trains could transport finished goods and raw materials to processing plants. Railroads were a lot faster than wagons, the previous way of transporting goods in America. In the 1860 Republican platform it is evident that the Republican party of the Federal Government was in control during most of the country’s industrial boom. Their platform wanted to impose tariffs, or taxes, on foreign goods to keep America’s spending within its own borders. They also supported the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. The railroad allowed goods to be sold throughout the whole country, which in turn increased production and sales. At that point in time, as well as today, time equaled money. Travel times were cut, and therefore money was raked in more than ever before. According to a graph, of miles of railroad track in the U.S from 1860-1900, by 1900, there was almost 200,000 miles of railroad track in America. This was an increase of over 160,000 miles from 1860. The United States was â€Å"on track† to becoming a huge industrial nation. Many different factors between 1860 and 1900 contributed to the industrialization of America. Immigration allowed for cheap and common labor. Railroad systems allowed for faster transportation of goods. Machines found ways to save money and increase production while saving money. These factors along with Republicans being in favor of industrialization allowed for an industrial boom in America.