Industrial Expansion Of The Late Nineteenth Century Essay

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The industrial expansion of the late nineteenth century was commenced by the idea of mass production of goods by machines. The United States had everything an industrial boom required and technology innovations were fueling economic growth. The economic system at this time was built on manufacturing companies with low priority in labor conditions that caused workers to rebel and create unions to express their opinions. The rise of industrialization required unskilled to semiskilled workers instead of artisans so they could be paid lower wages to decrease manufacturing costs. Employee conditions were very poor as they worked sixty-hour weeks with no benefits or injury compensations. There was an increase of women in the workforce but they were lower paid even as they did the same jobs as some men would. An issued with child labor arose as children were starting to work in factories at the age of ten. Work in coalmines, steel mills, factories, and railroads were dangerous and many times were fatal. According to the textbook the United States had the highest number of industrial injuries in the world at this time. With no health or safety restrictions to help these workers out issues started to arise and the employees felt they were treated unfairly. Management at the factories became hierarchy and employees wanted a more equal economic…show more content…
In fact railroads improved the economy but they were the first to address the labor issues on a national scale. The railroad strike of 1877 interrupted train traffic and riots started to commence. The president at the time, Rutherford B. Hayes sent in the army and hundreds were killed as well as many injured from this effort to bring awareness to the poor labor conditions. This was just the start of they many riots and strikes that would happen due to the terrible labor issues that employees faced and were tired

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