Industrialization And The Gilded Age Research Paper
1006 Words5 Pages
Cassandra L. Graham
Student ID: 0230562
Professor Brian McCormack
United States Since 1877
8 October 2014
Subjugation of Social Groups during Industrialization and the Gilded Age Industrialization is defined as a time of social and economic change in which traditionally agrarian societies transform into industrial empires. With rapid expansion of industrial growth in America, many groups became adversely affected. These groups included, but are not limited to, those of Native American descent, farmers who had once thrived, and African Americans living in the south. Though the growth of industry created great wealth, disparity ensued along with an array of civil dilemmas and hardships. The proceeding paragraphs will illustrate the adversities…show more content… At first, Native Americans were forced westward, out of their native lands and toward the Pacific Coast, during the construction of the transcontinental railroad. Westward expansion persisted with the advent of the Gold Rush and the Homestead Act of 1862, further colonizing the west and leaving no place for the Native Americans to retreat to. Realizing this, the United States Government enacted reservation policies, allocating uninhabitable parcels of land to Native American tribes. Needless to say, the Native Americans were soon to rebel against these policies. Initial resistance occurred in forms of battles fought between the United States Government and larger Indian tribes such as the Sioux and the Apache, battles including the Battle of One Hundred Slain and the Battle of Little Bighorn. However, resistance proved futile as more Native Americans were placed onto reservations in the coming years. Life on the reservations included ample conflict between Native Americans and the United States government regarding policies enforced upon the Native American community. Officials attempted to assimilate Native Americans through a variety of techniques, such as boarding schools for children and the attempt to dismantle tribal ideals and religion. In response to such excessive oppression, many Native…show more content… In an era after the Civil War and Reconstruction, the South began to see many changes take place due to the disbandment of federal oversight that had once regulated the South’s disdain of African Americans’ new freedom. As such, increased oppression began to take hold in many forms. After slavery had been vanquished, African Americans had difficulty in acclimating to their newfound freedom, thus obtaining jobs as sharecroppers, being provided with shelter and materials required to farm the land allocated to them, which would prove to be markedly similar to slavery due to market fluctuations and inability to pay off debts accrued with white landlords. In regards to voting rights, regulations were set in place to diminish the African American voice in politics by way of poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses that excluded most African Americans from voting due to the fact that their grandfathers’ were slaves and, consequently, not able to vote at the time required for a grandfather clause. Additionally, Jim Crow, or segregation, laws were put into effect in order to suppress African Americans and separate them from the whites. With little rights to help the African American community, resistance was not only difficult, but could also prove dangerous during a time when segregation laws were coerced with massive amounts of lynching. Though the battle would be