HIS 144 The Development of The American Economy Case Study Essay

Create an essay of 500-750 words, describing the development of industry, business, and labor after the American Civil War. Address the following:
Discuss several of the industries of America’s Industrial Revolution in the post-Civil War period.
What made these leaders of industry successful?
Explain the origins and growth of labor unions.
What did Labor Unions accomplish?
Use a minimum of three of the sources provided to support your assignment and be sure to cite the sources.
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The Development of the American Economy

Civil War is one of the major events in the United States’ history. The conflict created a solution to two ultimate questions that remained unresolved after the uprising to lead to independence; whether America was to become a dissolvable confederation of autonomous states or a single nation with the sovereign national government and whether the nation would adhere to the declaration that all men were born with equal rights to liberty. After the American Civil War, there was relative peace characterized by a fear of continued destruction and loss of lives (Smith, 2018). The peace brought together different racial groups leading to the development of industries, improvement in business operation, presence of labor for different industries. The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the development of the American economy after the Civil War.

In the post-Civil War, there was the development of several industries that led to job creation and increased production of goods and services. The relative peace that came after the Civil War led to the industrial revolution in the United States. The presence of raw materials including steel, iron, timber, and oil gave rise to the expansion of more companies and industries, which facilitated steel manufacturing, refining or petroleum, as well as the production increase in the generation of power (Smith, 2018). The availability of labor made it possible for the companies to thrive to improve the production processes. The post-Civil War industrial growth changed or transformed the American society. The expansion of industries as well as the growth of revenues produced a new class of wealthy industrialists and a prosperous middle class. Also, there was the production of vastly expanded blue-collar jobs among the working class. The introduction of equal rights, as well as the integration of different states under one government, created a labor force that enhanced the processes of industrialization (Smith, 2018). A workforce made up of millions of new immigrants from different parts of the world and others from rural areas. In other words, American society became more diverse with new ideas and opinions.

Leaders of the industries in the post-Civil War became successful because they capitalized on the emerging markets and the readily available workforce (Corbett et al., 2017). They also exploited the relative peace that was brought by the agreements signed before the end of the war. The presence of raw materials also made it possible to increase production processes and revenues. With the growth of industries, there was also cheap labor that many industrialists used to maximize their profits.

Labor unions grew in numbers and power from the Civil War through the First World War, when the demands laborers and the factory workers continued to increase. With the increasing industrialization in the post-Civil War, more workers became united and formed a union to demand their grievances (Gordon, & Turner, 2018). Better pay and an effective working environment were some of the issues raised by the worker’s unions. Labor union accomplished various things, with their continuous protests, they managed to achieve better working conditions, reasonable working hours, as well as the eradication of child labor. Also, they managed to secure health benefits and aid to the retired or injured workers. Stronger unions managed to set their pay standards that employers had to comply with. Post-Civil War transformation, therefore, formed a strong foundation for economic progress.

References

Corbett, P. S., Janssen, V., Lund, J. M., Pfannestiel, T. J., Vickery, P. S., & Roberts, O. (2017). US history. OpenStax, Rice University.

Gordon, M. E., & Turner, L. (2018). Transnational cooperation among labor unions. Ithaca, N.Y: ILR Press.

Smith, A. D. A. M. (2018). American Civil War: The story you must understand to make sense of modern America. Place of publication not identified: CONNELL GUIDES.