Lee Taylor HIS434 Dr. Gannon 25 April 2008 As the American Civil War began in 1861 the use of railroads throughout the United States was in its initial stages of development. The idea of locomotives running on a pre-laid track of steel rails for transportation had only been familiar to the United States since the late 1820’s. Many of the early railroads served as connectors for small cities to transport goods to and from locations. During the 1850’s railroad construction in the United States underwent tremendous growth. [1] These short railroads connecting nearby cities turned into long distance routes. By the beginning of the Civil War many large cities in the North such as Washington, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago were all connected.
All of these issues helped to shape the American nation and its people. After the Civil War, the development of improved industrial methods and the arrival of masses of immigrants eager for factory jobs launched a new era of mass production in the United States. The nation turned its efforts toward economic recovery and expansion. America's abundant supply of natural resources, such as coal and oil, encouraged investment. Much of this investment came from already industrialized countries like Germany, Great Britain, and France whose business owners looked for new investment opportunities in the United States.
Introduction The rise of industry in the United States in the 19th century, well before the actual Industrial Revolution, was primarily a matter of geography accommodating emerging need. States were defined by set boundaries that caused much debate because, before railroads were plentiful, nothing was more necessary for commercial growth than water transportation such as canals and steamboats, and Eastern states competed for borders giving them the greatest access to rivers. At the same time, new technologies enabled efficient ways for mining, and those regions rich in ore were likely to become important centers of industry. Lastly, there was the matter of catering to the imposing new cities of the East, particularly New York and Chicago. The country was growing quickly, but that growth was primarily based on what advantages were most available in each location.
America had the resources to solely rely on agricultural, but the incoming of new inventions made it harder to pass up a great opportunity and America had to use these innovations to their advantage. The Industrial Revolution brought many settlers to America to work in the growing factories. More workers meant more production, thus creating an economic boom in America. This economic boom was also the start of prosperity for the people in America. The fact that people would travel West and have a new way of life using the new technology and at the same time being able to have land that was all their own.
The current state of railway transport in the United States is perhaps not so romantic as it’s past. The United States has the most sophisticated and efficient freight railway system in the world (Kurtenbach, 2010). America moves nearly 37 billion dollars’ worth of freight by rail per year (nationalatlas.gov, 2010). Our freight rail system is the envy of the world. But the state of the country’s passenger rail system is another story, entirely.
What was the key invention that helped America chug ahead in the industrial race around the world? The railway system ignited many other inventions in the last third of the nineteenth century, and helped America grow into the strong industrial nation it is today. The railway system helped “the movement of settlers further and further west accompanied by technological advances led to the major growth of cities and industries across the American frontier,” (Transportation and the Expansion of America). Railroads improved how we communicated as a nation, and helped us transform our economy for a regional agrarian economy to a national industrial economic superpower. The communication in America increased immensely due to the growth of the railways.
This quickly sparked a virtual mania for building railroads in Europe and the United States after 1830. The 1800s saw incredible growth in the miles of track being laid. In 1830,
Were Nineteenth-Century Entrepreneurs Robber Barons? Between 1860 and 1914 the United States was transformed from a country of farms, small towns, and modest manufacturing concerns to a modern nation dominated by large cities and factories. During those years, the population tripled, and the nation experienced astounding urban growth. A new proletariat emerged to provide the necessary labor for the country’s developing factory system. Between the Civil War and World War I, the value of manufactured goods in the United States increased twelve fold, and the capital invested in industrial pursuits multiplied 22 times.
and How could it be compared to our days? After the civil war the United States became a more powerful nation and united, but this was only the first step to become an industrialized country and a world leader. In order to become an industrialized country they needed to work as much as they could, a lot of laborers left their agriculture jobs to start working in factories. Unfortunately the conditions of labor were not good for the most part of workers. In 1877 the United States began to build a railroad that was going to go from coast to coast.
ECO 306 Homework Ⅰ There have been plenty of researches by different economists that supported the idea that the railroad is an indispensable condition for modern American economic development. Indeed, evidence showed that cities become more metropolitan and more economically connected with each other after the construction of the railroad since 1840. However, Fogel believes that these evidence fail to establish the causality between the railroad and internal market development. In order to test whether railroad is really essential to American economy, Fogel sets up a counterfactual world where railroad is not an option so that people can only choose canals or wagons to transport. Based on his assumptions and qualitative evidence he computes