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More changes occurred in America in the late 19th century than any other time
period. The country went through rapid expansion – from residents of its land to
cuisine to transportation of goods and people. While the last quarter of the
20th century brought many modern conveniences, the century before brought this
country things that would be nearly impossible to live without. The development
of railroads was the single greatest change in the 19th century. In only
twenty-five years, almost 70,000 miles of tracks were laid. This in itself was a
great feat, because of all the people and products used in the building of the
railroads. In order to build railroads, forests were cut down to lay the track.
Iron was needed for pins and also to build the trains. Coal and wood were needed
to run the trains, and many people were needed to build the railroads. Railroads
enabled people to see places they had never seen before. Before railroads were
built, no one would venture much past their nearest town, which was often miles
away. It took them days to travel to town in horse-drawn buggies. After
railroads were brought to the United States, people could travel halfway across
the country in the same amount of time. They were definitely more beneficial for
hauling goods than horses and wagons. A horse could only haul a wagon of oats
about twelve miles in a day, while railroads could carry many times the size
hundreds of miles, all in the same amount of time. Many more goods were produced
at this time, because they could be carried all over the country. Railroads
changed many daily habits of Americans. Their diet was diversified because foods
could be transported to places that it could not be grown. All over America
fresh produce was available year-round. Fruits, grains, vegetables, and meats
were transported to all parts of the country. People ate foods that they had
never even heard of, just because they were not available to their region.
Another major change railroads brought was standardized time. Until then, people
lived according to the sun, and watches were practically useless. One man’s
watch would be set for 1:30 and someone’s in the next town could be set for
3:00. This caused many problems for train schedules. Not having a standardized
time meant that two trains could be going in opposite directions on the same
track, which inevitably caused accidents. So, in the 1880’s, standardized time
was set up in America. This allowed everything to run smoothly on schedule.
After railroads were built, many people moved west. Many of these people were
foreign settlers, who saw the West as a land of opportunity and adventure. The
Homestead Act gave opportunity to many who wanted a new start. It said if you
moved out west, you could have 160 acres of land. If you could improve the land
after five years, it was yours to keep. Despite many troubles, almost 400,000
homesteaders made it through their five years. Most of the farms in the West
moved to commercial agriculture.
These people specialized in crops to be sold on
national and world markets instead of only to feed their families. It allowed
farmers to buy their household supplies instead of making everything themselves.
Farming instruments became mechanized, such as the reaper, which could do many
times more work than could workers. Another major change in the late 1800’s was
the Industrial Revolution. After the Civil War, the people of the south realized
they had virtually no industry. The textile industry was beneficial to go into,
because there was a lot of cotton and it called for cheap labor. Steel was
another fundamental trade because of the abundance of iron ore deposits in
Alabama. After the development of a cigarette-rolling machine, tobacco became a
key item for the South to sell to mass markets. America had a large, readily
available work force, an abundance of raw materials, a large investment capital,
and a favorable government. This all brought on the “get rich quick” mentality
to much of the country. Americans could then afford to satisfy more material
wants, a big change from barely being able to fulfill their needs. A crucial
addition to this time period was the invention of both the telephone and
electricity, which today are seen as no less than necessities. Until the
invention of the light bulb, factories could only be open from sunup to sundown.
With extended lighted hours, factories grew because they could hire more people
and stay open later. Along with these factories came an increased need for
labor. During this time there was a powerful burst of immigration, nearly twelve
million people, because they were looking for work. It was the human migration
in history. Many of these new immigrants were from Eastern Europe and the
Mediterranean. They clashed with the old immigrants, the old-stock Americans,
who were from Western Europe. Most of these new immigrants built ethnic
communities to live in. Any time a family member would move to America they
would move in with their family. Houses were crowded with people, but they
didn’t mind very much because they were with their families and friends, and
they had jobs. An additional thing that came along with factories was the idea
for planned cities. Milton Hershey’s is the most famous planned city, which was
modeled after a vision he had of the “White City.” He planned for an ideal
workforce, which would be built around a factory. Everything about the city was
planned, from the shape of streets to the layout of houses. The late 19th
century brought about a great change in the way America ran. It brought the
beginning of suburbs, the middle-class commodity homes. In a quest for
cleanliness and convenience, it brought the first toilets into homes. It brought
about the age of “conspicuous consumption,” the idea of having a lot just to
show it off. It brought the idea of the modern childhood being a time of
leisure, to have fun and not worry about taking care of the family. The
innovative technologies of the 20th century seem modest in comparison to the
changes that took place a century before. The last quarter of the 19th century
is by far the most distinctive period of growth for the United States.
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