Civil War Urbanization

The years following the American Civil War, often called The Golden Age, were a time of great movement in the United States. People from all over flooded into cities to work in industry. There were loads of immigrants, but also people from the south who were moving from farms to cities. There were some positive things that came out of this. All this movement sparked the economy and made it stronger. Also, it gave people jobs in industry and with corporations, which was helpful to those who struggled to make money before. Unfortunately, urbanization wasn’t all good for the country. The sudden wave of people moving to a small space caused a lot of problems. Although it’s had economic benefits, urbanization has been negative for the United States because it has caused pollution, worsened public health, and led to horrible living conditions. One big consequence of urbanization was pollution, as well has other environmental issues. With industry being such a big part of cities, there were many factories. All these factories emitted fumes that polluted the air and were harmful for the environment. Transportation of so many

The health and safety standards of the time were not ready for the massive amount of people pouring into the cities. Cities didn’t have sewers, street cleaners, regulations on pollution, or people picking up after horses. The horses were an especially big problem. In New York in 1890, horses would leave half a million pounds of manure on the streets every day. This would run into the rivers, where people got their water. This led to contaminated water which made people sick, especially in poor areas. In poor areas, the contaminated water combined with rampant bugs, insects, and rodents caused the spread of many diseases. Diseases were spread easily because people lived in such close proximity to each other. The amount of migration in the cities forced people to live in cramped