How Industrialization Changed American Society

During the 19th and 20th centuries, America’s society experienced drastic changes that transformed the country as a whole. Some of the changes that occurred during this time included migration and immigration, changes in the roles of the government, and the rise of imperialism. However, while these changes caused major impacts on the United States, industrialization impacted America more drastically than any other change that occurred. Industrialization changed the lives of citizens during this historical period of time, and the changes that occurred can still be seen in the way America functions as a society today. Therefore, industrialization was the aspect of American society that changed the most during the 19th and 20th centuries due to

Hearing that there were several opportunities for work in the North caused many families to move to the North in search of jobs and a better life. However, these new jobs mainly involved working in sweatshops, which consisted of low pay, long hours, and horrible working conditions. This urbanization also caused families to pile into dumbbell tenements and live together in horrible living conditions, such as no air conditioning, invasion of privacy, and only a couple bathrooms in the entire building for all of the families living there to share. Living in such tight spaces also caused disease to spread like wildfire through these apartments, and several people died due to the lack of medicine available. Also, due to vertical integration, buildings started expanding up and the need for people to build taller buildings increased. Thus, roughnecks began to emerge. Roughnecks are individuals that would travel from beam to beam to build buildings, balancing on beams hundreds of feet in the air without any safety harness to keep them from falling to their death. As a result of this dangerous risk, several roughnecks died. However, because of the bravery the roughnecks expressed, the height and economy of business increased and industrialization began to expand even

In the South, many believed that industrialization could help build the economy the way that industrialization helped the North’s economy grow. Thus, railroads began to attract attention and offered jobs for many citizens. Railroads provided a fast transportation system that helped goods travel from one place to another in a short amount of time. Railroads also attracted the attention of African Americans and provided jobs to immigrants, such as the Chinese. The Transcontinental Railroad, an 1862 Act of Congress, was a train route that stretched across the United States and was the project of two railroad companies; the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific. The Union Pacific was built eastward from Sacramento, California and the Central Pacific was built westward from Omaha, Nebraska. The two lines of the Transcontinental Railroad met at Promontory Point,