Steamer Trunks and Social Class in Late Nineteenth Century and Early Twentieth Century America

559 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Social class vs. poverty

Dating back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, steamships were ideal for travel. Steamships were wildly popular during this time because they were an advanced transportation that was more efficient than a railroad because it traveled across sea. The steamboat helped advance trade along the Mississippi and brought new towns, new industry, and new jobs. During this time, America was divided into social classes based on social backgrounds and socioeconomic factors. Although the steamship died, the steamer trunk still lives on. The upper American class was very fond of steam travel. Steam boats attracted the wealthy because of its superior furnishing and build. Typically, it was even fancier than their houses at home. Each room on the boat was more ornate and comfortable, and was admired more than a hotel. The upper class also enjoyed this travel because of its great customer service. It provided travelers with a waiter who was at their assistance at all times to deliver food or help with any needs. The wealth of the upper class influenced their attitude towards the ...

Show More
Related

  • Life in Appalachia from a Pre and Post-Civil War Perspective

    823 Words  | 2 Pages

    To urban middle-class Americans of the late 19th century, nothing symbolized the progress of the American civilization quite as much as the railroad. Not only had the great surge in railroad construction after the Civil War helped to create a modern market economy, but the iron horse itself seemed to embody the energy, force, and technology of the new order. In fact, the fanning out of railroads from urban centers was an integral part of the modernizing process, tying the natural and human resources of rural areas to the industrializing core.

    Read More

  • Railroads and Their Rising Impact on the 19th Century American Society

    2238 Words  | 5 Pages

    Ophem, Marieke Van. "The Iron Horse: the impact of the railroads on 19th century American society."

    Read More

  • Benefits of the Market Revolution on the Economy

    616 Words  | 2 Pages

    Transportation improved from the market revolution through many new inventions, railroads, steamboats, and canals. Pressure for improvements in transportation came at least as much from cities eager to buy as from farmers seeking to sell. The first railroad built was in 1792, it started a spread throughout the states. Cumberland which began to be built in 1811 and finished in 1852, known to be called the national road stretched over five hundred miles from Cumberland to Illinois. By 1821, there were four thousand miles of turnpike in the United States. Turnpikes were not economical to ship bulky goods by land across long distance across America, so another invention came about. Robert Fulton created steam boats in 1807; he named his first one ‘Clermont.’ These steam boats allowed quick travel upriver against the currents, they were also faster and cheaper. The steamboats became a huge innovation with the time travel of five miles per hour. It also stimulated agricultural economy of west by providing better access to markets at lower cost. While steamboats were conquering the western rivers, canals were being constructed in the northeastern states. The firs...

    Read More

  • The Significant Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad on American Society

    1439 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the most ambitious engineering projects, economic stimulants, and efficient methods of transportation in the early United States. If completed, the United States would be truly be united from east to west. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Transcontinental Railroad helped develop new opportunities for many aspects of American life.

    Read More

  • U.S. History 1877-1933

    1025 Words  | 3 Pages

    This time period also saw many new inventions that would change American society forever. Such things as the telephone, radio, and television are things that the average present day American could not imagine living without. But a hundred years ago people were amazed at such things. Railroads were now able to bring people all over the country while steam ships could bring you all around the world and airplanes could let you fly. The horseless carriage turned into the automobile.

    Read More

  • Transcontinental Railroad Essay

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 1800’s, America was going through a time of invention and discovery known as the Industrial Revolution. America was in its first century of being an independent nation and was beginning to make the transition from a “home producing” nation to a technological one. The biggest contribution to this major technological advancement was the establishment of the Transcontinental Railroad because it provided a faster way to transport goods, which ultimately boosted the economy and catapulted America to the Super Power it is today. Throughout the beginning of the 19th century, America was still being harassed by her former mother country, Britain.

    Read More

  • The Effects of Class Structure in the 1920's

    1542 Words  | 4 Pages

    The emerging inequitable class systems and antagonisms of the nineteen twenties saw the traditional order and moral values challenged, as well as the creation of great wealth for few and poverty for many. The Great Gatsby, written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald, explores the causes and effects of the unbalanced class structures. Fitzgerald outlines the idea that the desire to accumulate wealth and status is a common ambition amongst the lower classes; when that desire is reached, the traditional upper class is challenged by the emerging newly wealthy, which finally leads to destructive consequences. By creating rigid class structures, traditional upper class, new wealth, and the poor in The Great Gatsby, it is shown that the desire to further or maintain socio-economic status leads to immoral behaviour such as criminal activity, adultery, and murder.

    Read More

  • Cornelius Vanderbilt's Influence On Society

    551 Words  | 2 Pages

    “After a year in the railroad industry Vanderbilt reportedly made 25 million.”7 Sometime after he expanded his the company to the westward side of the U.S gaining Michigan southern railway, the lake shore, and the Canada railway. How Cornelius Vanderbilt’s product influenced society is cause the railroad is one of the methods of transportation not the most efficient way of traveling anymore but a big number of people use it all over the world. Cornelius Vanderbilt was very successful at what he did because he was ruthless, smart, and new how to run his company. Also because at the time of his death he was worth about or more than “100 million dollars”8. Today his product is still highly used today by millions and millions of people day in and out. Why it still exists is because people use the train as transportation whether it is going home, to work, to school, people won’t always have cars to use or afford taking airlines. There are a few one or two interesting facts about Vanderbilt is that the railroad “was built by a majority of Chinese, Irish, and Italian.” 9 Also that “Vanderbilt had married his cousin France Armstrong but dealt with some controversy.”

    Read More

  • Impact Of The Market Revolution In 1800

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the first half of the nineteenth century, the Market Revolution was famous in America. It was an economic revolution marked by industrialization, improvements in transportation, and expansion. People had difficulties selling their production because of the poor transportation and many family lived in the self-sufficient mode. However, this problem was solved because of the invention of the steamboat,

    Read More

  • The American Transcontinental Railroad

    3285 Words  | 7 Pages

    The transcontinental railroad would eventually become a symbol of much-needed unity, repairing the sectionalism that had once divided the nation during the Civil War. The construction of the transcontinental railroad was also an extension of the transportation revolution. Once commodities such as gold were found in the western half of America, many individuals decided to move themselves and their families out west in search of opportunity. Not only did the railroad help to transport people, but it also it allowed for goods to be delivered from companies in the east. In the end, the American transcontinental railroad created a national market, enabling mass production, and stimulated industry, while greatly impacting American society through stimulated immigration and urbanization.

    Read More

  • Social Class In 1950's America

    173 Words  | 1 Pages

    As technology evolves and automates more tasks in the labor field, it contributes to the unemployment of Americans. During the 1950s, technology was introduced to the American household: from the radio and the television screen to the automobile, technology began to integrate into the average American lifestyle. Behind the production of these products is an assembly line that provides job opportunities to working-class Americans. Industries that help sustain the quality of these products, such as gas stations, also provide job opportunities. These opportunities require Americans to complete certain labor tasks for their job, such as refilling a gasoline tank as a gas station attendant (Knickerbocker Productions, “Social Class in 1950's America”).

    Read More

  • The Market Revolution

    1044 Words  | 3 Pages

    Roads, steamboats, canals, and railroads lowered the cost and shortened the time of travel. By making these improvements, products could be shipped into other areas for profit (Roark, 260). Steamboats set off a huge industry and by 1830, more than 700 steamboats were operating up and down the Ohio and Mississippi River (Roark, 261). Steamboats also had some flaws, due to the fact of deforesting the paths along the rivers. Wood was needed to refuel the power to the boat.

    Read More

  • How Did Robert Fulton Build The First Commercial Steamboat?

    528 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, steamboats went upstream faster.”movement upstream became much easier”(ohiohistorycentral.com). This was a critical development, because other boats went upstream rather slowly since they were battling the current. A steamboat could take people and cargo both directions. It was also faster to use steamboats. A round trip from New York City to Albany and back was only 62 hours“(ohiohistorycentral.com). The trip took thirty-two hours, roughly one-quarter of the time that the voyage had previously taken with a wind-powered vessel. The return trip, going with the current, took only thirty hours.” This seems slow now, but back then it was much faster. This speed was significant since steamboats could move cargo and people about 4 times faster than before. People could get where they wanted to be, and people could export cargo with more efficiency. Again, the trip upstream took only 2 more hours, which was great compared to wind-powered

    Read More

  • How Transportation Changed The American Economy Essay

    1103 Words  | 3 Pages

    The developments in transportation changed the American economy and society from 1820 to 1860 in ways of an increased land value, faster traded goods, new cities, and a deeper sense of nationalism. Before these changes came about, the US economy and society was based on an agrarian setting. After this time frame, American Society turned into a capitalist marketplace. In the northern US, there were few changes in terms of industry because they were involved in an industrial revolution. However, the new Transportation Revolution blasted the West into an agricultural empire that provided consumable exports to the other parts of the country.

    Read More

  • Technology in Transportation

    3216 Words  | 7 Pages

    Throughout history, getting things (and people) where they need to go has been a pretty basic need. The Romans needed to move stone to build their aqueducts; the nobles wanted luxury spices and silks brought to them from far off lands; ancient cities needed to move vegetables and grains from the farms, to storage, and then to the cities to feed the populace. Transportation has always been one of the backbones of every great civilization, without the ability to move goods long distances, your 'culture' was only the distance you could go conveniently to get what was necessary for survival that you could not produce. The industry boomed during the railroading system and hasn't slowed since. First, there were ships and horse-drawn carriages, then cars, now huge 40 ton trucks and jumbo air-liners.

    Read More

More about Steamer Trunks and Social Class in Late Nineteenth Century and Early Twentieth Century America

Open Document