industrial revolution 2

A detailed Summary of industrial revolution 2

The second industrial revolution started in the late nineteenth century and continued through the 1930's. The revolution provided great opportunities as well as troubling times. The United States citizens struggled to gain control over their lives in an industrialized economy. Moreover, the second industrial revolution changed the lives and attitudes of the working class.

The American working class benefited and also fell victim of the rise of industrial capitalism. Most of the workers even experienced a rise in the standard of living. At the same time they experienced harsh and dangerous working conditions. The workers felt powerless. In the late nineteenth century, the demand for factory labor grew and so did the industrial work force. Immigration was the source of expansion. The new immigrants were coming to America to get away from poverty and oppression in their homelands. With the coming of these new groups of immigrants came constant ethnic tensions. They were also paid very poorly and began to replace higher paid British. Irish, and American workers.

American workers had very little job security. Many of the workers lost their jobs because of technological advances. Very few workers were ever very far fr

Many employers felt the need to increase the use of women and children in the workforce. They could hire the women and children for lower wages than adult males. Women worked in almost all areas of industry. They worked for wages far less than necessary for survival. An astonishing number of young children under sixteen years of age worked in factories and fields. Eventually, laws were set for an age minimum of twelve years.

With almost nowhere to turn, American workers looked to progressivism. Progressivists believed in the concept of progress and a time for change. The progressivists demanded reform in a number of ways. They felt that the economy needed to be reformed in order to regulate monopolies and to investigate trusts and big business. The need for political reform was also very great. Municipal and state-level governments were under constant attack. The progressivists wanted to eliminate political parties from everyday life. Another important type of reform was the reform of social justice. Social gospel became a controversy in society. A group of journalists called the "muckrakers" were dedicated to exposing scandal and injustice. The final type of reform was morality reformations. The temperance crusade brought popularity to the WCTU. The WCTU gave alcohol a very bad, immoral name. Reformers agreed that the growing immigrant population was crea

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Approximate Word count = 935
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History