INTRODUCTION
The American civil war begun in 1861 until 1865. It was one of the landmark events that changed the American people. The war came to an end with the passage of three important constitutional amendments. The three amendments abolished slavery, granted citizenship to freed slaves and consequently gave them the democratic right to vote. It is evident that the civil war changed the political, social and economic landscape of the American people.
During the civil war, the railway system took a leap because of its pivotal role in the war. It played a major role in transportation of troops, weapons and supplies to the battle front. Since it was the only fastest method of transport it was adopted as the best means of transport to transport the troops and supplies to the battle front.
After the civil war, the railroad network became one of the major components in enormous economic growth of America, in a period of forty years; the railroad track had expanded by nearly 220,000 miles. This had great consequences to the economy.
First, the expansion of the railroad system made possible for exploitation of minerals like iron ore, coal and timber to be possible as mining industries find it economical to transport the minerals to the market within short time and also at a reasonable cost.
It also facilitated the transport of agricultural produce from the farms to markets at the shortest time possible; this led to an increase in farming activities which in turn led to an increase in employment and utilization of idle land.
The demand for locomotives and iron tracks promoted iron mining and processing industries to thrive. Railroad companies adopted the use of steel. This stimulated the birth and growth of America’s steel industry, which played a significant role in the economy.
It also assisted other industries to flourish. For example, the use of wood for railway ties promoted the lumber industry, fuel for locomotives promoted coal industry.
Railway transport also led to a cut in transport cost as it is cheap when compared to other method of transport like buses this increase the level of integration among the people and boosted the business in the economy as people were able to travel from one town to another within a short time. To sum up, railroad provided employment for thousands of people. Employment is one of the macro-economic components that determine the economy of a nation.
WHY EFL PREVAIL OVER KNIGHT OF LABOR
Different from the knights, AFL believed that dignity was not defined through political participation, but as reward of work. The difference in the two can clearly be brought by the statement below;
“For the knights, dignity for the individual worker resided in a conception of work that harbored the possibility of participation in a democratic society, it derived legitimacy from arguments for equality. For the AFL, dignity resided in a better life for the worker and derived legitimacy from arguments for individual possibility”.
However its rapid expansion was the main reason of its downfall as it is seen in 1886 when the newly joined members organized an industrial action only few old members supported the action and stood with them in solidarity showing lack of disunity among the members, and even more damaging was when an eight hour day rally in Chicago turned violent all supporters’ of the eight hour a day was blamed, and knight labor union been one of the union that support the eight hour a day was largely blamed for the incidents because of its influence and large size. These incidents led to withdrawals of its members and made the American Federation of Labor to prevail over it.
Disfranchisement and measures taken by white to prevent blacks from voting
After the abolishment of slavery, through constitutional amendments, the whites took away voting rights of the black-Americans. This means that the blacks were not allowed to vote like the white population.
Seven southern states adopted constitutional amendments that virtually excluded blacks from participating in their democratic right of voting. This was primarily through literacy/understanding tests and grandfather clauses. In some state, white legislators continued to implement the secret ballot and poll tax requirements to achieve disenfranchisement, poll tax was to block blacks from voting because they cannot afford the tax amount that they should pay in order to vote, this excluded many poor people who are mainly blacks from exercising their democratic right to vote.
Literacy tests, if administered fairly, would have disenfranchised a considerable number of poorly educated blacks but White registrars decided who passed the exam, and they used their discretion mainly against African Americans. Registrars asked only blacks such absurd questions, which they know no one, could possibly answer.
Violence was also another means of denying the blacks their right to vote, this was achieved through intimidation of black leaders to instill fear and consequently make them give up on the push for their rights.
Revival of the suffrage women movement
Immediately after the end of the civil war in 1865 Susan Anthony a charismatic lady and a lawyer by profession comes out strongly to champion for the rights of women and the African Americans. She mainly fought for the right to vote of the women and blacks which was denied by that time. In 1869 Susan Anthony formed the National women suffrage association (NWSA), and in the same year Lucy Stone and her acquaintances founded American Women Suffrage Association (AWSA) both with the mission of fighting for the rights of women to votes and other social- economic privileges. But the women all over the country started voting in 1919 after the passage of amendment 19.
Women suffrage association did not only fought for the right to vote but fought for the broader social, economic and political reforms. They demanded for equality in employment opportunities and also right to vie for political positions. During the Late 18s and early 19s the number of women employed increased tremendously from approximately 2.6 million in 1869 to 8million in 1920.
Women also got the right to own property, get the custody of children after divorce and right to control their earnings without any interference. By 1919 the women have gotten the right to vote in almost all the states of united state of America.
Women also extended their obligation and started working for social reforms like better healthcare, universal education and abolition of child labor.
REFERENCES
Weber, Thomas. 1999. The northern railroads in the Civil War, 1861-1865. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
. Adams, Colleen. 2003. Women's suffrage: a primary source history of the women's rights movement in America. New York: Rosen Central Primary Source.
