Industrialization in America, 1876-1900
In the late 1800’s, the world witnessed an unprecedented migration of people from all over the world to America. This movement was occasioned by the search for jobs, escape from famines, escape from political and religious oppressions, increased taxes among other host of causes from the immigrant’s homelands as Gereffi and Wyman (1860-1876) documents. These massive immigration was due to the fact that America, at the time, was considered a land of opportunity. America at the time also witnessed a massive rural to urban migration.
The pictures below illustrate this massive population explosion in America in the late 19th century and the resultant rise in the number of factories as the country become industrialized.
With these mass movements of people, the dawn of industrialization in America was thus realized. Most industries came about in the late 1800’s with the help of the cheap labor from the immigrants as Gereffi and Wyman (1872) documents.
Mulberry-Street-New-York-City (source: National Museum of American History)
Factories in 19th century America (Source: National Museum of American History)
Population explosion at the time also ensured a ready market for most industrial products. Industrialization in the late 1800’s also witnessed the dawn of mass transit, a rise in the number of residential apartments, increased air pollution, emergence of new health concerns among others. Therefore, understanding industrialization in America in the 1800’s helps us to embrace its role in setting on course the onset and progression of other related advancements.
Abraham Lincoln Elected president
Abraham Lincoln was America’s 16th president who was elected into office in 1861 until his assignation in 1865. Through the life and presidency of President Lincoln in the late 1800’s, insights into the dark days of America can be obtained. Elected into the House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln was also instrumental in the formation of the Republican Party. He secured presidential nomination under the Republican Party and would later on run and win the U.S presidential elections. Lincoln’s presidency was marked with numerous hurdles that defined America’s history.
As Lamon (812) documents, he was responsible for the abolition of slavery as well as steering America through its bloodiest times in the name of the American Civil War.
The picture below equally illustrates this unique role played by Lincoln through the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment which helped abolish slavery in America. It illustrates the signed document and resolution to end slavery.
Source: www.history.com
Lincoln was also the first president to be assassinated in America’s history. Therefore, through President’s Lincoln life, lessons of America’s political history as well as its fundamental moral milestones in the 19th century can be learned.
America’s Civil War
The Civil War was the one of the darkest moments in America’s history according to historian Salisbury (1047). The war was fought from 1861 to 1865 in order to determine the union’s survival. Out of the 34 states in 1861 America, 7 states in the South which owned slaves declared their secession from the Union in order to form the Confederate States of America. The number of states from the South who took part in the secession would later rise to 11. The factious issue of slavery thus precipitated slavery in America in the 19th century.
Several issues also contributed to the civil war namely sectionalism, protectionism and state rights. Sectionalism, according to Salisbury, (1049) is reference made to the varied politics, social norms, economic structures and political views that existed between the South and the North in America in the 1800’s. Sectionalism heightened in the late 1800’s with increased urbanization, industrialization in the North while the south focused more on agriculture with the help of slave labor. At the same time in the late 1800’s, the south argued that member states had the right to leave the union at the time of their pleasing. These, among other reasons, fuelled the Civil War in America in this complex mix of political religious and social maneuvers.
Source: National Museum of American History
(Source: National Museum of American History)
Jefferson Davis- president of the Confederate states of America
Perhaps the most significant personality other than President Lincoln in the late 1800’s was Jefferson Finis. He was a crucial figure of the time and shaped America’s history. He not only served as a Representative and Senator of Missisippi, Jeferson Davis served as the only President of splinter group of confederate states which sought to split from the Union. His significance in history allows us to under the events that took place around his time including the civil war, and the potential split of the union. His portrait below, helps us to understand his persona.
(Source: National Museum of American History)
Literature in the 1800’s -Harriet Beecher Stowe
The role of literature in the sunset years of 19th century America cannot be overstated. At the core of the literal world was one Harriet Stowe. Harriet Stowe was not only a writer but also an anti-slavery crusader from the mid 1800 to the later years of the 19th century. Her most influential work of literature- “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was particularly acclaimed as a best seller at the time within only the first year of its publication (Stowe 291). It is however the book’s content that was revolutionary. The book documented the injustices that slavery brought and was thus a voice to the voiceless. Through the literary works of Stowe, insights on the injustices that bedeviled America in the 1800 can be learned.
The picture below illustrates the first and initial cover copy of Stowe’s book as portrayed in the government’s literary archives. Through this picture, insights in to Stowe’s work that aid in ending slavery can be seen.
Source: Literary Archives (https://archive.org/details/uncle_toms_cabin_librivox)
Conclusively, the documented events, personalities and concepts were thus momentous in shaping the present day America way back from the late 19th century.
Works cited
Gereffi, Gary, and Donald L. Wyman, eds. Manufacturing miracles: paths of industrialization in Latin America and East Asia. Princeton University Press, 2014.
Lamon, Ward. The Life of Abraham Lincoln. Applewood Books, 2012.
Salisbury, W. Allen. The Civil War and the American System: America's Battle with Britain, 1860-1876. Executive Intelligence Review, 2015.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin: Presenting the Original Facts and Documents Upon which the Story is Founded. Courier Dover Publications, 2015.
