Essay

The Industrial Revolution was a time period of rapid economic growth, technological advancement, and haphazard change. The mining, manufacturing, agricultural, and transportation industries all benefited from technological advancements. Individuals, such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and Alexander Graham Bell, amassed great wealth and political influence, yet the masses were impoverished and powerless (Rosenzweig, et. al. , p.27-28 ). Industrial Capitalism created widespread poverty in The United States (Rosenzweig, et. al. , p.32 ). Labor Unions and organizations formed to combat the imbalance of wealth and power. Racism, gender bias, economic fluctuations, and government influence are the factors that caused the decline of the labor movement. Each aspect alone could not have grounded the various unions and organizations. The culmination of these impediments created the circumstances that ended the labor movement.

During The Industrial Revolution, the working class in America was composed of numerous races and ethnicities. The United States lacked American workers and relied upon a foreign labor supply (Rosenzweig, et. al. , p. 36-37). At the advent of The Industrial Revolution, “The foreign-born consistently made up roughly a seventh of the American population. Within the labor force, however, they were a much larger presence (Brody, David p. 103).” Each ethnicity primarily fell into a specific niche of the American labor force. Immigrants of Chinese decent were the workers that constructed the thousands of miles of railroad track (Rosenzweig, et. al. , p. 68). Labor of this nature was dangerous, physically taxing, and low-wage. Western Europeans were experienced industrial workers and possessed skill in artisan work (Brody, David p. 104). Eastern European Jews flocked towards needlework because the tasks conformed to religious beliefs and family traditions (Brody, David p.106). Mexicans found work in agricultural labor as well as...