Us Industry Post-Civil War United States 1870-1900

In the post-Civil War United States, between 1870 and 1900, the country’s corporations grew significantly grew in number, size, and influence. This shift in power and wealth greatly influenced the county’s economy, politics, and American’s outlook on big business. The increase in prosperity in general was considered good by many but many also felt that the corporations and big businesses of the country were being to become too powerful and borderline tyrannically. These changes and reforms, however, did vary from being considered positive or negative in the government’s and public eye and in actuality, they did have both positive and negative influences on the country in general.

Additional information that supports this thesis, but is not mentioned in the documents, includes the Railway Strikes of 1877 and Taylorism. When the Civil War ended, a boom in railroad construction ensued, with roughly 35000 miles of new track being laid from coast-to-coast between 1866 and 1873. The railroads, then the second largest employer outside of agriculture, required large amounts of capital investment, and thus entailed massive financial risk. Speculators fed large amounts of money into the industry, causing abnormal growth and over expansion. This over spending caused companies to cut wages and allow their workers to work is horrible working conditions. This example shows how if revolts by the people themselves never occurred, that the government would not step in to restrict or constrain companies in anyway. Taylorism was a theory of management that analyzed and synthesized workflows. Its main objective was improving economic efficiency, especially labor productivity. This can be considered a positive aspect and result of big business because it helped improve efficiency and allow workers with good work ethic to rise in their ranks.

There we several positive aspects of the increase in the power of corporations, big business, and industry. First of all, there was a large...