Industrialization Dbq

In the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century the Industrialization in the United States occurred and is where innovative changes happened. This period of time was portrayed mostly by the substitute of hand made production by machine production. Many social and economic alterations resulted, therefore changing the way of people's lives, such as the farmers, working class, and middle class. The society desired for new ideas of manufacturing that a variety of change given, leaving the American societies to face the burdens to endure the burdens that were occurring with industrialization.
Farmers in the United States during the industrialization were impacted by problems that affected them. The farmers in America were beginning …show more content…
There were two trade unions, which were Knights of Labor and American Federation of Labor Union. Knights of Labor was a labor union that allowed both skilled and unskilled workers, also the immigrants and African Americans. This union was very radical and was seeking for extensive modifications to the organization of capitalism. The Knights of Labor did not have many successes but they did accomplish strikes against railroad companies. The American Federation of Labor only allowed skilled workers that were white native born and are more conservative by accepting capitalism. The American Federation of Labor was able to create social awareness about the labor conditions and improve the hours, working conditions, and wages. Although the trade unions trade unions were not very effective due to the diversity issues, funds, and firing. The diversity issue the a big problem for the Knights of Labor because they allowed everyone to join their union. It was hard for the Knights of Labor to communicate to members because some were immigrants and could not speak or understand English. Also skilled workers and unskilled workers had a problem with each other because both groups had different interests. Both unions had a fee for people to become members and many could not afford to pay that …show more content…
People in the middle class were owners or managers of small businesses, teachers, lawyers, and doctors. Owners of small businesses were treated unfairly when it came to trusts by big companies because the small businesses would receive few profits. For example John D. Rockefeller, who created the Standard Oil Company, was working towards to control all aspects of the oil industry. Rockefeller was able to "convince or coerce other local oil operators to del their stock to him" (Faragher and Buhle 530). In 1882 the Standard Oil Trust was established and contained over ninety percent of the nation's oil industry. The middle class lived in the city where all production was happening and where the working class lived. Living in the city was very unsanitary by causing health problems from the pollution and their home because the city would “ continue to dump sewage into nearby bodies of water” (Faragher and Buhle 542), which ended up in people's indoor plumbing. The way the middle class solved their problems is by creating the Sherman Antitrust Act that allowed free competition in business and an illegal act to monopolize in dealing. The middle class also moved from the city to the suburbs where they were far from the noise and had privacy. Although it was a far drive for the people who