Dbq Industrialization In America

Industrialization has resulted in many negative impacts on the US, that outweigh its positive. The 1800s are associated with the creation of many inventions and laws, that have improved our ways of living immensely, but that is merely the tip of the Industrialization Iceberg. During this time, people from the countryside and even outside of the U.S. would move to cities, with high hopes of a better life for them and their families. This would include not only more money but more opportunities. Unfortunately, these optimists had to face a vastly different reality. This time of progress may have been an important time of change, for our country, but it was also extremely harmful to many individuals, as well as the society as a whole. Many jobs …show more content…
As shown in Document 6, small children as young as five years old were put to work in places ranging from cotton mills to coal mines. They would be placed in various jobs, working 10 hour shifts, for six days out of the week, earning a single dollar, each day. Children in these times, worked for two reasons: The first being, that even with both parents working, the average American family was still barely able to survive off of their two-part income. This included rent, food, clothes, and other necessities. Secondly, the children’s efforts to support the family were stunted due to their pay being significantly lower than their adult co-workers. This gave employers all the more reason to hire the young workers, and in turn, raising the amount of employed children, below the age of 15, from 700,000 in 1870, to 1,630,000 in 1910. This statistic not only shows an increase in young people in the workforce, but implies a decrease in children attending schools, and getting a proper education. Instead of 5 to 7 hours for 132 days out of the year, that will give them qualifications for jobs in higher fields. They are forced into an appearingly never-ending cycle, of poverty, that shows no room for breaking, without the ultimate destruction of a family. If every member of the family did not work to pay for …show more content…
is the large wealth difference between the rich and poor. As described by Henry George, in Document 3, industrialization acts as a “wedge” between the two basic economic classes. He wrote, “Those who are above the point of separation are elevated, but those who are below are crushed down.” This means that the wealthy upper class are able to receive more benefits from industrialization, which aided to the detriment of the value of life for members of the working class. Members of the upper class viewed the concentrated distribution of wealth and economic power into their possession, as necessary, and in a way strategic. As expressed by Andrew Carnegie in Document 4, this would ensure that every business department consists of the best and most qualified in their leadership positions. While, it does seem to encourage citizens to adopt a competitive spirit, and place the country’s businesses to a high standard, it does not erase the fact that this success was only present in the lives of a small percentage of the people of the U.S. There is a quote that states, “If it’s inaccessible to the poor it’s neither radical nor revolutionary.” It expresses the fact that unless the entirety of the country can be “elevated” and experience the growing benefits- not just the wealthy, it is not a success of the country. It’s is merely a success that has taken place within our nation 's