Post Civil War Summary

The editors chose these documents in order to display the growing problems America faced resulting from the Industrial Revolution. With that being said, the section begins by showing an advertisement card from Singer Sewing Machine Company in order to depict how one machine - the sewing machine - had revolutionized life for the working class as well as middle-class women. This placard thus foreshadowed the rise of the working class and substandard work environment that will appear due to the growth of sweatshops. The second visual which the editors chose, further looks into how the workforce of the post-Industrial Revolutionary world were treated. Here the editors are showing how many individuals in the American public were of the opinion that industrial workers were treated no better than slaves of the past. With that being said, this particular document focuses on women and draws a specific comparison between …show more content…
After having fought the Civil War and ultimately freeing slaves, the industrialized Americans compared their standards of living to that of the newly freed slaves and as a result, dreamt of a more prosperous life. Specifically, the workers realized the truth behind the Confederacy's counter argument in regards to slavery: that factory workers in the north where white slaves, and that their living conditions where in fact worse than the black slaves in the south. In addition, The Civil War also solidified the industrial revolution as the future of American societies and made factory work widespread and commonplace. With the end of the Civil War and the general crisis of succession over, there was time for self evaluation and quality of life assessments that fueled the Union in the Civil War. In essence, these documents collectively show the poor standards of living during the 19th century and the further problems caused by the industrial