Chapter 16 of the book “Give Me Liberty, An American History” by Eric Foner focuses on the last decade of the 19th century and studies the changes brought by the industrialization. The writer points out that the American society was faced with new challenges due to the growing industrial economy. 1886 was an important year for the Americans as they celebrated the opening of the statue of liberty in New York harbor. This statue has since been a symbol of American freedom, including the millions of immigrants during the gilded age. This age also had a great tension with arguments about freedom; some people argued that freedom was more than civic rights. According to Eric Foner, the great question during this period was what social conditions could make freedom possible (Foner Eric, 64).
This chapter has three main arguments; industrialization forced people to rethink the meaning of freedom by producing new conditions. The process of capitalist expansion of the East led to the settlement of the American West and finally the middle class as well as the working class responded to the changes due to industrialization, but the political system of the gilded age failed to direct reforms effectively (Foner Eric, 64).
There are various topics discussed in this chapter, and one of them is the second industrial revolution, which explains how the United States became a mature industrial nation. National market and innovation played a key part in transforming the United States into a mature industrial nation that it is now.
According to Foner and Henry, (405), innovation in telecommunication as well as in the transport sector was a key factor that leads to growth in industrialization. Both writers agree on the fact that Western expansion led to growth in the industry, they also point out that the expansion almost led to the breaking of the nation. The three articles concur with the fact that industrialization led to a clear class division among the people.
According to Henry, (65) national markets and innovation stimulated the growth of industrialization led to various changes in the society, including workers’ freedom, the United States produced a third of all the industrial output by 1913, the census done in 1880 for the first time pointed out that non-farming jobs had the majority of the workforce. This growth of industrialization was attributed to several factors among them:
National markets for industrial goods. It was shown that in 1803 president Thomas Jefferson expanded the nation towards the west by buying Louisiana territory from the French government for $15 million. This was a large territory, which the United States doubled; this expansion led to an increase in the population of the nation and, therefore, increases in the market for industrial goods as well as labor. There was an increase in immigration to the United States during this period, and this led to an expansion of the market for the industrial goods as well as the labor hence growth of industrialization. There were, therefore, a mass production and distribution as well as marketing of goods (Foner Eric, 66).
Innovation spirit of the people. People became innovators, and late 1800s saw advancement in technology and over 500,000 patents were issued at the beginning of 1960 for inventions in the new energy forms, lighting and electricity changed the industrial production with a great increase in outputs. This period also led to steel production, which led to improved transportation since railways and bridges could now be easily built. Supplies were therefore easily and readily delivered to the industry and products shipped to the market (Foner, 66).
There was also an improvement in communications with new inventions, for example, the telephone, this enabled the industries to operate in a better way than before. All these changes resulted in the development of the industries from the small family owned businesses to large national companies (Foner, 67).
With unceasing innovation, the labor was mechanized in the manufacturing industry making it cost effective as well as the production of cheaper goods sold in large volumes. Immigrants into the United States in the 1800s ensured a ready market for the manufactured goods as well as provide a ready labor required by the industries (Foner, 67).
Machines also enabled innovations as new products such as typewriters were invented as well as the telephone, and gasoline powered automobiles. Railway transportation was also improved, and a transcontinental railway network was constructed to connect the entire nation. This played a major role in industrialization process since all required raw materials could easily be transported to the industry and finished products distributed to the consumers in different states. There was also the development of steam engines as well as telegraph lines (Foner, 68).
Competition and consolidation of various firms. According to Henry (406), there was an economic depression between 1873 and 1897, which led to a ruthless competition in business, many corporations battled to take charge of the entire industries, to avoid competition, and around 4000 firms between 1897 formed larger corporations. Businesspersons realized that there were greater profits in large corporations hence various firms started to consolidate. Examples of such businesses were the railroad owners.
Consolidation had advantages, as well as disadvantages and railroad owners, had to make agreements known as pools to safeguard and avoid ruinous price wars. This rule discriminated some particular shippers and some geographic regions, one disadvantage was a monopoly in the business, this led to the interstate commerce Act of 1887, and the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was a result of the outcry from the public.
Captains of industry. This was a result of unequal distribution of wealth whereby only a small, wealthy group known as captains of industry or Robber barons had wealth. Such people included Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and Thomas Scott, Carnegie were in the steel industry, Scott worked for Carnegie while John D. Rockefeller dominated oil industry. They have investors, and their investment benefited the society as well as themselves (Henry, 407).
Freedom for the Workers. There was a sense of freedom to the minority workers during this period of expanding the industrial system, but most workers still faced the challenge of economic insecurity. According to Eric Foner, there was a high rate of mortality with approximately 35,000 workers, including women dying each year between 1800 and 1900. Women’s Christian temperance union (WCTU) whose mandate advocated for the prohibition of alcohol was formed during this period. Also, a women’s association called National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was formed during this period and was the first to argue about the suffering of women. This period also saw the great migration whereby many blacks moved to northern cities and participated in voting (Henry, 407).
There was also a clear class division with the rich Americans consciously living according to aristocratic lifestyle while the working class living in desperate conditions the rich continued to be rich while the poor continued to be poor. Industrialization had both advantages and disadvantages to the society, the advantages included an increase in the number of high school graduates, urbanization also increased during this period, and there was a decrease in infant mortality rates due to an improved lifestyle and increase in GDP. The disadvantages that came with industrialization includes an increase in child labor, working class were exposed to poor working conditions and poor wages, many people continued to live in poor living conditions due to separation as a result of the class (Henry, 407).
From the above information the hypothesis was proven, it is clear that market and innovation were the main influence on the growth of industries in the United States and transformed the nation from agricultural dependent economy to an industrial economy. It is also true that despite the many advantages of industrialization, there are also disadvantages. Class division is evident, and this led to the suffering of the poor while the rich enjoyed. Child labor was also an issue as children worked in the industries.
There was a need therefore to redefine the meaning of freedom, which was bringing disagreement among the people. Civic rights alone were not sufficient to bring real freedom to every citizen, and unless the matter was dealt with, the poor and middle class would continue to suffer and live in anguish. The working class was being paid low wages, which could not change their standard of living.
The laws and policies in place should also be executed well by the enforcement team since there had been a failure in the direction of reforms as effective as it should be.
To realize a real liberty, the gap between the wealthy and the poor should be closed, and equal opportunities are given to all citizens. Violence against women should also be fought and law to protect them be put in place.
