How Industrialization Happened in America

Industrialization When Industrialization (1865-1920) came to the United States after the Civil War (1861-1865), it brought positive and negative impacts on the social, political, and economic aspects of the American life and society. One negative social impact was that men like Andrew Carnegie, James Fisk, John D. Rockefeller, Edward Harriman, and J.P. Morgan developed crushing monopolies in manufacturing, transportation and finance that would impact every other aspect of life in America from the 18th century onward (Griffin, 2010; McNeese, 2009).

Carnegie, for example, revolutionized the means of production regarding the steel mills and set up the U.S. as a major manufacturer of steel-based products. This serviced the military, the transportation industry (cars, railroads), the telecommunications industry (wires, cables), and the construction industry (the high rises of major cities). Without Carnegie's influence in the Industrial Revolution, none of this could have come into being. Carnegie himself relied on the wealth and banking of the dynastic elite, which had overtaken Europe.

Carnegie's enterprise, just like Rockefeller of Standard Oil and Harriman of Union Pacific, was funded by Jacob Schiff of Kuhn Loeb, which served as part of the banking cartel. Schiff would also help to fund the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917 -- a point that may appear to be incidental but which actually underscores the importance of the Rothschild banking cartel: it essentially financed the Revolutions of the major world powers (Mullins, 1983; Sachar, 1990) and changed the face and function of society.

America went from being largely agricultural to being largely industrial to being, finally, largely financial. A positive social impact, however, was that in the era of Industrialization urbanization came into full swing: this was the rise of the major cities in America, which served as points of historical development, with places like Los Angeles becoming known for entertainment, New York for fashion, and Chicago for meat packing. These cities gave shelter and jobs to millions.

In geographical terms, the influence of the Industrial Revolution may be seen in the railroad monopolies of men like E. Henry Harriman. While the railroads also had positive and negative effects (positive -- transportation became easier; negative -- the monopoly proved detrimental to small business, as big manufacturers could not take their market share more easily). Harriman scooped up control of the Union Pacific and the Southern Pacific, thus controlling large swaths of transportation across the nation and thus having a great effect over interstate commerce.

In the business of shipping and receiving of goods, Harriman was a titan and by working with Morgan to set up trusts that allowed him to control the flow of commerce, Harriman acted as yet another front for the wealthy elites who were transforming the nation from behind the scenes (McNeese, 2009, p. 64).

He also helped to change the way society functioned, by eliminating the time over distance between shipment and reception, thus speeding up the rate of commerce and changing the overall economy by broadening the market for major corporations, which could afford to manufacture and ship to retailers. This set the stage for the conflict between local suppliers and big market suppliers. J. P.

Morgan helped to shape the relationship between politics and fundraisers by establishing the bank whose leaders would eventually advocate the Federal Reserve Act and the passing of the income tax (Griffin, 2010). Morgan also played a part in the politics of money by allowing President Cleveland to borrow millions of dollars in gold during the Panic of 1893 when a run in gold reserves caused the economy to hemorrhage.

This event would go on to play a part in the reasoning behind the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913, which was viewed as a positive by some but not by all. The "stability" that the Fed promised was soon shown to be a fraud with the economic collapse at the end of the 1920s after a decade of easy credit. Jews were especially instrumental in the era of the Industrial Revolution.

They were migrating from Europe to the cities of America at the time and because of their close-knit ethnic ties were able to overcome obstacles felt by other immigrants and individuals. Jews reinvented themselves in Hollywood and began an entertainment industry that also grew to become a news industry, which was also backed by the same wealthy elites who backed the robber barons (Sachar, 1990).

African-Americans, after Reconstruction, moved northwards to urban areas like Harlem and by the end of the Industrial Revolution era, were making a sensation for the same wealthy elites, who backed their "voice" and initiated the Harlem Renaissance. This Renaissance proved attractive to the Anglo-Saxons, who were attracted by the exotic images, stories, sounds and expressions of the new movement.

This culminated in the jazz following, which had its own Hollywood film made of it, and which later grew into rock 'n' roll, with Elvis adopting the crooning demeanor of many of the black musicians, whose method and approach was mimicked by the white musicians who sought to cultivate their own counter-culture following on which to capitalize. Women also felt the effects of the Revolution as war followed upon war thanks to the build-up of the U.S. Navy using Carnegie's steel.

The Banana Wars were fought at the end of the 19th and start of the 20th century and WWI followed soon thereafter. Women were moved to push for suffrage and to gain equal rights. This later grew into the Women's Movement, but prior to this in the early 20th century, women led the Prohibition Movement, which culminated in the banning of alcohol in 1920.

Women were an effective voice in the last stages of the Industrial Revolution, and helped pave the way for the inauguration of gangsterism during the Era of Prohibition as bootleggers and Syndicate members rose to power throughout the Roaring Twenties in a response to the scofflaws who flaunted the 18th Amendment and demanded their spirits.