The American economic landscape went through a spectacular shift after the end of the Civil War in 1865. Tremendous plethoric changes in technology and production paved the way for thriving employment at a time in United States history which is widely held as the most magnificent economic progression in the history of our country. This time period, more specifically referred to as the Gilded Age, is remembered for evolutions in labor and the establishing of big business trust-type corporations. Industrial revolutions throughout history go hand-in-hand with the migration of people and transportation. During the Gilded Age, the railroad was crucial to the expansion of the United States because it coincides with national growth, immigration/migration, and governmental involvement.
To begin with, developments in businesses such as agriculture and steel were directly impacted by the railroad becoming the preferred means of transportation. The United States’ transportation system had evolved from walking and horseback to steamboats, canals, and trains which enabled tremendous growth. “Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act encouraged Western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. In exchange, homesteaders paid a small filing fee and were required to complete five years of continuous residence before receiving ownership of the land” (Congress). This is worth noting because the Homestead Act altered the nation’s economic boundaries thus promoting expansion through the utilization of the railroad system. “Congress lavished grants of public land and government bonds upon internal improvements, most notably the transcontinental railroad, which completed in 1869, expanded the national market, facilitated the penetration of capital into the West, and heralded the final doom of the Plains Indians” (Foner 9-10).
In addition to economic expansion, the transcontinental railroad also played a role in the growth of immigration to the United States ultimately leading to factories and corporations across the country. “Between 1866-1900, 13,259,469 immigrants were recorded as entering the United States” (Calhoun and Daniels 76). The ever growing population of the country greatly filled the high demand for labor during the Gilded Age. “By 1873, with the United States second only to Britain in manufacturing production and the number of farmers outstripped by nonagricultural workers, the North had irrevocably entered the industrial age” (Foner 200). Despite the fact that the United States was growing so swiftly, economic problems arose in the 1870’s. Private investments were needed to fund the railroad expansion in order to pay workers and purchase materials. “In September, (1873) Jay Cooke and Company a pillar of the nation’s banking establishment, collapsed after being unable to market millions of dollars in bonds of the Northern Pacific Railroad” (Foner 217). The Panic of 1873 caused major turmoil across the nation because the success of the railroad was directly related to economic progression. “Depressions often provide the occasion for structural changes in capitalist production, and that of the 1870’s was no exception” (Foner 217).
The strategy for success in order to rebuild capital was to lower costs at every angle of production including wages. This answer was only a ticking time bomb however. “1874 witnessed bitter labor disputes on the railroads, and in the Midwestern mines, and the following year 15,000 textile workers stayed out for two months in unsuccessful opposition to wage reductions” (Foner 218). To enumerate, immigration was driven by the early economic success of the railroad, but once the railroad structure began to break down civil unrest spread almost as quickly as the economic boom had begun.
The final element that connects the Gilded Age time period to the railroad is the governmental oversight and regulation. As previously mentioned, the railroad was the preferred form of transportation for many immigrants; it also was the dedicated choice for transporting goods. Historians debate whether the entrepreneurs of the Gilded Age were innovators or “robber barons” due to the fact that they took advantage of laws that did not exist. “Subsidies to railroads or other enterprises, often criticized as the quintessence of Gilded Age misfeasance, could be seen as an innovative approach to government/business cooperation in creating and modernizing the infrastructure of an industrializing nation” (Calhoun and Daniels 259). Regardless of which side of this dispute is taken, political action was taken by the federal government to correct and implement certain absolute truths from a capitalistic perspective. “Approved July 2, 1890, The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was the first Federal act that outlawed monopolistic business practices” (Congress, National Archives ). Additionally, “Approved on February 4, 1887, the Interstate Commerce Act created an Interstate Commerce Commission to oversee the conduct of the railroad industry” (Library of Congress ).
Given these points, railroads themselves placed an enormous historical function in the Gilded Age. “The Homestead Act led to the distribution of 80 million acres of public land by 1900” (Congress). As production increased so did protests for labor rights and fair businesses practices. Perhaps there is some irony, at least historically, that the next era is called the “Progressive Era.”
Works Cited
Calhoun, Charles W and Roger Daniels. The Gilded Age Perspectives on the Origins of Modern America. Lanham,MA: Rowman & Littlefiled Publishers, Inc., 2007.
Congress, Library of. National Archives . 15 March 2022. Website. 20 Ocotber 2022. https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/sherman-anti-trust-act.
—. Primary Documents in American History:Virtual Services & Programs. 16 March 2022. Website. 20 October 2022. https://www.loc.gov/rr/program//bib/ourdocs/homestead.html.
Foner, Eric. A Short History of Reconstruction . New York;NY: Harper & Row Inc., 1990.
Library of Congress . National Archives . 09 February 2022. Website . 20 October 2022. https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/interstate-commerce-act.
