How Did The Second Industrial Revolution Affect The Economy

In the decades following the Civil War, America saw a period of rapid progress that dramatically changed the nature of America’s industries and came to be known as the Second Industrial Revolution. This period resulted in dramatic economic expansion and urbanization, and while these changes were beneficial for large businesses, they impacted others, like farmers and other small businesses, negatively. For instance, the railroad network, which was making its way across America, expanded the farming industry so rapidly that prices dropped, putting many farmers deeply into debt. Furthermore, railroad companies and the government actively exploited the influence they had over the farming industry to ensure that farmers would remain economically

One of the most significant developments in this era was the spread of railroads across the nation. Before the Civil War, railroads had existed in limited capacities; although large Northern cities were linked by an extensive system of railroads, there were no railroads linking the eastern part of the country to the west. Transcontinental railroads, first introduced in 1869, made moving people and goods across the nation easier and more efficient. The increased connection between the East and the West greatly affected farmers. The railroads made it cheaper for farmers to transport crops from their farms to different areas of the country, allowing them to sell their produce to a wider market, and gave farmers greater access to equipment manufactured in the factories in the East. In general, railroads as well as the other technological advancements that resulted from the Second Industrial Revolution, made the farming industry more productive and allowed it to expand. However, farmers’ increased productivity eventually led to a significant decrease in prices. For example, the price of corn fell from 41 to 30 cents a bushel from 1874 to 1897, and in 1894, a farmer made less money planting 24 million acres of cotton than they would have by planting just 9 million acres of cotton in 1873. This meant that while large, successful farmers

During this time, farmer’s protest movements helped to fuel social and economic change in the U.S., notably the Patrons of Husbandry, or the Grange, the Greenback movement, and the Populist Party. Founded in 1867, the organization served as a support network of sorts for struggling farmers and fought monopolistic practices in the grain industry on multiple levels. They lobbied the government for regulation of railroad rates and established their own stores with fairer prices, and some sectors pooled their resources to purchase communal farming equipment. Perhaps their greatest achievement was the ratification of the Granger Laws, which sought to regulate the prices railroads could charge and eliminate discrimination between long and short hauls, in multiple states, including Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. Eventually, court cases related to the Granger Laws played a part in the ratification of the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which required railroad rates to publicize shipping rates, illegalized short haul or long haul discrimination, and created a federal regulatory agency. The economic conditions faced by farmers during this era also gave rise to multiple political factions, including the Greenback Party and the Populist Party. The Greenback Party was founded in 1874 and, like the