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How Did The Rapid Industrial Growth A Curse For America

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From the era of Reconstruction to the end of the 19th century, the United States underwent an economic transformation marked by the maturing of the industrial economy, the rapid expansion of big business, the development of large-scale agriculture, and the rise of national labor unions and industrial conflict. America was home to the three key factors of production: land, labor and money, which allowed America to industrialize very quickly. The rapid industrial growth was a curse for America because the idea of Social Darwinism impacted the way big business operators thought; this led to hazardous labor conditions which put workers at risk and the relationship between businesses and government created a corrupt bribing system. Big business owner’s priority was to make a profit, most did not care who they hurt to achieve this goal. The idea of Social Darwinism became popular among these owners, they believed that the government should do as little as possible to interfere with …show more content…

Although state laws regulated the activity of companies, there were no federal laws that did. Large companies, such as Standard Oil, took over the markets and gained extreme wealth through vertical and horizontal consolidation. Yet, many large corporations reached immense success through the corrupt bribing system. A letter from the SP’s representative in Washington was leaked making it clear that he considered members of Congress to be for sale. He stated, “It costs money to fix things so that I would know his bill would not pass. I believe with $200,000 I can pass our bill, but I take it that it is not worth that much to us,” proving companies would bribe the government into keeping them at the top. Therefore, this proves that rapid industrial growth was a curse for the America because government did not fully regulate business, which lead to

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