Evidence
CONSTRUCTION OF THE RAILROAD
In "Miles of railroad track in the U.S., 1860-1900" during 1860, there was around 30, 000 miles of railroad tracks in the U.S., but in 1900 there were nearly 200, 000. The railroad carried three main things around the States: people, ideas and goods. Thanks to the railroad, westward expansion and industrialization were sped up by a significant amount, and its construction created many jobs for immigrants and other workers.
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATIONS
Between the years of 1868 and 1900 Thomas Edison invented many things such as the printing telegraph and storage battery. He also patented 1,093 inventions of his own.
IMMIGRATION
According to "American Immigration by Decades, 1860s-1900s", American immigration has dramatically increased . Immigration was at the lowest in the 1860’s with 2.3 million immigrants, however in the 1900’s immigration soared to 8.8 million.
HIGHER STANDARD OF LIVING
According to the Statistics on Industrial Growth chart, the number of telephones used for every 1000 people went from 0 to 82 in forty years.
According to Thomas A. Edison, "I want a phonograph in every American home...".
According to Thomas A. Edison, "I want a phonograph in every American home...".
TECHNOLOGY MADE LIFE EASIER
According to the Superba Laundry Washing Machine ad from the Sears Catalog, the washing machine would "do more work and do it quicker and with less labor on your part".
RICH/POOR GAP
During the industrial revolution, the gospel of wealth (“Acres of Diamonds”, Russell H. Conwell) spread across the country. “You have no right to be poor. It is your duty to be rich…” It was taught that those who were poor deserved it, and that it was somebody’s own fault if they lived in poverty. This way of thinking elevated the rich and stomped down on the poor, and the gap only got wider as the robber barons grew ever richer.
WORKING CONDITIONS wERE HORRIBLE
In Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser, he explains the life in which a factory worker worked in, “The washrooms were disagreeable, crude, if not foul places, and the whole atmosphere was sordid.”