Four hundred years ago, the British brought the first group of African slaves to Virginia. Slavery in the United States was banned only in 1865, but segregation restrictions were in force for another 100 years accompanied by other important historical events. This paper aims at discussing the post-Civil war period’s issues with the South, paces of industrialization and business development, and expansion to the West after slavery abolishment.
Southerners tried to restore slavery, interpreting the changes in Constitution in their way. Under the philosophy of white people’s predominance, southern states adopted restrictive laws, stating, for instance, that non-white people could not testify in courts against whites (Shi and Tindall 518). Besides, the South tried to rebuild the government by presenting its former members in Congress, but Republicans did not let that happen. What is more, this period was notorious for African Americans’ manslaughters by Ku Klux Klan members, some of which were plantation owners. The violence against newly acquired Americans was devastating but motivated Congress to pass the Fourteenth Amendment.
Freed slaves, attempting to run away from unbearable life in the South, headed to the West, where they were predestined to hard work at frontiers conditioned by harsh weather and wild nature. Native American tribes were moved from their territories, and their unwillingness to concede the land ended up with wars and numerous casualties on their side. By the end of the 19th century, eleven new states were created in the West. Former farmers and migrants rushed to the cities seeking better jobs. The emergence of plants and trusts became possible thanks to new technology. The greed of profit encouraged employers to assign dangerous work to people, resulting in many workplace accidents (Shi and Tindall 556). Lower costs of production due to industrialization resulted in underpaid workers and long working hours. As a result, strikes became common, and labor unions appeared.
Founded to help workers, labor unions failed to do their job correctly. In 1982 Andrew Carnegie demonstrated his corporation’s power, destroying the Amalgamated Association labor Union, banning most employees from work, and reducing salaries dramatically. All his actions contradict the philosophy promoted in the Gospel of Wealth, according to which a wealthy man’s mission was to help those who need money and work (Modern History Sourcebook). Slavery abolishment followed by industrialization brought prosperity to the country but at the expense of low wages and poor working conditions.
Work Cited
Shi, David E., and George Brown Tindall. America: The Essential Learning Edition. Vol. 2, W.W. Norton & Company, 2015.
“Modern History Sourcebook: Andrew Carnegie: The Gospel of Wealth, 1889.” Sourcebooks Fordham, 2020, Web.