Introduction
The period of industrialization in the United States of America in the 19th century was marked by an array of systematic changes in social, economic, legislative, and political domains, ultimately changing society’s standards. In particular, due to the migration of newly emerged workers from rural agricultural areas to industrial cities, as well as the accelerated economic growth of factories and plants, the process of capitalists’ enrichment intensified. The inequalities of the power of influence motivated the working class to demand proper labor legislation and governmental representation of their interests.
Thus, the industrial revolution triggered the emergence of wealthy capitalists, whose disproportionate influence on governance jeopardized the rights of workers to have equal representation in the political realm. Ultimately, the economic gains of wealthy capitalists during the industrialization and urbanization era were threatening the equality between socio-economic classes, which necessitated special legislation. This paper aims to analyze primary sources pertaining to the issue of industrialization and its political antecedents to validate their contribution to the argument that capitalists’ economic performance predetermined their disproportionate governmental representation.
Primary Source 1
One of the documents that provide evidence on the issue of industrialization and its impact on the labor movement and its political representation is the National People’s Party Platform. This document is a primary source; namely, it is a preamble and declaration of principles of the newly created party. This document was produced by the members of the National People’s Party in 1892. Given the date of its creation, the source was produced in the context of the intensive development of the Industrial Revolution in the United States. In particular, the party’s preamble and declaration were published at the time when the conflict of interests between capitalists whose wealth increased under the influence of industrialization and urbanized workers whose labor rights were unprotected (Phelps and Jensen 70).
Since the source addresses the drawbacks of the American political system from the perspective of the inequalities that workers experienced, one might identify a bias. In particular, in terms of a subjective opinion due to the exclusive representation of the interests of the working class.
However, this bias is justified by the claimed injustice that motivated the creators of the document to advocate for the equal distribution of national resources without their disproportionate dissemination between the wealthy capitalists. It is evident that the authors of the source pursue the agenda of promoting the nationalization of essential sectors of the economy in order to protect them from monopolists.
The source provides evidence for the argument related to the inequality produced by industrialization by addressing the atrocities caused by the enrichment of capitalists by the cost of workers’ discrimination and the privatization of national resources and economic sectors. For example, the declaration necessitates imposing governmental management of such areas as finances, transportation, and land to ensure that they are at the disposal of the nation and not capitalists (Phelps and Jensen 71). Indeed, as the later economic events of the beginning of the 20th century showed, the rapid capitalization of the economy due to industrialization caused a crisis on a global scale, escalating the inequality problem further.
Primary Source 2
Another important source that provides valuable insights into the problem of industrialization’s contribution to socio-economic inequalities is an article entitled “What the Railroad Will Bring Us.” This document was created by Henry George in 1868, in which he predicted the meaning of the railway construction for the State of California. The context in which the source was created included the intensive process of planning the construction of railroads in California within the larger processes of the Industrial Revolution. The building of the railway transportation routes was a qualitatively new turn in the economy and infrastructure of the state and the country.
The agenda behind this source is the promotion of the benefits of the industrial revolution due to the development of the wild territories, the transformation of natural resources into monetary value, and the urbanization of the country (Phelps and Jensen 100). As for the biases that might undermine the credibility of the source, they might be related to the future-oriented prediction-based narrative that was aimed at outlining possible events instead of analyzing past events.
Despite the bias, the source accurately emphasizes the influence of the building of railroads across the state on the various spheres of life in the USA. Indeed, this evidence contributes to the argument of this essay by stating that California would become a better-developed and wealthier state with the risk that wealth would be unequally distributed (Phelps and Jensen 101). Thus, economic inequality is emphasized by the author as a precaution for the planners of the industrialization efforts.
Conclusion
In summation, the historic changes in the political, economic, and social life of the American society of the 19th century were transformed by the Industrial revolution. This period introduced such phenomena as urbanization, labor movement facilitation, and the intensification of rich capitalists’ representation in the government. Both analyzed sources imply the negative implications of such overrepresentation of the wealthy class by demanding the restriction of monopolizing critically important sectors of the economy.
Work Cited
Phelps, Wesley and Jennifer Jensen. Wallach Containing Multitudes: A Documentary Reader of US History since 1865. University of Arkansas Press, 2022.