Economic: Material Development/ Factories
The inside of an industrial age factory
During America's period of Industrialization The economy soared. The development and rise of factories provided more jobs for people as well as new materials and products. Factories provided a faster and far more efficient method of creating products such as clothes, bedding, and building material for the new urbanized cities. The buying and selling of these products brought more money into the country and fueled the ever growing economy of the time.
Social: Nativism
Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island
As more and more immigrants came to America people started rejecting them. People who already lived in the U.S. began developing the idea of natavism. This idea was that people who came from other countries were inferior and dangerous. American citizens believed that immigrants would take all of their jobs forcing them to starve in the streets. This brought with it a significant amount of hatred and prejudice against immigrants. People protested their arrival in the U.S. and argued that they would have a negative impact on the country.
Political: Immigrant Literacy test
Political cartoon of the literacy Test
Due to the increasingly large number of immigrants coming to the U.S. the government decided they needed a way to limit that number to prevent overpopulation. They decided that instituting the Literacy Test was an effective way of moderating the number of immigrants entering the country. This literacy test was used to determine whether or not an immigrant had enough skill to benefit the country once they had entered it. The issue with the test was that it required immigrants to know English very well. English is an extremely complicated language to learn, and for immigrants coming from countries no where near English speaking countries it is even harder to learn because they had no prior exposure to the language. It would have much easier to learn English while living in the U.S. where one would have to speak it every day. Eventually immigration regulations changed and different systems were put in place most of which can be found in the Immigration Act of 1924.
Do These Events Lead to Progress?
The Industrial age brought with it the rise of new machines, a changed image of America, and a booming economy. The time also, unfortunately, brought with it fear, anger, and hatred of innocent people. The economy of the Industrial age was an important success in American history, because of what caused the economic success. the rise of machines and factories forever changed the country, providing jobs and crucial new materials. The effects of these changes can still be seen in the U.S. today, because they are what led to the development of production systems of today. This influence is the ideal example of economic progress achieved during this time. The social and political aspects, however, are another example of bigotry in U.S. history. This shows that the country hadn't changed much since Westward expansion, showing signs of a country that lacked progress. So, while the Industrial age provided important economic progress it did lack social and political progress.