The United States emerged as one of the most technologically and largest country in the world. Some of the several factors that can be attributed to America’s rapid industrialization included the availability of abundant natural resources, navigable canals, diverse climate, and availability of both land as well as labor. This paper looks at how the rapid growth of the industrial economy between 1865 and 1930 affected relations between the United States and the rest of the world? The period in which the United States made a lot of progress in technological as well as economical was from 1865 and the beginning of the twentieth century. This was the time the country renovated itself from a mere primitive agricultural economy to the world’s leading industrial power. It was responsible for more than a third of the world’s industrial output. (James A.)
Just as tremendous changes were beginning to shift the processes of production from artisan to potters in industrial organization and production in the year 1718, when the US colonies gained their independence. The country’s transportation system as well as technological advances before the civil war played a most important role in the growth in organization, coordination as well as the scale of industrial production. American industry was economically miles ahead of its European counterparts by the turn of the 20th century. This led the nation to assert itself militarily. America came out of the Second World War as one of the world’s super power despite the great depression that put to test the technological momentum that had been gained. Apart from the great depression challenge to the gains made, the United States started facing political, military supremacy as well as an economic challenge from the Soviet Union in the second half of the 20th century. to put up with the new profound competition from the USSR, the US had invested a huge amount of money in technological development as well as scientific research in biotechnology, computing as well as spaceflight. This means that the US economy might can not only be attributed to its technology, industry, and science but also other things such as its system of education, cultural identity, social structure as well as political institutions. The legacy of the US in ground-breaking technical advances are the ones responsible for its values of meritocracy and self-sufficiency. (James pg51-65)
As the old-fashioned artisan and craftsman got substituted by machines used by specialized workers as well as engineers reduced the time taken to complete tasks tremendously which deepened the countries technological base. The supply of laborers was outpaced by the increasing industrialization. the demand attracted Italian, Russian, Jewish, Polish, as well as Irish immigrants. The demand for unskilled jobs drove wages up. Because of this, immigrants earned more in America than in their native places. This led to an exodus to the United States in search of greener pastures. The period 1865-1930 characterized America as a melting pot or rather a nation of immigrants. Over 33 million people found their way to the United States through its major ports. The era of open immigration ended with the passage of the 1921 Emergency Quota Act. This is what eventually put a stop to the immigrants from Europe who came in massive waves. Between 1865 and 1930, the share of the foreign-born population was oscillating between 13-15%. (Wright)
These immigrants had an impact on the American economy during this period. The immigration resulted in the displacement of natives from the northern United States where they got settled, and they lowered the native wages too. The US started its rise to international superiority around this period with a large population and industrial growth domestically and copious military ventures abroad, including the Spanish-American War, which started when the US charged the sinking of the USS Maine (ACR-1) on Spain.
because of the war between the US and Spain, the U.S.government added its interest in concerning the Cuba island that was struggling to gain independence from Spanish occupation together with the Philippines and Puerto Rico that were also once Spanish colonies fighting for independence. In the year 1898, there was a meeting between Spain and U.S. envoys to discuss the way forward to end the war which led to the signing of the Paris accord which later led to Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines becoming U.S. subjects while Cuba became a sovereign state. To make China allow equal trading access to all foreign countries, the US Congress passed the Open Door Policy in the year 1900. Woodrow Wilson the then US President, allowed the U.S. entry into World War I in April 1917 after a yearlong neutrality policy. By participating in the Hague Conferences, the U.S. had shown interest in world peace. The US involvement in the war proved decisive to the Allied victory. Titled “the 14 Points” to guarantee peace was proposed by President Wilson, however, they were shorn off at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference (Glenn, pg 255)
Following World War I, the U.S. grew progressively in size as a financial and armed forces world power. The impact of Russia’s October Revolution brought in real fears of socialism in the US, causing a three-year Red Scare whereby the U.S. lost 675,000 people to the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918. In the year 1920, the manufacture, sale, import, and export of alcohol products were banned when the US Congress passed the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The ban on the sale of alcoholic products led to an emergence of illicit breweries and dealers who made good amounts of money by selling drugs illegally. The ban came to an end in the year 1933, a failure. after gaining about 4.5 million members in 10 years, the KKK had truly changed itself by the year 1924 that later made the U.S. legislature enact the immigration Act that restricted foreign immigration on the same year. The 1920s were also branded the Roaring Twenties, because of the great economic success during the decade. The name Jazz Age came into existence as a result of the younger generation’s unwavering preference for jazz music and hence branding the decade Jazz Age. (Wright,pg 87-94)
During this decade of the 1920s, the US state enjoyed a time of unstable success; wages and farm prices fell, even as the industrial profits and new industries continued to grow. This success was due to the rise in debt and a puffed-up stock market. The recovery was rapid in all areas except unemployment, which remained fairly high until 1940. The experience of the era of mass immigration points to the great absorptive capacity of the American economy.
While immigration may lower the wages of natives in the short run, the long-run impact of immigration is likely to have been much more positive as indicated by the secular rise in long-run real wages. In this paper, I suggest that the source of this great absorptive capacity of the American economy lies in its ability to develop and implement technologies that favor changing factor endowment conditions. In addition, history edifies that these induced technological transformations have had a major impact on the geographic landscape of the American economy and the world at large.
Work cited
James A., Henretta, David Brody, Lynn Dumenil. America A Concise History Third Edition Volume 2 Since: 1865. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.
Wright, Richard A., Mark Ellis, Michael Reibel. Economic Geography. Washington D.C. Russell Sage Foundation: 1997.
Glenn Everett McLaughlin. Growth of American manufacturing areas: a comparative analysis with special emphasis on trends in the Pittsburgh district, Virginia, Greenwood Press, 1970.