Changes in AmericaMarch 17, 1986Copyright © 1998 Property of Deborah K. Fletcher. All rights reserved.
There were many changes in the United States in the years following the Civil War. Many of these changes involved economics; most involved big business. The single largest change in the character of the Union was the corporation. A corporation is a form of business organization in which many people own parts of the business by buying stocks. The theory of the corporation centered around the theory of Social Darwinism. Social Darwinism was first conceived by Herbert Spencer when he applied the biological theories of Charles Darwin to human society. In the post-Civil WAr era, the philosophy of laissez-faire became fairly wide-spread. The philosophy is one in which business should be permitted to operate without government restraint. During this era, there were several great men who became inordinately wealthy through business dealings. These were men such as Rockefeller and Carnegie, whose fortunes are known and referred to to this day. The great men of the post-war era followed a system set down by Horatio Alger: There are many boys, and men too, who ... have never had a fair chance in life. Let us remember that, when we judge them, and not be too hasty to condemn. Let us consider also whether it is not in our power to give someone the chance that may redeem him.Andrew Carnegie was one who was given such a chance. He began as a bobbin-boy in Pennsylvania in 1847, earning a sum of $1.20 a week. From those mean beginnings, he went on to be a symbol of capitalism in America. Considering this, he wrote: "I am sure that I should never have selected a business career if I had been permitted to choose." Another view was taken of life by adult business men than by bobbin-boys. The former had spent their lives improving their personal economies. This often meant increased production and decreased salaries in the factories that they owned. John D. Rockefeller, an oil giant, wrote: I ascribe the success of the Standard Oil Company to its consistent policy of making the volume of its business large through the merit and cheapness of its products.The Standard Oil Company was the Rockefeller cash-flow machine. With it, he continued in business until he, and a group of friends, owned or controlled over one-fifth of the oil businesses and railroads in the United States. Big business involved not only great profit for the rich, but great risks for their employees. Women and children worked twelve or fourteen hour days with heavy machinery, dust, heat, noise, and fast-spreading disease. Many times, farm families sent their children to the cities to help support the family. In protest of this last, Charlotte Gilman wrote "Child Labor": No fledgling feeds the father bird!Charlotte Gilman was not the only writer to criticize child labor, nor were the writers afraid to describe the conditions under which children were employed. John Spargo described the conditions in a mill that made felt hats as follows: So long as enough girls can be kept working, and only a few of them faint, the mills are kept going; but when faintings are so many and so frequent that it does not pay to keep going, the mills are closed.Conditions were similar where adults were employed. Workers in meat-packing factories risked tuberculosis, acid burns, knives, extremes of heat and cold, blood poisoning, and drowning, among the more common dangers. Some attempts were made to regulate child labor. One bill was proposed which would ban the interstate transportation of goods made by children. This was intended to cease child labor. Albert J. Beveridge, the Senator from Indiana, said in his speech in favor of the bill: Why is it then only when we attempt to stop the murder of children and the debasement of our race and the ruin of our citizens by prohibiting the transportation of child-made goods in interstate commerce that Senators are aroused in defense of an artificial liberty?After the turn of the century, reforms began to be established. In 1908, the Supreme Court declared a maximum ten hour work day for women, reduced from the standard twelve to fourteen hours. In 1913, Congress created the Department of Labor, which improved working conditions. In 1916, the Child Labor Act was put into effect, at last restricting child labor and protecting the children. As the nation began to take shape, a new pattern was laid over it; the immigrants began to come in masses. This was nor unusual, as it was already an immigrant nation, but the flood of humanity was a shock. As Oscar Handlin wrote: "Once I thought to write a history of the immigrants of America. Then I discovered that the immigrants were American history." The immigrants to America were welcomed by Lady Liberty, and the words of Emma Lazarus: Give me your tired, your poor,The face of America has changed many times since her birth, but the days of big business and social reform have left some of the deepest, most vivid marks upon it. The great fortunes of that day are beloved myths, even as the factories are horrifying nightmares. It was a time of contrasts and changes that shaped our nation for ever. End Notes
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