Apush Urbanization Dbq

Kiera Fitzgerald

Mr. Watson

APUSH

1/17/2015

        From the year 1875 to 1925, very dramatic changes were happening to the United States. One of the main changes that occurred within this time period was the population shirt from a rural to an urban environment. The U.S. economy changed dramatically during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as the country transformed from a rural agricultural nation to an urban industrial giant, the leading manufacturing country in the world. New immigrants arriving in the states first went to cities for economic opportunities, but many American citizens already living in the country decided to shift to the cities instead of farm life. A number of important trends and developments characterized this period of history.

        The early United States was predominately rural, but after 1830 the urban areas grew more rapidly than the rural areas. Industrialization had produced substantial growth in cities that resulted in an increase in labor. Cities were densely populated (as people had to live within walking distance from the factories in the center of cities). The Industrial Revolution transformed urban life and gave people higher expectations for improving standards of living within the cities. The increased number of jobs along with technological innovations and house construction  encouraged the migration to cities. Once electric trolleys, street cars and railroads were developed, people no longer had to live within walking distance from work. City boundaries expanded so it was less cluttered and provided more room. Famous writer, Horatio Alger, wrote many books on the modern city life of the late 1800s. His most famous piece Rags to Riches refers to the common man’s rise from poverty to wealth from economic opportunities in the urban life. Alger viewed urban life with standards between poverty and wealthy. By the second half of the 19th century, manufacturing districts, residential areas and the search for economic opportunity characterized urban life.

        Another contribution to the shift from urban to rural life was the rapid expansion of the American railroad system. Beginning in the early 1870s, railroad construction in the United States increased dramatically. By 1900, a lot of the nation's railroad system was in place. The railroad opened the way for the settlement of the West, provided new economic opportunities, stimulated the development of town and communities, and tied the country together. When the railroads were shut down during the Great Railroad Strike of 1894, the true importance of the railroads was fully realized. The country depended on the railroads for shipping of multiple types of goods for the large cities’ industries and transportation from the east to the west.

        Between 1885 and 1928, agricultural prices declined. Once farmers became chained to a one-crop economy, they were in the same conflict as the southern cotton growers. As long as prices stayed high, all was well; but prices declined rapidly. Low prices and a deflated currency were the main worries of the frustrated farmers; they countlessly had issues with debt and mortgage payments. This unexpected burden struck them as unjust, but the creditors however branded the farmers as dishonest rascals. These unhappy farmers demanded an inflation of the currency with paper money, which led to the formation of the National Grange (whose goal was to enhance the lives of isolated farmers. This event affected the urban cities due to price changes of popular goods and more income due to lower prices.