Midwest farmers, angry at large railroad owners for their exploitative business practices, came to refer to them as “robber barons,” as their business dealings were frequently shady and exploitative. These individuals became some of the wealthiest Americans the country had ever known. Individual investors consolidated their power as railroads merged and companies grew in size and power. Railroads also listed their stocks and bonds on the New York Stock Exchange to attract investors from both within the United States and Europe. Federal and state loans of cash and land grants totaled $150 million and 185 million acres of public land, respectively. From 1877 to 1890, both the amount of goods and the number of passengers traveling the rails tripled.įinancing for all of this growth came through a combination of private capital and government loans and grants. Inventions such as car couplers, air brakes, and Pullman passenger cars allowed the volume of both freight and people to increase steadily. The amount of track grew from 35,000 miles at the end of the Civil War to over 200,000 miles by the close of the century. By 1890, railroad lines covered nearly every corner of the United States, bringing raw materials to industrial factories and finished goods to consumer markets. The railroad industry quickly became the nation’s first “big business.” A powerful, inexpensive, and consistent form of transportation, railroads accelerated the development of virtually every other industry in the country.

Building Industrial America on the Backs of Laborįrom Invention to Industrial Growth OverviewĮarlier in the nineteenth century, the first transcontinental railroad and subsequent spur lines paved the way for rapid and explosive railway growth, as well as stimulated growth in the iron, wood, coal, and other related industries.

Presidents of the United States of America.

The Challenges of the Twenty-First Century.

From Cold War to Culture Wars, 1980-2000.

Political Storms at Home and Abroad, 1968-1980.

Contesting Futures: America in the 1960s.

Post-War Prosperity and Cold War Fears, 1945-1960.

Fighting the Good Fight in World War II, 1941-1945.

Franklin Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932-1941.

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? The Great Depression, 1929-1932.

The Jazz Age: Redefining the Nation, 1919-1929.

Age of Empire: American Foreign Policy, 1890-1914.Leading the Way: The Progressive Movement, 1890-1920.The Growing Pains of Urbanization, 1870-1900.Go West Young Man! Westward Expansion, 1840-1900.Antebellum Idealism and Reform Impulses, 1820–1860.Cotton is King: The Antebellum South, 1800–1860.A Nation on the Move: Westward Expansion, 1800–1860.Industrial Transformation in the North, 1800–1850.

Growing Pains: The New Republic, 1790–1820.

Creating Republican Governments, 1776–1790.

America's War for Independence, 1775-1783.

Imperial Reforms and Colonial Protests, 1763-1774.Rule Britannia! The English Empire, 1660–1763.Creating New Social Orders: Colonial Societies, 1500–1700.Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492–1650.The Americas, Europe, and Africa Before 1492.Industrialization and the Rise of Big Business, 1870-1900.

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