Power Over The Economy, Political System, And Workers?

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How Employers Gained and Consolidated their Power Over the Economy, Political System and Workers
Introduction
Following the Civil War, the United States became the richest country and the biggest industrial power globally. Between 1880 and 1900, the economic and industrial growth of the country resulted in significant changes in the manner in which people lived, earned their income, the products they consumed, and a plethora of aspects in life. However, such an economic expansion was not merely about products in the market and their consumption. The economic growth was in the context of industrial capitalist economy accompanied by a number of changes in social classes and their relationships (Clark et al 23). Society was divided into a growing mass of workers and a small group of super-rich corporate owners (Clark et al 24). The working class was employed in railroads, factories and mills that were owned and controlled by the new corporations while the super-rich class exercised massive political and economic power. Based on the readings in chapter 1 and chapter 3 of the book “Who Built America,” this paper discusses how the U.S. employers gained and consolidated their power over the political and economic system and the workers between 1880 and 1900.
There were enormous economic changes in the late 19th century, a period often known as the “Gilded Age.” During this period, the working class established labor unions and organizations. While the United States experienced a rapid growth during this period to be the richest nation globally by 1900, the emergence of industrial capitalism transformed people’s political, economic, and cultural systems (Clark et al 23). This resulted in many Americans and millions of other people living and working under the U.S. control in Latin America, the Caribbean, and the islands in the Pacific Ocean fully dependent on market relations and wages (Clark et al 23). The workforce expanded and there were rapid developments of new technologies combined with the establishment of novel labor unions and organizations as an increasing number of workers crowded mills, factories, and mines. Between 1880 and 1900, the expansion of the United States economy was accompanied by the emergence of authoritarianism and inequality and society became polarizec between a diverse and stratified industrial working class and a minority of powerful leaders in the corporate world. These authoritarian leaders are sometimes known as “robber barons” who led to the social, ...