What is the difference between agrarian and industrial? |
Agrarian refers to the cultivation of land. Think farming, rural, and countryside.
Industrial refers to the build up of industry. Think manufacturing, factories, businesses, and trade |
1. Social Darwinism |
Social Darwinism is the idea that people and groups (society) are subject to the same laws of natural selection (ie Darwin's theory of evolution) "survival of the fittest" in a society.
As the US became more of an industrial society, big businesses formed. Entrepreneurs started their own businesses and competed with each other to be the best and have the most money. The rich became richer while the poor became poorer. There was a massive divide between upper and lower class citizens in the United States. Social Darwinists justified their massive amounts of wealth by arguing that they worked harder than others and therefore deserved it. Social Darwinists would say "that's just how it is" and that wealth was the result of a strong work ethic. They would contend that, just as in nature, only the strongest in a society survive and thrive. Essentially, the poor are poor because they are not as fit to survive. Some may argue that Social Darwinism is actually "Survival of the Richest". Social Darwinists supported laissez-faire policies. |
2. Laissez-Faire policies |
Laissez-Faire is a French term which translates to "Let it Be" in English. It is a policy of allowing the economy to do its own thing and run its own course. Under a laissez-faire system, the government remains "hands off" the economy and interferes as little as possible.
These policies took hold as the US shifted from an agrarian to an industrial society in the 1800s. Business leaders like JP Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and John D Rockefeller ran their businesses with little interference from the US government. The government had little regulation in business and businesses operated in a truly free market. |
3. Government Regulation of Food & Drugs |
The Progressive Presidents (1900-1920) started to change the way that the federal government functioned in the lives of American citizens. Progressives demanded a change to all of the problems that industrialization brought to the United States. (big business, monopolies/trusts, rich/poor, living conditions, etc)
Two profound changes came when President Theodore Roosevelt passed the Pure Food and Drug Act (1906) & The Meat Inspection Act (1906) . Both acts were influenced by the Progressive Movement's muckrakers and education on harmful substances people were consuming.
|
4. Migration to Cities & urbanization |
In 1865, almost all Americans lived an agrarian lifestyle in the country. By 1920, however, half of all Americans lived in cities.
The movement of people from the country to the city is referred to as urbanization. Why did people move to the cities?
Problems Cities Faced as Urbanization Occurred
|
5. Immigration |
Both industrialization & urbanization were stimulated by the mass of immigrants arriving to America during the Gilded Age.
|
Angel Island vs. Ellis Island
|