Change and Continuity in American History Since 1877
1877 was a crucial year to the American people. It was the year in which the 1876 election dispute ended after the Republican candidate, Rutherford Hayes sealed a deal with the Democratic candidate, Samuel Tilden[1]. Rutherford Hayes took office and promised to ensure the exit of the federal troops to enable the Republican state governments in Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana gain stability. This events led to period commonly known as the reconstruction era. During this time, all Northern and Southern states came together under the national government. In his 1877 inaugural address, Hayes stated, “we may have not merely a united North or a united South, but a united country”[2]. In essence, the reconstruction era included unification and solidification of the South which had experienced massive losses during the just concluded Civil War. The north had destroyed all resources mostly plantations and railroads that could be used to get to northern troops. Later, the federal government that headed the Union during the war captured the Southern States’ remnants and took out the last group of federal troops in Florida, South Carolina and Louisiana[3]. As such, due to the Northern and Southern states joining together, America entered an era characterized by change and continuity in the form of industrialization, technological innovation, and abolition of slavery.
To begin with, industrialization defined some of the key changes that occurred in the United States in the aftermath of the Civil War. During this period, Industries in America advanced rapidly and by 1900, the country’s manufacturing capacity was half that of the entire world[4]. More specifically, after the Civil War, the North continued with their manufacturing economy which resulted in massive industrialization in the United States. More factories were created mostly in the North and the large scale production was responsible for the high manufacturing capacity of the United States by the end of the nineteenth century[5]. Markedly, it is from the rapid industrialization that occurred in the Gilded Age that the current American industrial economy was born. Nevertheless, it is paramount to note that although events that occurred after the Civil War accelerated the growth of the American economy, the economic situation of the country was not changed. As aforementioned, the North continued with their industrial and manufacturing activities while the South remained an agrarian economy. Particularly, the industrial and agricultural development that began during the reconstruction era continues to date.
Additionally, railroad expansion was an invention that stemmed from the Civil War and represented a new wave of change in terms of technological innovation, which has continued to date in the United States. Although the expansion of railroads that recommenced in the late 1870s was stopped briefly in the 1880s, it continued at an exceptional rate until 1890[6]. By the end of 1890 over 32,200 miles of railroad had been built in the United States while the number of people working for railroad corporations increased significantly. However, while transport was a key subject in the technological innovation of the late nineteenth century, technological innovation of the modern era includes rapid development in the ICT sector. Although today’s technological innovation is completely different from what it used to be in the late nineteenth century, it has continued the growth of the American economy which was initiated after the Civil War. Just like the railroad significantly contributed to the industrial economy in the 1980s, today’s technological innovation has continued this trend by playing a pertinent role in the growth of the American economy.
Furthermore, the banning of slavery entirely brought about changes in the South, particularly affecting the agricultural traditions that existed before the Civil War. Notably, following the changes that occurred as a result of the civil war, the Southern states’ agricultural economy which had previously relied on slave labor had to look for alternative ways to continue their agricultural practices. Consequently, farmers from the South adopted practices such as sharecropping in a bid to continue using the cheap African American labor[7]. Primarily, sharecropping included Blacks in Southern states being given plots of land to tend, although still under the ownership of the original white slave master. In other words, although the South immensely suffered the changes from the Civil War, including the abolition of slavery, the development of sharecropping was a crucial way in which these states could preserve their agricultural economy. On the other hand, African Americans who had been previously enslaved took advantage of the new found freedom and joined schools. Despite the segregation that was still rampant, the blacks were able to enjoy some freedoms and rights, and the law recognized Blacks as being equal to their White counterparts[8]. With Blacks venturing into American politics, slave abolition paved the way for significant restructuring of American society, a change that is evident in the United States to date.
Conclusively, as depicted herein, change and continuity across American history takes several forms including industrialization, technological innovation, and abolition of slavery. Although the events that followed the Civil War, such as the Compromise of 1877, created a conducive environment for economic development in the country, they did nothing to change the agricultural economy of the South or the industrial and manufacturing economy of the North. However, the agrarian tradition of the South changed from one that used slave labor to one that practiced sharecropping. Intuitively, the acceleration of industrialization in this era gave rise to the current industrial economy in the United States, with factories continuing to develop in the country to date. Similarly, the continuation of railroad expansion in the late 1870s reflected a change in technology innovation which continues to positively contribute to the country’s economy to date despite the distinctiveness of the technology innovation of the two eras. Moreover, the abolition of slavery in both Northern and Southern states was fundamental to the country’s change and continuity process. Most importantly, slave abolition freed Blacks and gave them the opportunity to enjoy some rights and freedoms, which have expanded over the years to give the racial minorities, including African Americans, total freedom today.
Bibliography
Primary
Baltzell, George W. “Constitution of the United States – We the People.” Constitution for the United States – We the People. Accessed May 7, 2020. https://constitutionus.com/.
“March 5, 1877: Inaugural Address.” Miller Center, February 23, 2017. https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/march-5-1877-inaugural-address.
Yetman, Norman R. “Ex-Slave Interviews and the Historiography of Slavery.” American Quarterly 36, no. 2 (1984): 181. https://doi.org/10.2307/2712724.
Secondary
Braeman, John, Robert Hamlett Bremner, and David Brody. Change and Continuity in Twentieth-Century America: the 1920s̕. Columbus: Ohio State Univ. Press, 1968.
Grob, Gerald N., and George Athan Billias. Interpretations of American History. New York: Free Press, 1982.
Mandle, Jay R. “Continuity and Change.” Journal of Black Studies 21, no. 4 (1991): 414–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/002193479102100403.
[1] John Braeman, Robert Hamlett Bremner, and David Brody, Change and Continuity in Twentieth-Century America: the 1920s̕ (Columbus: Ohio State Univ. Press, 1968)
[2] “March 5, 1877: Inaugural Address,” Miller Center, February 23, 2017, https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-speeches/march-5-1877-inaugural-address)
[3] Gerald N. Grob and George Athan Billias, Interpretations of American History (New York: Free Press, 1982)
[4] Braeman, Bremner, and Brody, Change and Continuity, 173
[5] Jay R. Mandle, “Continuity and Change,” Journal of Black Studies 21, no. 4 (1991): pp. 414-427, https://doi.org/10.1177/002193479102100403)
[6] Braeman et al., 118
[7] Norman R. Yetman, “Ex-Slave Interviews and the Historiography of Slavery,” American Quarterly 36, no. 2 (1984): p. 181, https://doi.org/10.2307/2712724)
[8] George W. Baltzell, “Constitution of the United States – We the People,” Constitution for the United States – We the People, accessed May 7, 2020, https://constitutionus.com/)