US History

The Second Industrial Revolution affected the regions of the United States differently. Use this chart to compare the effects of the revolution on the North, South, West, and Midwest. In the chart, you will identify the political, social, economic, population, and transportation changes that the revolution brought to each region.
Part 1 – Complete the following chart using information from the lesson.
Regions Chart
Category
North
South
West
Midwest
Political
Labor Union were formed and used strikes to get what they wanted with their jobs for the first time.

It was still hard for the African Americans to get what they wanted with the new laws that they had preventing them from being “free”.

There were problem between the immigrants working on the railroads and the white settlers causing the immigrants not to work and start riots.

Reform movements and labor unions were starting in the big cities. Even the farmers were becoming politically active.

Social As the economy was growing the social classes showed. The middle-class consisted of the working and they wanted better pay and safer working conditions.

Discrimination was still an issue in the South after the war. African Americans couldn’t enjoy the new sources of transportation because of the laws that prevented them from doing so.

The whites and the immigrants from China were not getting along because of the cultural differences between the two groups.

The Midwest had a lot of immigrants come to their cities and the differences between the social classes was causing friction between the two groups.

Economic or Type of Economy The north was the leading production region. They were producing more than 85 percent of the products during this time period.

Slavery was ended after the war was over and that took away most of the workers that the south had working on the farms which was the South’s main source of the labor.

The inventions of the period that made agriculture more efficient in the Midwest also encouraged settlers to obtain land in the West. However, the sparse population of the West did not support much industrial growth, and the economy continued to be based on natural resources.

Some of the northern states of the Midwest became the main source of industry.

Population Change More immigrants came in because of the sudden need for more workers due to the growth in the economy that was happening so quickly.

African Americans were leaving the south to go to the North because they thought that they had a better chance of making a living.

There was a lot of Chinese immigrants that were coming in because of the job opportunities for them involved with the railroads.

A lot of immigrants were arriving rapidly to the cities of the Midwest for jobs. Chicago became the lead city with population during this period.

Transportation The railroad lines connecting different cities covered the whole North.

The railroads in the South were destroyed during the Civil War and were being rebuilt.

The Transcontinental railroad that linked the coasts of the US was one of the main sources of transporting natural resources.

The railroads made Chicago the gateway from the east to the west.

Part 2 – Respond to the following prompt in a well-developed paragraph of your own words. Be sure to include social, political and economic factors in your response and fully address all parts of the prompt.
Explain how the Second Industrial Revolution affected the North, South, West, and Midwest. Which region would you have preferred to live in during this period? Why

The Second Industrial Revolution affected the North, South, West, and Midwest by changes on the economy, transportation, and socially. The North became a place of new opportunities and one of the leading regions of the most railroads linking most of the whole North. The South had to basically start over. Slavery was ended after the war and that means that the south had no labor because the slaves were the main source of the labor. The railroads were destroyed so they had to start over and rebuild so they had new ways of transportation for the natural resources and the crops. The West had new sources for labor because of all the immigrants that came in for job opportunities. The south had the transcontinental as the main source for trading and shipping the natural resources like gold and timber. The Midwest population boomed, specifically in Chicago. It was the nation’s largest city during this time period. The Midwest’s northern cities became centers of industry. If I had to choose where to live during this time period I would choose the north because they are the best choice. They had jobs that had better conditions then in the south and they were the leading production region of the US. They were the source of all the production in industry.