How did the railroads affect industrialization?

Railroads became a major industry, stimulating other heavy industries such as iron and steel production. These advances in travel and transport helped drive settlement in the western regions of North America and were integral to the nation's industrialization.



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The development of railroads was one of the most important phenomena of the Industrial Revolution. With their formation, construction and operation, they brought profound social, economic and political change to a country only 50 years old.

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The increase in railroad mileage made it possible to transport goods and people over long distances quickly and efficiently. This led to the creation of a national market for goods, which in turn encouraged mass production and mass consumption.

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The railroads powered the industrial economy. They consumed the majority of iron and steel produced in the United States before 1890. As late as 1882, steel rails accounted for 90 percent of the steel production in the United States. They were the nation's largest consumer of lumber and a major consumer of coal.

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Throughout the early to mid-1800s, small, local railroad lines cropped up across the country. In 1862, however, railroads began to play a more prevalent role in cross-country travel after Congress passed the Pacific Railway Act authorizing the construction of the first transcontinental railroad.

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John Stevens is considered to be the father of American railroads. In 1826 Stevens demonstrated the feasibility of steam locomotion on a circular experimental track constructed on his estate in Hoboken, New Jersey, three years before George Stephenson perfected a practical steam locomotive in England.

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The Industrial Revolution shifted societies from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy where products were no longer made solely by hand but by machines. This led to increased production and efficiency, lower prices, more goods, improved wages, and migration from rural areas to urban areas.

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Answer and Explanation: Railroads contributed to urban growth during the Second Industrial Revolution by making travel times much quicker, allowing for more goods to be delivered in cities. This, in turn, helped with factory growth and transporting people in greater numbers on a more consistent basis.

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“The construction of railroads in Afro-Eurasia helped European imperialism because it allowed Europeans to increase their political power in Asia and Africa.”

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the efficient transportation of raw materials and finished goods.

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The railroads have a greater impact on American society because it can travel much faster then a steamboats and canals. The train can carry supplies to each city and each state. How did the industrial revolution change the way people work? It also created many jobs for many people.

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For immigrants to the United States, the Transcontinental Railroad presented an opportunity to seek their fortunes in the West. There, they found more opportunity than the port cities of the East Coast, where discrimination kept immigrants living in urban squalor.

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The major railroad companies as a result began to operate on a coordinated system of four time zones starting in 1883. Standard time was transportation-driven and, as a result, the government coordination of time zones was handled by transportation agencies.

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