what changed society, political system, and economic industry during the early years of America as a nation?

Question

U.S History Beginning to 1865

Answer 1

The question is ambiguous to unclear!

 

Does it mean what, as an external agent, changed each of these things ...

 

... or what changes occurred in each of those things ...

 

... during that period?

Answer 2

Looking at the question I believe you mean America as a nation in the 1770s, after the revolution. The text is U.S. History Beginning to 1865, so you are focusing on the very beginning of America.

 

So lets start with Society:

Society changed in a number of ways. One the revolution meant that loyalty was now to the central government in the U.S. Not the King in England anymore. New jobs, in government and governmental affairs were created. After the revolution the West was open to explore. The "frontier" became popular and many people moved West to colonize new lands. 

 

People were not completely content with the new social order. One of the most famous rebellions was a slave rebellion (Nat Turner) that George Washington (as President) put down. Slavery was quickly becoming a more contentious issue. It was not just about the slave trade, but about whether the continued use of slaves, after the slave trade ended, should be allowed. There was also the issue of how to count a slave (or free black person) in census for representation. The South did not want to allow them rights, but the South did want them counted toward population because this would mean greater representation in Congress. Thus, they came up with the provision that black persons were "3/5 of a person." So the counted, just not as 1 person.

 

Also, as new states were created in the Frontier there grew the debate over whether they would be "free" states or "slave" states. Free states did not allow slaves, and Southern states wanted more slave states so they could influence Congress with pro-slavery agenda. As well as have new states to move to with their slaves. This created a divide and every time a territory wanted to become a state there was a debate. Eventually they settled on all states above the mason-dixon line were free and all south were slave owning. The territories allowed to become states was narrowed so as to keep the two as equal as possible.

 

political system

There were a lot of political changes going on as well. A governmental system had to be created. The first efforts were the Articles of Confederation written in 1777, ratified in 1781. However, they gave too much power to the States. They allowed the States to be independent and control their own affairs. The Federal Government could coin money and raise an army but did not have the ability to levy taxes, making it nearly impossible for them to have enough power to raise an army or settle any disputes.

 

By 1786 it was decided that the Articles of Confederation needed to be changed. In 1789 the Constitution was ratified. This gave far more power to the Federal Government and established the basis of the system we know today. The first 10 amendments were also drafted and ratified in conjunction with the Constitution.

 

There were debates on slavery and whether or not to continue it. In the end the slave trade was given a date to end, but the slaves already in the U.S. were still slaves. Also if they had children the children were slaves as well, thus the institution of slavery could continue. Issues regarding slavery (territories becoming states, representation in Congress, whether or not to count a black person as a whole person or not) were very important and growing political issues at the time.

 

economic industry

The North focused more on industry and factories, the South was more agrarian. The South relied heavily on slaves and relations with European countries who purchased their raw materials (cotton). The South was powerful in that most of the military academies were there, and many of the Presidents came from the South. The North was more progressive. They accepted new technology and thrived. The South lacked the ability to keep up with the North which fast become stronger economically than the South.

 

One debate that arose concerned railroads. There was a desire for a railroad service to be built stretching East to West. The question was whether to put it in the North or South. The South wanted it to transport their raw materials and grow their economies. But the North wanted it to promote their manufacturing. The North had a larger population and in the House of Representatives had a larger say. The North won the fight over the railroad.

 

A lot of the problems that showed up in politics, economy and society are linked. And as you can see a lot of them had to do with a growing North-South divide over the issue of slavery and economy.

Answer 3

Since the course is described as U.S. History Beginning in 1865 then I will use that date, 1865, as the starting point for this response.  The most obvious change in the U.S. was the end of the Civil War in April, 1865.  That obviously had a number of effects.  For society and the legal system, the end of the Civil War, and the passage of the 13th Amendment (Dec., 1865) ending slavery, signaled a profound change in the economy.  The economy in the South was abased on cheap labor to produce farm goods, notably cotton.  Cotton continued to be the primary agricultural crop in the South; but it would never be as big as it had been because slave labor was gone.  Tenant farming and sharecropping replaced slavery, but did not duplicate the economies.

 

The economy in the South was largely destroyed for almost four decades following the war's end.  Most of the South's infrastructure had been damaged or destroyed in the fighting and it took decades to rebuild.  Southern state governments, especially after the end of Reconstruction, spent a lot more time trying to reconfirm white political power than they did trying to develop their states.

 

In general, the end of the Civil War allowed the federal government to offer incentives to private railroads to build a transcontinental railway.  This was completed by 1869; by 1880 there were two routes that connected the two coasts. This opened up the settlement of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains.  Farming and cattle ranching exploded and the improved transportation made it much easier to ship mining goods east.  This decreased the costs of bringing goods to markets and helped the U.S. economy to grow.  This coincided with the discovery of oil in Pennsylvania. Huge financial empires were built by men like Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie and Morgan.  The coal and steel industries also grew up during the postwar period.  This was important for reasons not immediately apparent.

 

One example of the new opportunities came when Edison developed the electric light.  A battle ensued between Edison's DC power system and Tesla's AC system.  J.P. Morgan, who founded the investment banking industry and helped develop Wall Street, invested millions in Edison.  Over a twenty year period between 1660 and 1900 Morgan was able to facilitate the takeover of Tesla's system and then to take the first steps to develop an electric grid across the country.  This dovetailed with the invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell.  By the end of the 19th Century power lines and phone lines were following railroads across the county, ushering the modern economic age.

 

When the Civil War ended it took weeks to move goods from San Francisco or Seattle to New York.  By 1900 this journey could be made in a few days.  This development made a national economy cost effective.

 

The economic developments led to the industrialization of the U.S. economy.  This had great political effects.  The gap between the rich and poor grew greatly.  Jobs left farms and went to factories.  Conditions in factories were often deplorable and dangerous.  A work week was generally 60 hours and living conditions for most people were poor. This led to frustration and anger on the part of average people.  This had a great impact on politics, eventually leading to the Progressive Movement in the Democratic Party.  People began to expect and to demand that the federal government regulate big business to prevent worker abuses.  Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1893 in response to this anger.  It is true that the Act was not seriously enforced for another 15 years; but change was in the air.

 

In 1865 the U.S. was essentially a rural nation of small towns and farms.  New York City had a population of 400,000. By 1900 New York City had a population of 2,000,000.  By 1910 more than half of the U.S. population lived in urban areas.  This marked a total change in the social fabric of American life.  Many of the newly created jobs were taken by immigrants.  It is true that the first wave of immigration occurred in the 1840s when Irish citizens were fleeing famine. The greatest period of immigration in U.S. history began in the early 1880s as word spread to Europe about jobs in the expanding U.S. economy.  Millions of people came to the U.S. during this period.  Their presence transformed society and politics.

 

All of this new economic power inevitably led political leaders to look beyond U.S. borders as they sought to find new markets and to protect U.S. economic interests.  This new focus on foreign policy found expression in the Spanish-American War, which began in 1898.  The outcome of this war found the U.S. with territories spread around the world. It marked the emergence of the U.S. as a global power.

 

The era is often referred to as the "Guilded Age."  It was a time of unprecedented economic growth.  It marked the rise of the U.S. as a world power.  Yet for many people their daily lives were in some ways worse than before.  Great tensions developed in these years over immigration and race relations.  The frontier in the American West was closed out.  People could no longer dream of simply going West to find their fortunes.  This made it much more difficult for ordinary people to achieve the American Dream.  Yet the fact is that the resolution of the slavery issue had opened up opportunities that allowed the U.S. to realize its Manifest Destiny.