The economic and social crises of the 1890s, particularly the Panic of 1893, had their origins in a number of events and conditions that shook the public's confidence in the political and social institutions of the United States.
The economic downturn likely had its origin in the failure of the Reading Railroad Company. When Reading Railroad collapsed and went into receivership in 1893, the banks that were relying on their loans to the company found themselves in a tough spot. A number of other major railroad companies would also collapse that year, spooking many more investors. Many worried European investors responded by pulling their investments from the country which led to a full-blown economic panic. This all led to vast uncertainty in the U.S. economy which meant that fewer employers were hiring workers as they waited to see how the dust settled.
To make matters worse, a series of bad agricultural harvests in the southern and western United States led to food cost increases across the country. This put a further strain on many household budgets.
Another factor that should be considered was the dwindling federal gold reserves. With the gold standard falling, and the government's seeming inability to rectify it, people all over the country began losing faith in the government's ability to avert an even greater economic crisis.
All this was coupled with social unease about changing societal conditions in the United States. More immigrants than ever were coming to the country. There was a major demographic shift as people moved to cities from the countryside. People were experiencing the rapid industrialization of the economy. All this led to a large amount of uncertainty which resulted in unrest throughout the course of the decade.
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/dep1893.htm
The 1890s was a time of great wealth and opportunity in the United States. But it was also a time of exploitation, poverty, and a widening gap between rich and poor. Many of those immigrants who came to America in search of a better life for themselves and their families quickly became disillusioned by the squalor, overcrowding, and appalling working conditions of life in the big city. It seemed that, no matter how hard most poor people and immigrants worked, they remained firmly stuck at the bottom of the ladder. To many, the promise of the American Dream seemed nothing but a mirage.
Yet at the same time, the richest members of society grew even richer during this so-called Gilded Age. This was one of the factors that led to the formation of labor unions as a way of obtaining a fair deal for working men and women (and children, as child labor was still largely unregulated at this time). Self-styled progressives also got involved, campaigning for wholesale changes in how the economy was run. But as the wealthy and their political representatives were reluctant to give way, conflict inevitably arose, manifesting itself in increasingly bitter industrial disputes between management and labor.
The 1890s were a turbulent decade in many countries, but this answer will focus on the United States, which witnessed particularly acute social, political, and economic turmoil. There were many reasons for this. The decade witnessed rapid industrial expansion, an enormous wave of immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe, the consolidation of American businesses into enormous monopolies, an imperialistic war with Spain, and the expansion of Jim Crow laws in the South. But probably the most important source of economic conflict and social unrest was the terrible economic crisis that afflicted the world in the 1890s. Beginning with the Panic of 1893, when banks across the United States failed in record numbers, the economic crisis continued for much of the decade. As many Americans lost their jobs, the crisis widened the already yawning gap between the rich and the poor and exacerbated social conflict. For example, the bloody strike that broke out at the Pullman train car plant and spread throughout the Northeast began when management cut wages in the midst of the economic downturn. Many more Americans embraced radical politics, including socialism (like American Railway Union leader Eugene Debs) and anarchism, represented by popular speaker Emma Goldman. Economic crisis was also at the heart of the so-called "farmers revolt" led by the Populists, who won many local offices and even a few at the state levels. Above all, the crisis of the 1890s revealed to many Americans that rapid industrial and economic growth carried enormous risks.
https://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h792.html
No comments:
Post a Comment