Essay Sample on The Rise of the United States

Try to imagine what recent world history would look like if the United States had not existed. Try to imagine how the Americas would have formed without the influence of the United States. How would the World Wars have turned out? What about the industrial revolution? Without the United States, how could the Panama Canal or the Transcontinental Railroad have been built, and how could global trade have formed without them? The United States has become and served as the deciding factor throughout the last two centuries, despite only having been formed in the late 1700s. America’s rise to the spotlight came quickly and came from a very low place.

The rise of the United States began at the close of the Civil War when the country was thoroughly divided and impoverished from the war. Our first action towards both connection and prosperity was the Transcontinental Railroad. It began construction during the war and was rapidly finished after the fighting was done, connecting not only the West Coast to the East Coast but also the Pacific to the Atlantic and the Far East to Europe. This alone was a major factor in turning the USA into a trading mecca but also had many other benefits. The railroad helped us take advantage of one of our greatest assets that most other countries did not have, an expansive, largely uninhabited, piece of land. The way in which we settled this land was not particularly ethical, but it did make us much more important in the realms of farming and ranching. This theme of connection continued in the form of a more direct sea link between the oceans with the later construction of the Panama Canal. With the addition of these two links between the oceans, the Americas, and by extension the United States, were at the center of the world.

The next great leap forward for the United States came with the British invention of automated textile weaving and spinning machines. These machines and the philosophies behind them quickly leeched over the ocean and into the minds of those with the capital and influence to implement them. This event kick started an era of mechanical innovation and globalization called the Industrial Revolution. Whether by luck or by the benefit of America’s vast natural resources, the United States came out on top, even beating out the European countries that originally formed the movement. So, by increasing the realm of production, the US had become even more influential.

The final category necessary for the United States would need dominance over in order to become the global influence that has also happened to be the overarching backdrop to the entire 1900s: war. Before World War One, the United States was technologically behind, isolationist, and generally uninvolved in the realm of war. After our entrance and subsequent victory, the United States became more respected and more invested in the power that comes from a strong military. After our entrance and subsequent victory in World War Two, we became one of two military superpowers in the world. Thus, the growth can be contributed to three key investments: connection, production, and war.

Initially, in the United States' first form of government, the Articles of Confederation, the Federal government realistically had the controlling power of a mime’s imaginary lasso; they could pull all they wanted, but in the end, you could just choose to ignore them, and nobody would really have a problem with it. By the 1860s, the government had a small number of essential powers that a government needs to function, such as the levying of taxes, military powers, federal courts, and a federal lawmaking system. The federal government remained conservative in size and power. One of the first actions the federal government carried out to give them power over the states came after the Civil War when they passed the 13th and 14th amendments, which were the first amendments undertaken to solve a societal ill that was disapproved of. By outlawing slavery and giving voting rights to American Blacks, and also even simply by not allowing the South to secede in the first place, the Federal Government cemented its ability and role as the main controlling factor in American political development.

Another large event that allowed for the expansion of Federal powers came during the Industrial Revolution, with the development of unsafe working conditions and monopolies that were common issues during this era. By taking apart the monopolies and choosing to regulate the American workplace, the Federal government gained the ability to legally have influence over the economic occurrences in the United States. The Federal control of the American economic system was taken to a new level of precedence in the 1920s with the occurrence of the Great Depression. In order to prevent a total collapse of economic institutions in the United States, the Federal government emptied out its pockets, tightened its belt, and carried the economy for several years, entirely supported by taxpayer dollars. With this final addition of the time period, the Federal government had the precedent to do whatever was necessary to guide both the economical and societal development of the United States, and the actual state governments were put in the back seat.

If the average person from the mid-1800s were taken back 100 years to the 1700s, they would see some definite decreases in standards of living and general quality of life, but would easily adjust. If the average person were taken from the mid-1900s and put in 1865, they would not be able to recognize the world around them. No electricity, no refrigerators, no long-distance transportation, and no long-distance communication would be available to them and the work that would be required of them to fit into any typical job would be easily twice what it would be in the future. Given the advances made in transportation, communication, personal technology, government welfare, and working conditions made since these decades, the 1900s person would be in a worse situation than some of the poorest citizens of their native time.

The Transcontinental Railroad did more than just connect the United States in terms of trade; it created a national job market, with a citizen being able to not only hear about better situations but also travel to them and take advantage of them. A broader job market, along with many improvements in technology, meant that the average person could realistically specialize in a job that was intellectual in focus. The average person was no longer producing their own food, and soon they wouldn’t even be involved in the direct production of physical goods, but in marketing, selling, serving, transporting, and tending to goods that others made. Along with these physically easier jobs came shorter hours and vacation hours, which benefited worker happiness even more. 

The downside of not being involved directly in the production of essential goods is dependence. If the system that sustains your job has a downturn, you lose the support that you had and do not have the skills or means to go back down the ladder and directly produce for your family. The average office worker in New York during the 1920s would likely lose their job during the Great Depression and wouldn’t have the means to produce food and support their family directly, in lieu of a job. The nationalization and globalization of production during this period made everything financially connected and people unable to operate outside of the system. If there was a downturn in the economy, everyone felt it nationally and sometimes globally. Before everything was interconnected by advancements in transportation and long-distance communication, a region may experience a localized downturn, but it would rarely spread out of the initial area. A normal person lives a much better life, but that life may be taken away by the failure of a company or government 1000 miles away.