In: Economics
discuss the economic tensions and historical processes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The United States underwent an economic transition from the period of Reconstruction to the end of the 19th century, characterised by the maturing of the manufacturing economy , the rapid growth of big industry, the development of large-scale agriculture, and the emergence of national trade unions and manufacturing strife.
This headlong economic expansion was fueled by an explosion of technical advancement in the late 19th century. The accompanying growth of the American industry and the introduction of massive enterprise, however, culminated in a consolidation of the economic capabilities of the nation in fewer and less hands. Mechanization has introduced farming into the realm of big business , making the United States the world's largest consumer of food — a place it never gave up. The land poverty of white Americans, however, continued unabated. This lead to conflicts against the Plains Native Americans and the "second great expulsion" from their ancestral homelands of indigenous peoples.