“The working men have no country. We cannot take away from them what they haven’t got.”

-Karl Marx

During the long years after the American Civil War, the United States underwent a period of regression and dissolution. The average American was forced to toil and suffer at the hands of economic demagogues. The “American Dream” was shattered into an onslaught of phosphorescent tears that fell on deaf ears. This passage in time was not one of optimism and growth; it lacked humanity, brotherhood, and equality.

Reconstruction soon commenced after the close of the Civil War. However, the South would never be restored to its previous grandeur. Many men were out of jobs because of injuries sustained in the war. All of the southern agricultural states were crippled by the emancipation of the slaves. When sharecropping failed, farmers began to look to industrial cities for work. White southerners, angered by their weakened state began instituting a social system called the “Jim Crow Laws”. This gave way to the Ku Klux Klan, the forerunners of racism and discrimination. The North was also plagued by prejudice as people trampled on the immigrants from Europe; forgetting that they too were once foreigners in a strange land.

Post Civil War America was transformed by technology as inventions in farming and industry swept across the land. The transcontinental railroad allowed unfettered travel from coast to coast. The Telegraph opened the flood gates of long-distance communication. Factories became increasingly efficient, just as farmers were yielding superfluous crops. As American industry grew, so did the wallets of the ostentatious factory owners. Instead of increasing the wages of the common blue-collar, millionaires like Andrew Carnegie, buried their money in public commodities like libraries, museums, and parks. Some people believe that the industrialization of the United States was beneficial to everyone. There is no liar worse than greed.

In an attempt to synthesize the two previous opposing views, the author will present a montage of the truth at hand. America between 1877 and 1900 nearly lost its sense of compassion. Luckily, the line wasn’t drawn in blood. It is clear that prosperity was not brought to the masses. Men, women, and even children suffered and died in Northern factories. African Americans were pushed beneath the surface with violent scare tactics. Social Darwinism was the justification used by the rich to explain the misdistribution of wealth. The shining hope of Marxism was squelched by ramped greed among the elite. Although workers united under unions, our government’s “laissez-faire” attitude destroyed all hope of equality. It became a vicious cycle where man was devoured by the machines he built.

This was one of the darker times of American History. Although there was technological progress, the middle and lower class economies suffered. Greed purged the economic rights of the common man. Racism ensured that the rights of minorities were forsaken. America almost lost its free-roaming ambience. The crystal tears of the “American Dream” blossomed into hope for the future generations. Hope that Americans could hold hands as brothers and sisters, disregarding cultural and economic diversity, and work towards a common good.

“The proletarians of the world have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Workers of all countries: Unite!”

-Karl Marx