Economic Opportunities Paper
The economy during this time in the United States was booming. Everything was a new venture. The Westward Expansion was the start of a new era; new trades and businesses started opening everywhere. A tribal termination with the Native Americans and buffalo. The Transcontinental Railroad and many other new developments were made.
During this time, the economy was booming and everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Immigrants were flooding in from other countries in search of prosperity. The first influxes of workers were the rural Americans who were disillusioned and went bankrupted when their dreams of owning a prosperous farm went bankrupt. Most of the immigrants that came to America were trying to escape poverty and oppression from their homelands. Most of the immigrant workers came to America with expectations of new opportunities, some were true, and some were offered broken promises. Many employers would front the immigrants the funds to travel to America and then deduct that amount from their wages; it was not until 1885 when employers were told to stop.
Immigrants flooded America to find a new beginning; little did they know they were walking into paid slavery. The standard of living rose after the end of the Civil War, however the pay the immigrants received did not, the average American worker received $400 to $500 a year when the amount to live with reasonable comfort was set at $600. During these hard times people still fled to America in search for higher living conditions and many found it, however many did not. Those people helped pave the way for the style we have today.
It was not until the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad when the economic boom really hit. The east coast was thriving but it was not enough for the American people to be happy, they wanted more. The expansion of the railroad was