Oil, Steel, and Railroads: America's Big Business in the Late 1800s (Primary Sources of America's Industrial Society in the 19th)

The expansion of steel, oil, and the railroad industries during and after the Civil War helped America to grow and change. Millions of people were immigrating to the United States from Europe and Asia, altering the size and face of the population. Looking for work and for a better life, they found a country in the midst of an economic revolution. Owners of new, big businesses became a new wealthy class; their workers, many of whom were the same immigrants who came looking for a better life, became the new working poor.