A Discussion On The Contradictions Between American Western Farmers And Railway Companies In The Gilded Age

After the Civil War, America had entered the Gilded Age in its history of the development. During this period, America had experienced two fundamental changes:one was the change from an agricultural economic system to an industrial, the other was the change from a free capitalist to monopoly capitalist. Driven by these two historic transitions, great changes of politics, economy and culture had occurred in the United States. The great transformation produces new economic contradictions and conflicts of interest, the long-term confrontation between American western farmers and railway companies was one of the concrete performance. In the early 1830 s, The United States began its railway construction process, after the Civil War, The United States has set off a boom in railway construction. With its unique advantages, the railway has gained a leading position in the field of transportation in the United States.For the western part, large scale railway construction played an important role in the development of agriculture in the area. In 1870 s, major railway companies have launched a vicious competition and seek monopoly, the chaos in the rail transport market has made the farmers in the western region a victim of the pursuit of profit for the railway companies. The misconducts of railway companies such as false propaganda, land speculation, Financial fraud and rate discrimination have seriously damaged the interests of the farmers. In face of the damage of their interests, the farmers combined to raise Grange movement and under the influence of the Grange movement, several Midwest States enacted laws to control railway railway transportation. After that, the recession of grange movement relaxed the state government's rail regulation, in this instance, American western farmers turned to seek the federal government's intervene. The interstate commerce act of 1887 established the federal railway regulation and standardized the railway transport market order, the contradictions between the two sides tended to be eased.