policy of complete segregation of the races. The most important legacy of Reconstruction has proved to be three amendments to the Constitution. The Thirteenth abolished slavery, the Fourteenth guaranteed the rights of citizens, and the Fifteenth gave black people the constitutional right to vote. And even thought these amendments did not bring freedom to African-American people at first, anyway it was an important step in American history.From Reconstruction to World War I, the United States developed a prosperous industrial economy that revolutionized American society. After the Civil War, the growing northern factories looker to overseas markets for their goods. Meanwhile, completion of the transcontinental railroad opened new markets in the West and brought products of western farms and mines east. The Civil War ruined the South’s economy. Many farmers and planters had to sell off parts of their land to pay off debts or to start over. Yet despite all the hardships, they again began to produce cotton and tobacco. But, many southerners believed that the South economy should not rest simply on agriculture. They began to create a New South, with rebuilt railroads, new textile and steel mills, and new industries, such as oil and coal production.Electricity became the key to many important economic developments that helped industry to expand. New methods of making steel brought its price down and improved its quality, making it suitable for dozens of uses. New inventions as the gargantuan Corliss steam engine, Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone, the bicycle, the typewriter and the elevator very soon became commonplace necessities. The impact of new inventions was enormous. Technological change affected the lives of people far more than any political developments of the time. For example, the invention of the typewriter in 1867 and the development of a practical adding machine in 1888 mechanized offices. Innovations...
