1870-1880During the 1870s the United States experienced great changes with the end of the Civil War. America was going through a period called Reconstruction. Tensions were quite high and an air of freedom reigned throughout the nation. By 1877, it was obvious that the United States was beginning to develop into a recognizably modern economic system of producing, earning, spending, and living (Brown 60). In 1880, “more than half of American workers worked on farms, and only one in twenty worked in manufacturing” (Brown 59). Farmers far outnumbered factories, but factories were still plentiful. Child labor also occurred after the Civil War. By 1872, more than 10,000 children were employed in Philadelphia's industrial workplaces. That number was even larger in cities like New York, and increased as the years went by (Brown 60). The decade 1870-1880 was characterized by many important issues in American history. Industrialization began to make inroads into the American colony. In 1870, the first transcontinental rail journey in the United States took place. The transcontinental railroad united America. This made travel easier and more importantly made it easier for industries to move products back and forth. The transcontinental railroad was the best invention and had a great impact on life in the United States at that time. Another great event that happened for this country was the discovery of gold in 1874. The discovery of gold in the Dakota Territory brought thousands of gold prospectors to the Black Hills Reservation. Another very important invention that changed America was the telephone on March 10, 1876 by Alexander Graham Bell. This allowed America... middle of paper... according to Perkins, although French and Russian realists and naturalists influenced James's style, "in contrast to the European naturalists whose tutelage he acknowledged, he rebelled against the materialistic interpretation of human destiny, and struggled with the problem of undeniable evil as desperately as Hawthorne, whom, among the early Americans, he admired most” (Perkins 1055). unique One of James's stories, "Daisy Miller", is set in Switzerland. This whole story Europeans see America as a hostile and rather harsh country once again to rebuild the nation. reconstruction or reconstruction not only affected attitudes, but affected art and literature throughout the world.