Rise of Industrial America Era

In the late nineteenth century, the United States became an industrial giant. Railroads, factories, and cities expanded rapidly. Public finance in this era was still different from today: the federal government again depended heavily on tariffs and excises, while states and cities financed much of the infrastructure and public services that made urban-industrial life possible. The country was becoming modern, but its revenue system had not yet become the modern mass income-tax state we have today.