Industrialization of America
1877-1918
STD 11.2.5
Objective:
Evaluate the industrial
leaders and their
policies.
APK
• Who are the workers we search out for
jobs?
• What was different about the jobs
during the industrialization?
Importance
• Some business leaders in the late 1800s were
called "robber barons" because they
A. required their workers to address them as
royalty.
B. spent time in Europe buying up art treasures.
C. stole from the rich to give to the poor.
D. used ruthless business tactics to get rich.
Main Points
1. After the Civil War, the United States
became one of the world’s leading industrial
powers.
2. Industrialization touched every aspect of
life.
3. There were new products and
conveniences for consumers.
4. There were new sources of wealth for
business-owners.
Rise of American
Industry
• Major factor was our economic systemcapitalism (free market or free enterprise)
– Wealth is privately owned
– not controlled by the government.
• Laissez Faire – allow to do – Hands off
• New machines = more factories and mass
production
• Badly-treated workers = organized labor
unions CFU:
Define Capitalism.
Define Laissez Faire.
Reasons for the Rise as an
Industrial Giant
• The spread of railroads
– Transcontinental railroad connected east and
west.
• New inventions
–
–
–
–
Bessemer process – steel
Telegraph (Morse) – communication
Telephone (Bell) – communication
Light Bulb (Edison) – new uses for electricity
• Rise of Corporations
– Larger sums of money could be raised through
the sell of stocks Pair Share:
How would railroads and new inventions lead to
growth in industry?
Business Leaders
Heroes or Villains?
Titan of Industry or Robber Baron
Business Leader
You Decide…
• Andrew Carnegie – Steel producer
– Born poor
– Became world’s richest man
– Sold steel at low prices and put other steel
companies out of business
– Forced workers to put in long hours at low wages
– Stopped them from joining unions
– Later gave large sums of money to education,
libraries, and arts.
Pair Share:
Would Carnegie be good boss?
Does giving money to charity negate any bad he did?
This is a view of the Edgar Thomson Works at Braddock taken from the hills across
the Monongahela River. Andrew Carnegie's first steel plant, "ET" was built in 1875
to make steel rails for the rapidly expanding railroads and named after the
president of the Pennsylvania Railroad at the time.
Business Leader
You Decide…
• John D. Rockefeller – Oil refiner
– Formed Standard Oil Company
– Controlled most of the oil refinery business
– Forced railroad companies to give him
special low rates while they charged
higher rates to his competitors
– Later gave money to education and
science
Pair Share:
Would Rockefeller be good boss?
Does giving money to charity negate any bad he did?
This is the Standard Oil
Building that stood at 26
Broadway in New York
City.
% of Billionaires in 1900
CFU:
What does the graph show
Pair Share
What does this chart say about American wealth?
CFU:
% of Billionaires
in 1918
What does the graph show
Pair Share
What does this chart say about American wealth?
Importance
• Some business leaders in the late 1800s were
called "robber barons" because they
A. required their workers to address them as
royalty.
B. spent time in Europe buying up art treasures.
C. stole from the rich to give to the poor.
D. used ruthless business tactics to get rich.
Closure
• During the second half of the 19th
century, government commitment to the
principles of laissez-faire contributed to
A.healthy and positive competition
between businesses.
B.the growth of small business firms.
C.friendly working relationships between
labor and management.
D.the growth of business monopolies and
trusts.
Closure
• In a capitalist system,
A. the state controls economic activity.
B. private citizens control economic
activity.
C. elected officials control economic
activity.
D. the dictator controls economic activity.
Closure
• The term robber-baron was used to
criticize the
A.tactics of big-business leaders.
B.corruption of government officials.
C.dishonesty of carpetbaggers.
D.unskilled labor of illegal immigrants.
Closure
• U.S. industry needed international trade during
the late 1800s and early 1900s to
A. obtain spare parts for railroad cars and
steamships.
B. obtain raw materials and sell more goods to
new markets.
C. keep the United States dollar on the gold
standard.
D. provide American consumers with a choice of
products.
Closure
Closure