United States History Unit 6 –
“Expansion and Reform”
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SSUSH11 The student will describe the growth of big
business and technological innovations after
Reconstruction.
a. Explain the impact of the railroads on other industries, such
as steel, and on the organization of big business.
b. Describe the impact of the railroads in the development of the
West; include the transcontinental railroad, and the use of
Chinese labor.
c. Identify John D. Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company
and the rise of trusts and monopolies
d. Describe the inventions of Thomas Edison; include the
electric light bulb, motion pictures, and the phonograph, and
their impact on American life
United States History Unit 6 –
“Expansion and Reform”
 This unit examines technological innovation
through the growth of big business and the impact of
these innovations in the development of the West.
Conflict and change will also be examined during
the analysis of the American industrial growth with a
focus on the consequences of industrial growth,
creation of labor unions and political parties, and
Supreme Court decisions. Through the conceptual
lens of distribution of power and time, change,
and continuity, the unit will explain the rise of the
United States as a world power and the inevitable
changes within American society and societies
around the world.
EXPANSION AND REFORM
GPS 11
 1. RECALL UNITS
 2. 1. THEMES
2. EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT
3. CREATION OF THE USA
4. EARLY EXPANSION
5. CLASH OF BELIEFS
6. EXPANSION AND REFORM
EXPANSION AND REFORM
 SSUSH11 The student will describe the growth of
big business and technological innovations after
Reconstruction.
 1. THE MODERN USA WAS CREATED BY SOCIAL
CHANGES WHICH WENT ALONG WITH THE
GROWTH OF BIG BUSINESS AND TECH
ADVANCES.
 2.AFTER RECONSTRUCTION, RR COMPANIES
AND OIL AND STEEL INDUSTRIES EXPANDED,
AND MAJOR INVENTIONS CHANGED PEOPLES’
LIVES.
EXPANSION AND REFORM:
RAILROADS
 1. THE FED GAVE VAST LAND AREAS IN
THE WEST TO RR COMPANIES TO LAY
TRACKS TO CONNECT E AND W STATES.
 2. CHINESE LABOR, ACCEPTED LOWER
WAGES THAN WHAT OTHER LABORERS
DEMANDED FOR DANGEROUS WORK;
MANY DIED
 3. COMPLETION OF 1ST
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD, 1869
EXPANSION AND REFORM:
RAILROADS
 4. IMPORTANCE: RR CONTRIBUTED TO
DEVELOPMENT OF WEST
 HOW?
 1)RR SOLD LAND FOR FARMING
ENCOURAGING SETTLERS WEST
 2)SETTLERS USED TRAINS TO GO W
 3)FARMERS USED TRAINS TO SHIP GRAIN
AND CATTLE E
EXPANSION AND REFORM:
RAILROADS
 The First Transcontinental Railroad is the popular
name of the U.S. railroad line (known at the time as
the Pacific Railroad) completed in 1869 between
Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska (via Ogden,
Utah and Sacramento, California) and Alameda,
California. By linking with the existing railway network
of the Eastern United States, the road thus
connected the Atlantic and Pacific coasts by rail for
the first time. Opened for through traffic on May 10,
1869, with the driving of the "Last Spike" at
Promontory Summit, Utah, the road established a
mechanized transcontinental transportation network
that revolutionized the population and economy of the
American West.
EXPANSION AND REFORM:
RAILROADS
EXPANSION AND REFORM:
RAILROADS
EXPANSION AND REFORM:
RAILROADS
EXPANSION AND REFORM:
RAILROADS
EXPANSION AND REFORM:
RAILROADS
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1.The majority of the Union Pacific track was built by Irish laborers, and veterans
of both the Union and Confederate armies.
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2. The Central Pacific track was constructed primarily by Chinese immigrants.
Even though at first they were thought to be too weak or fragile to do this type of
work, after the first few days on which Chinese were on the line, the decision
was made to hire as many as could be found in California (where most were
independent gold miners or in service industries such as laundries and
kitchens). Many more were imported from China. Most of the men received
between one and three dollars per day, but the workers arriving directly from
China received much less. Eventually, they went on strike and gained a small
increase in salary.
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3. In addition to track laying (which typically employed approximately 25% of the
labor force), the operation also required the efforts of hundreds of tunnelers,
explosive experts, bridge builders, blacksmiths, carpenters, engineers, masons,
surveyors, teamsters, telegraphers, and even cooks, to name just a few of the
trades involved in construction of the railroad.
EXPANSION AND REFORM:
THE STEEL INDUSTRY
 1. GROWTH OF RR EXPANDED THE
INDUSTRIES THAT SUPPLIED THE RR’S
NEED FOR:
 1)STEEL RAILS ON WOOD TIES
 2)IRON LOCOMOTIVES BURING COAL
 3)WOODEN FREIGHT CARS
 4)PASSENGER CARS WITH CLOTH SEAT
COVERS AND GLASS WINDOWS
EXPANSION AND REFORM:
STEEL INDUSTRY
 1.RR’S –BIGGEST CUSTOMERS FOR STEEL
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INDUSTRY
2.THOUSANDS OF MILES OF STEEL TRACKS
3.IN TURN, RR’S HAD IMPACT ON STEEL
4.TO SUPPLY CUSTOMERS, STEEL PRODUCERS
DEVELOPED CHEAP METHODS TO PRODUCE
RAILS.
5.CHEAP METHODS ENABLED MORE
INDUSTRIES TO AFFORD STEEL COMPANIES’
PRODUCTS.
EXPANSION AND REFORM, STEEL INDUSTRY
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Andrew Carnegie] (25 November 1835 –
11 August 1919) was a Scottish-born
American industrialist, businessman, and
a major philanthropist. He was an
immigrant as a child with his parents. He
built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel
Company, which was later merged with
Elbert H. Gary's and several smaller
companies to create U.S. Steel. With the
fortune he made from business, he
turned to philanthropy and interests in
education, founding the Carnegie
Corporation of New York, Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace, and
Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Carnegie gave away most of his money
to fund the establishment of many
libraries, schools, and universities in
America, the United Kingdom and other
countries, as well as a pension fund for
former employees. He is often regarded
as the second richest man in history.
EXPANSION AND REFORM
 1.RISE AND STEEL AND RR (EARLY 1900S)
CAUSED GROWTH OF OTHER BIG
BUSINESSES (OIL, FINANCE,
MANUFACTURING)
 2.ENORMOUS FINANCIAL WEALTH
 3.USE OF WEALTH TO CONTROL
CULTURE AND POLITICS
 4.RESULT: REFORM
EXPANSION AND REFORM: BIG
BUSINESS
 Big Business is a term used to describe
large corporations, in either an individual or
collective sense. The term first came into use
after 1880, in connection with the
combination movement that began in
American business at that time.
Organizations that fall into the category of
"big business" include ExxonMobil, Wal-Mart,
Google, Microsoft, General Motors, Citigroup
and Arcelor Mittal.
EXPANSION AND REFORM: BIG
BUSINESS AND OIL
 1. STANDARD OIL COMPANY, 1870
 2. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
 3. MOST FAMOUS BIG BUSINESS OF THE TIME
 4. ROCKEFELLER GAINED CONTROL OF MOST
OTHER OIL COMPANIES AND CREATED A TRUST
 5. THE TRUST RESULTED IN ROCKEFELLER’S
90% OWNERSHIP IN THE OIL INDUSTRY
 6.RESULT: STANDARD OIL, A MONOPOLY, A
SINGLE COMPANY WHICH CONTROLLED U.S. OIL
PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION
EXPANSION AND REFORM: OIL INDUSTRY
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Standard Oil was a predominant
American integrated oil producing,
transporting, refining, and marketing
company. Established in 1870 as an
Ohio Corporation, it was the largest
oil refiner in the world and operated
as a major company trust and was
one of the world's first and largest
multinational corporations until it
was broken up by the United States
Supreme Court in 1911.
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John D. Rockefeller was a founder,
chairman and major shareholder,
and the company made him a
billionaire and eventually the richest
man in modern history.
EXPANSION AND REFORM: JOHN
D. ROCKEFELLER
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John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839
– May 23, 1937) was an American
industrialist and philanthropist.
Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum
industry and defined the structure of
modern philanthropy. In 1870, he founded
the Standard Oil Company and ran it until
he officially retired in 1897. Standard Oil
began as an Ohio partnership formed by
John D. Rockefeller, his brother William
Rockefeller,
Standard Oil was convicted in Federal
Court of monopolistic practices and
broken up in 1911. Rockefeller spent the
last 40 years of his life in retirement. His
fortune was mainly used to create the
modern systematic approach of targeted
philanthropy with foundations that had a
major effect on medicine, education, and
scientific research.
EXPANSION AND REFORM:
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
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1. THOMAS EDISON, INVENTOR
2. INVENTIONS
1)LIGHTBULB
2)PHONOGRAPH,
3)MOTION PICTURES
4)DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM FOR
ELECTRICAL POWER
 5)OTHER ELECTRICAL TECH
 6)INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH AND LAB
EXPANSION AND REFORM:
THOMAS EDISON
 1. RESULTS OF EDISON INVENTIONS
 1)DEVELOPMENT OF LONG-DISTANCE
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ELECTRICITY TRANSMISSION (WIDESPREAD
USE OF ELECTRIC LIGHTS)
2)ELECTRICITY INSTEAD OF STEAM TO POWER
FACTORIES
3)STREETCARS REPLACE HORSES
4)ELECTRICITY REPLACES HUMANS AS THE
SOURCE OF POWER FOR HOUSEHOLD
APPLIANCES.
5)IMPROVED QUALITY OF LIFE
THOMAS EDISON
 Thomas Alva Edison
(February 11, 1847 – October
18, 1931) was an American
inventor and businessman who
developed many devices that
greatly influenced life around
the world, including the
phonograph and the longlasting, practical electric light
bulb.
 Edison is considered one of the
most prolific inventors in history,
holding 1,093 U.S. patents in
his name, as well as many
patents in the United Kingdom,
France and Germany.
FORD, EDISON, AND FIRESTONE, THE “FATHERS
OF MODERNITY”
 The General Electric
Company, or GE
(NYSE: GE) is a
multinational American
technology and services
conglomerate
incorporated in the
State of New York. In
terms of market
capitalization as of
September 30, 2008,
GE is the world's tenth
largest company.
AMTRAK
 The National Railroad Passenger
Corporation, doing business as Amtrak
(reporting mark AMTK), is a governmentowned corporation that was organized on
May 1, 1971 to provide intercity passenger
train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is
a portmanteau of the words "American" and
"track."
AMTRAK