Chapter 18
Industry and
Urban Growth
Industry Boom
• the nation expanded west and found deposits
of coal, iron, and copper,
• Government created policies that favored
industrial growth
– Including tariffs
– Tax on imports
Steel and Oil
• Building blocks of modern United States
Inventions
• In the late 1800s Americans started to create
many new inventions
– In 1897 the government issued more patents than
in the ten years before the Civil War
• America became known as the land of
Invention
Inventions
• Thomas Edison- invented the light bulb,
phonograph, motion picture camera, and
hundreds of other devices
• In 1882, Edison opened the nation’s first
electrical power plant in New York City
– Helped to bring in the age of electricity
Inventions
• Communications
– In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell built a device that
carried the human voice (telephone)
• By 1885 more than 300,00 phones had been sold
– Succeeded in 1876 when he sent the first
telephone message to his assistant “Mr. Watson,
come here. I want you.”
Inventions
• Other inventions include the type writer, shoe
making machine, light weight camera, flash for
the camera
Inventions
• In 1900 only 8,000 Americans owned
automobiles
• Henry Ford perfected a system that made the
automobile available to millions, known as the
assembly line
– By 1917 more than 4.5 million Americans owned
cars
Inventions
• In 1903 Wilbur and Orville Wright were the
first people ever to fly
– The first flight lasted 12 seconds and flew 120 feet
New Ways of Doing Business
• Business expansion was led by bold
entrepreneurs
• Businesses became corporations
– Corporations limited the risk of investors
New Ways of Doing Business
• Banks lent huge amounts of money to
corporations, which led to industries growing
faster
Growth of Big Business
• Government had a laissez-faire approach to
business in the late 1800s
• They allowed for the rapid growth of big
business and for the creation of monopolies
Growth of Big Business
• Andrew Carnegie
– Managed to gain control of the steel industry
– Believed that the rich had a duty to improve
society (Gospel of Wealth)
Growth of Big Business
• John D. Rockefeller
– Started an oil refinery at the age of 23
– Used his profits to buy other oil companies and
managed to take control of the oil industry
Working Conditions
• Industries attracted millions of new workers
• Most were immigrants or native born whites
Working Conditions
• Women worked and outnumbered men in
some industries, such as textile mills, tobacco
factories, and the garment sweatshops of
New York
• Children worked in bottle factories, textile
mills, tobacco factories, coal mines, and
sweatshops
– Most child laborers could not go to school, and
had little chance of improving their lives
Working Conditions
• New York City, March 25, 1911 fire broke out
in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.
– Hundreds of workers raced to the exits only to
find the exits were locked
– Nearly 150 people died as a result of the fire
Working Conditions
• Factory work was dangerous
– Workers would breathe in fibers or dust while
working at textile mills or mines and would come
down with lung diseases
– Steelworkers risked death and burns from the
molten metal
• Social Darwinists believed that harsh
conditions were necessary to cut costs,
increase production, and ensure survival of
the business
Lewis Hine
• was an American sociologist and
photographer. Hine used his camera as a tool
for social reform. His photographs were
instrumental in changing the child labor laws
in the United States
Workers Organize
• Workers attempted to form unions in order to
secure safer working conditions, higher wages,
and shorter hours
Workers Organize
• Knights of Labor-1869
– One of the earliest and most powerful unions in
the United States
– Success were undercut by a series of violent labor
disputes
• Haymarket Square (May 4, 1886)
Workers Organize
• 1886 Samuel Gompers formed a new union
called the American Federation of Labor (AFL)
– By 1904 the AFL had over one million members
Workers Organize
• The AFL believed in using collective
bargaining and strikes but only if all else failed
• AFL only allowed skilled workers and banned
African Americans, immigrants, and unskilled
workers
Workers Organize
• Bitter Strikes
– In 1893 the nation was hit by a severe economic
depression
• Businesses cut production, fired workers, and cut
wages
Workers Organize
• Pullman Strike
– Workers’ pay was cut by 25%
• Angry workers walked out
– Railroad workers also walked out in support
– Rail lines were shut down from coast to coast
– President Grover Cleveland sent in federal troops
to end the strike
Workers Organize
• Army fired into the crowds killing two
protesters
• Most Americans sided with owners when
workers would strike
Rapid Growth of Cities
• New technology helped cities grow
– Elevated trains, electric streetcar, subways
• Public transportation allowed for the creation
of the suburbs (people no longer had to live in
the city in order to work in the city)
– Creation of steel bridges (Brooklyn Bridge) helped
to create suburbs
Rapid Growth of Cities
• Cities also began to expand upward with
skyscrapers
Problems of Urban Life
• People lived in crowded tenements
– Buildings had no windows, heat, or indoor
plumbing
– 10 people might live in a single room
– Street were littered with garbage
• Outbreaks of diseases were common
• in one Chicago tenement half of all babies died before
age of one
• Jacob Riis helped to bring attention to the
horrible living conditions and wrote a book
entitled How the Other Half Lives
Problems of Urban Life
• In 1880s cities began to improve urban life
– Installed streetlights, set up fire, sanitation, and
police departments
• social reformers worked to help the poor
– Jane Addams, opened a settlement house in the
slums of Chicago
The New Colossus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes
command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
The New Immigrants
• Between 1865 and 1915 about 25 million
immigrants entered the United States
– (that is more than the population of the entire
country in 1850)
The New Immigrants
Why were there so many immigrants coming to
the United States?
The New Immigrants
• countries were becoming over populated
• immigrants wanted religious freedom
• were trying to escape political persecution
The New Immigrants
Why the United States?
The New Immigrants
• The U.S. was seen as a land of opportunity
where they could build a better life
– U.S. had jobs, promise of freedom, a tradition of
democracy and liberty
The New Immigrants
• In early 1800s most immigrants were
Protestant and from northern and western
Europe (most spoke English)
• In the late 1800s “new immigrants” began to
arrive from Italy, Poland Russia, and Greece
– Most were Catholic or Jewish and most did not
speak English
The New Immigrants
• Coming to America
– Immigrants came by boat and were crammed
below decks in steerage
– Most people coming from Europe landed in New
York and after 1892 went through Ellis Island
The New Immigrants
• About 2/3 of immigrants settled in cities and
near people from the same country
The New Immigrants
• New immigrants worked hard to assimilate
– It was easier for children to assimilate
• Goal of many immigrants was to educate their
children so they would be better off
Nativism
• Increased immigration led to a wave of
nativism
– People that sought to preserve the U.S. for nativeborn American citizens
• Nativists argued that the new immigrants
would not assimilate
Educating Americans
• Before 1870, fewer than half of American
children went to school
• United States realized the need for an
educated workforce
• States passed compulsory education laws
Educating Americans
• The School Day
– Typical school day lasted from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00
p.m.
– Pupils learned the three r’s “reading, ‘riting, and
‘rithmetic
Educating Americans
• As more Americans began to read, more
books and magazines became available
– Most people read low-priced paperbacks that told
about thrilling adventures (“Wild West” or “ragsto-riches”)
New American Writers
• Some writers were realists
– Realists described the hardships of most
immigrants living in the slums
– Jack London
• The Call of the Wild
• White Fang
• Kate Chopin
– The Awakening
• Mark Twain
– Huckleberry Finn
Newspaper Boom
• The amount of newspapers in the united
states grew very quickly in the late 1800s
– The spread of education was one reason for the
growth of the newspaper industry
– The newspaper boom was linked to urbanization
Newspaper Boom
• Joseph Pulitzer created the first modern
newspaper, New York World
Newspaper Boom
• Pulitzer added features to the newspaper, like
The Yellow Kid
Newspaper Boom
• New York World became known for its
sensational headlines that told of crime and
scandal.
– This style of writing became known as yellow
journalism