The Industrial Age
1877-1920
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I. Causes of Industrialization
A. The 2nd Industrial
Revolution in the 60
years following the Civil
War was a period of
tremendous change in
society, technology, and
the economy.
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B. Transforms the US into a booming industrialized
nation.
1. Steam and electricity
replace human muscle
2. Iron replaced wood, and
steel replaced iron
3. oil will light homes,
streets, factories, and
lubricate machines
4. People and goods move
quickly on Railroads
5. Manufactured ice now
meant transport of food
over large areas.
6. Before the Civil War, it
took 61 hours of labor to
produce an acre of wheat.
By 1900, because of
mechanized farming, it took
3 hours and 19 minutes.
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C. What allows for this transformation of technology, society, and
economy?
1. Extensive natural
resources.
2. Government support of
business
3. Growing urban
population. (lots of
cheap labor and people
to buy the things
produced.
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D. Extensive Natural Resources
1. Timber, coal, iron,
and copper were
important
resources that
fueled
industrialization.
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2. The fact that they
are located in the US
meant that they could
be obtained cheaply.
3. Railroads brought
natural resources from
the west to the east.
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4. Even before cars,
petroleum was in high
demand because it
was used for
kerosene, a fuel used
in lanterns and stoves.
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E. Large Workforce
1. Between 1860 and
1910, the population of
the United States nearly
tripled.
a. Means a large workforce
and people to buy
goods.
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2. People were having larger families,
and more children were growing to
adulthood.
3. Large numbers of immigrants from
southern and eastern Europe were
coming to the US.
a.17 million immigrants arrived
between 1870 and 1910.
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F. New Inventions
1. Technology and
inventions made
transportation and
communication easier. It
encouraged new
industries, produced
more wealth, and
created new jobs.
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a. Telephone
b. Phonograph
c. Incandescent light bulb
d. Washing machine
e. Skyscrapers
f. Automobile
g. Air plane
h. Ice machine
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2. New technologies allowed farmers to achieve unprecedented levels of
efficiency in planting and harvesting crops.
a. Seed Drill – helped planting seed In
tough western soil
d. The Harvester (1870s) – used for
binding wheat
b. John Deere Plow – easily turned
over prairie grasses and highly
compacted soil
e. Automatic Knotter (1880s) – tied
them together
f. Mechanized corn planters, mowing
and raking machines.
c. Cyrus McCormack’s Reaper – used
for cutting grain
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3. Before the introduction
of the wire binder in
1875, a farmer could
plant and harvest 8
acres of wheat with no
help. AFTER 1890, a
farmer could handle 135
acres with no help.
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4. Assembly Line
a. Used by Henry Ford to
revolutionize the car making
industry in Detroit.
b. Cut the amount of time to
assemble a Model T from 12.5
hours to 93 minutes.
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c. Goods could now be produced
quicker, more efficiently, and
cheaper.
1. Cut the price down from $850 in 1908 to $295
in 1924
d. Quicker production and less skilled
laborers.
e. Other industries adopted it.
Everything from caskets to cereals
made on assembly lines.
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G. Free Enterprise
1. Laissez-Faire
Economics
a. belief that government
should not interfere in
the economy with
regulations.
b. belief that supply and
demand will regulate
wages and prices.
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c. Government built the
transportation networks that
support business.
1.Subsidies that built roads,
canals, railroads
d. Tariffs on foreign goods
to protect American
businesses.
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