Chapter 24-25 Preview
The Economic Development of the US in the late 1800s.
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Industrialization
Technological Innovation
Rise of Big Business
Labor vs. Capital
Immigration
Urbanization
Industrialization
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What is it?
Review the 3 stages
1) Work subdivided into tasks
2) Workers gathered into factories
3) Power-driven machinery used
During the 2nd Industrial Revolution…
Mass production of consumer goods
(including food and drink, clothing and
transport and even entertainment with the
early cinema, radio and phonograph)
developed at this time. Several important
developments within the chemical,
electrical, petroleum, and steel industries
also took place.
Technological Innovation
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Railroad Expansion
Harnessing of Electricity
Electric Light
Telephone
Steel
Harnessing Electricity
• Edison Opens First Commercial Power
Plant in 1882
• Westinghouse markets alternating current
which helps transport electricity more
efficiently
• The age of the electric appliance has
arrived
Electric Light
Telephone
Steel
• The Bessemer
process allowed iron
to be transformed into
steel which was
lighter and stronger—
an ideal building
material.
Rise of Big Business
• Today 200 giant corporations now control
over a quarter of the world’s economic
activity.
• This trend began in the late 1800s.
• Since that time, the trend has been toward
larger and more powerful corporations
Why did businesses get bigger?
How did business get bigger?
What were the effects of this new age
of industrialization & big business?
The Rise of Labor Unions
What did unions want?
How did they try to get it?
Why did business owners oppose
them?
What advantages did the
opponents of unions have?
Immigration
Some basic questions:
• How many came?
• Where did they come from?
• Why did they come?
• What were the effects of large scale
immigration?
Why did they come?
Push Factors
Famine
Poverty
War
Religious persecution
Dictatorship
Separation from family
Pull Factors
Land of opportunity
Freedom
Family reunification
Relative peace
Urbanization
Urbanization statistics:
• Between 1860 and 1910, the US urban
population increased 7-fold
• In 1920, for the first time, a majority of
Americans lived in cities.
• In 1860 there were 16 cities of more than
50,000. By 1900, there were 76.
What were the results of rapid
urbanization?
The Problems Cities Faced
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Lack of decent, affordable housing
Poverty
Poor sanitation, pollution, & disease
Political corruption & incompetence
Transportation
Fire
Crime
Conclusion: What does it all mean?
Good Stuff
• Improved standard of
living
• Cheaper consumer
goods
• Job opportunities
Bad Stuff
• Poor working
conditions
• Overcrowded cities
• Pollution
• Class conflict