Big Business, Industrialization, and Immigration Study Guide

Life in Industrialized America: Positives and Negatives
o a large variety of consumer goods were available to buy because of national
markets
o mechanization occurred on farms, where machines were doing the work of
people, reducing labor needs and increasing production
o farmers left to go work in specialized industries in the cities
o the United States went from an agricultural nation to an industrial nation
o people were able to live near the factories where they worked
o overcrowding occurred in the tenements where people lived in cities
o pollution and disease spread quickly throughout the cities

Factors of Big Business – making business more efficient (faster and more successful)
SHARK
o Lots of capital was needed to start or expand a business.
o Businesses started with raw materials (natural resources) such as coal, iron, wood,
or cattle.
o Natural resources were shipped to factories on the advanced transportation
(railroads).
o In factories and mills raw materials became finished products to be sold.
o More labor supply was available - businesses could pay workers less (immigrants &
former farmers)
o Assembly lines and cheap labor helped to create lower production costs.
o Railroads allowed finished products to be shipped out to national markets.
o Advertising tried to get consumers’ interest and expand the business’s market.

Inventions: What was their impact on Business?
o Alexander Graham Bell – invented the telephone, creating telephone services
available nationally
o Thomas Edison – improved electric light bulb, figured out how to use electricity in
factories
o Henry Ford – used assembly line to lower production costs for automobiles

Major Industrial Center Locations
o Chicago = meat-packing
o Pittsburgh = steel
o Texas = beef cattle raising / ranching
o Detroit = automobiles
o New England = textiles (clothing)
o Manufacturing areas were clustered near cities due to access to resources, products,
labor and markets
o raw materials / natural resources: cotton from Southeast, beef cattle from Texas,
iron ore to steel mills

“Captains of Industry”
o Andrew Carnegie = steel
o Cornelius Vanderbilt = railroads
o J. P. Morgan = banking
o Henry Ford = automobiles
o John D. Rockefeller = oil; accused of having the first monopoly
o monopolies were companies that controlled most or all of a certain kind of business
by driving competitors out of business and buying other companies

Reasons for immigration to America (HEAR) Push and Pull
o Hope for better opportunities
o Escape from oppressive governments
o desire for Adventure
o desire for Religious freedom

Immigrants in America
o Political machines gained power over immigrants in the cities by giving them jobs
and apartments in exchange for votes
o Boss Tweed was a powerful political boss who controlled immigrants in New York
o The Irish and Chinese faced a large amount of discrimination in America
o The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was America’s first attempt to limit the number of
immigrants entering the United States