The Triumph of Industry
Technology and
Industrial Growth
Natural Resources

The country’s growth was fueled by our many
natural resources.

Coal mines powered trains, forests were cut for
lumber, rivers were used to transports goods,
and in 1859 Edwin Drake drilled first oil well.
•Oil
•Railroad
•Mining
•Marketing
•Sugar
•Sewing Machine
•Steel
•Vacuums
•Meatpacking
•Typewriters
•Beef/Cattle
•Automobile
•Construction
•Salt
•Telegraph
•Coal
•Telephone
•Agricultural
Growing Workforce

Many immigrants came to the U.S. after the Civil War.
(Asians and Europeans)

Push Factors- Things that push people out of their
country to go somewhere else. (Religious
discrimination, political war, crop failures)

Pull Factors- Things that are appealing for someone
who is looking for a place of refuge from their current
living place. (Economic opportunity, freedom of
religion, political stability)

Immigrants were willing to work for for low
wages because the competition was great and
they wanted economic opportunities that they
did not have in their home countries.

By 1905, 1 million immigrants have come to
America to live.
Immigrants from Europe
•Immigrants provided the labor
force for industrial expansion of
the US.
•They also became the customers
who in return bought the items
Old
New
New
New
produced.
Old
7,000,000
New
1,593,000
181,1880
2,753,00
926,000
1,110,000
1,847,000
1,069,000
5,780,000
540,000
2,928,000
6,000,000
5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
0
1871- 1881- 1891- 1901- 19111880 1890 1900 1910 1920
Old = England and Germany
New = Southern Europe: Italy, Russia, Poland
Chart: Rise of Immigrants
Capitalism and Entrepreneurs

Capitalism- Free Enterprise, where individuals
own most businesses.

Entrepreneurs- People who invest money in a
product or enterprise to make a profit.

The industry these people made created more
jobs and also attracted foreign investment.
Government Policies Encourage
Free Enterprise

Government policies encouraged the success
of business in the late 1800s.

Ex: The government would give railroad
companies millions of acres of land in return for
their promise to quickly link the East and West
Coast.
Government Policies Encourage
Free Enterprise

Protective Tariffs
–
Taxes that make imported
goods cost more than
those products that are
made locally.

Laissez-faire
–
–
Policy that allows
businesses to operate
under minimal
government regulation.
“Hands off, Leave
business alone”
Electricity Transforms Life

Patent- Grant by the federal government giving the
inventor the right to develop, use, and sell an
innovation for a set period of time.

Thomas Edison- Supported by J.P. Morgan. Received
more than 1,000 patents for new innovations such as
the light bulb.
He later developed plans for a central power plant for
cities.


George Westinghouse- developed technology to send
electricity over long distances.
Improving Communications

Samuel Morse- Telegraph technology or sending
messages over wire.

Alexander Graham Bell- Telephone
By 1900 there were more than 1 million telephones
across the country


Guglielmo Marconi- wireless telegraph leading to later
the development of the radio
Thomas Alva Edison
“Wizard of Menlo Park”
“Wizard of Menlo Park”
Edison Inventions helped to shape modern society
•More than 1,000 inventions patented
•Light bulb
•Phonograph
•Incandescent electric lamp
•Starter for automobiles that eliminated hand crank
•Batteries
•Perfected stock ticker
•New York City first city to powered by electricity
•The motion picture camera and projector
•First used “hello” as phone greeting
•Helped Alexander G. Bell with the telephone
The Light Bulb
The Phonograph (1877)
The Ediphone or Dictaphone
The Motion Picture Camera
Alexander Graham Bell
Telephone (1876)
BETWEEN 1860 TO 1900
•Elevator---1852
•Bessemer Process---1852
•Sewing Machine---1853
•Dynamite---1867
Between 1800 to
•Typewriter---1868
1900, US Govt.
•Levi Blue Jeans/Basketball---1873
issued 500,000
•Telephone---1876
patents
•Phonograph---1878
•Light bulb and cash register---1879
•Zipper---1883
•Gasoline automobile and skyscraper---1885
•New York City---first city to have electricity--1890
•Radio---1895
•Subway---1897
•X-ray---1900
Steel

Henry Bessemer- Developed process for purifying iron,
resulting in steel. Bessemer Process

By 1890 the U.S. was outproducing Britain.

Steel allowed for the production of skyscrapers,
elevators, and suspension bridges.

1st suspension bridge was the Brooklyn Bridge. In 1883
it was the longest bridge in the world.
In 1856 Henry Bessemer devised a way
of converting iron into steel on a large
scale.
His invention involved blowing air
through molten iron in a converter, or
furnace, in order to burn off the excess
carbon.
His invention revolutionized the
Industrial Age.
New Uses for Steel
Steel used in railroads, barbed wire,
farm machines
Changes construction: Brooklyn
Bridge; steel-framed skyscrapers
With the
Bessemer Process
and Carnegie
steel, Skyscrapers
revolutionized the
building
industry…..
Major city
skylines would be
dotted with this
new type of
building as the
1900’s begin.
Technology and Transportation



George Westinghouse
Air brakes for trains
Granville Woods
Telegraph system for
trains.
Gustavus Swift
refrigerated cars for
transporting food.

1884- world divided in to 24
different time zones.

Electric streetcars,
commuter trains, and
subways started to appear in
major cities.

1903- Wright brothers flew
first airplane.

Americans could now
commute to work and not
have to live in the city.
•What helped the railroad industry prosper?
•Bessemer Process
•Westinghouse Air Brakes
•Steel Rails
•Standard Gauge
Pullman Cars
A Growing Nation

Railroads transformed industries because they could
transport large amounts of goods quickly, cheaply, and
efficiently. They also linked every part of the nation.

Railroads stimulated growth in other industries.

Mass Production- making large quantities of goods
quickly and inexpensively.
Linking World Markets

By the 1880s the U.S. had as many miles of railroads
as the whole rest of the world combined.

Goods could easily be made and then transported to
ports where they could be shipped all around the
world.

The export of food and goods greatly expanded the
American economy.
Changing American Society

Farmers became mechanized, meaning fewer workers
were needed to do the work that machines were now
doing.

Out of work farmers were moving to cities.

Mass production meant that clothing and supplies were
more affordable.

Higher costs of living, low wages and repetitive work in
factories affected how the citizens lived.
Environment

Not much thought had gone on about preserving the
environment.

Mining was destroying land, agricultural production
lead to erosion and dust storms.

Concern about the environment would lead to agencies
to protect the land.

Yellowstone Park in 1872 was one of the first federal
responses to the concerns about the environment.