Big Business &
Industrial Cities
Chapter 5
Sherry Woods,
Caywood Elementary School Lexington, TN
Introduction
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Machines started to replace hand
tools.
Inventors developed new
technologies.
Important time for FREE ENTERPRISE
– An economic system in which businesses
have the freedom to offer for sale many
kinds of goods and services.
Railroads
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Transcontinental
railroad – from the
Atlantic to the Pacific
Lincoln’s election
promise
1862 Union Pacific
Railroad
Central Pacific Railroad
Met at Promontory,
Utah
Others also built tracks
Growth of Railroads
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George Westinghouse
– Air brake….made train travel safer
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Granville T. Woods…improved the air
brake and developed telegraph system
to help trains and stations
communicate.
Growth Problems
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Needed more locomotives, cars, and tracks
Had to pay workers to lay tracks
Needed capital resources…money $$$
– Got some money from the government
– Some from investors – invest to buy shares in
the hope of making money. Shares are called
stocks.
– Corporations – businesses that sell shares
– Railroad was the 1st business to become
corporations!
Telegraph
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Samuel Morse developed the Morse
Code
Dots and dashes
Used electricity along iron wires
Railroads
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Improved transportation
Expanded businesses across the entire
country.
The Steel Industry
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Locomotives became too heavy for
iron
Used steel, but was more expensive
Inventors found a new way to make
steel more cheaply
– Henry Bessemer
– Melted iron ore and other metals together
– Blast furnace made steel stronger
Andrew Carnegie
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Entrepreneur (set up new business
and takes risks with money)
Built a steel mill in Pittsburg,
Pennsylvania
Very successful
Built many more
Bought coal and iron mines, ships, so
he could lower cost of his steel
Carnegie Steel Company
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Biggest steel business in United States
He became one of the richest people
in the world
The Oil Industry
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John D. Rockerfeller
24 years old
Built an oil refinery in Ohio
Refinery is a factory that makes crude
oil into grease, kerosene, gasoline and
other USABLE products.
Bought other refineries
Monopoly – almost complete control
New Industrial Cities
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Inland cities
Close to resources needed by mills and
refineries
Pittsburgh, Chicago, Indiana, Ohio,
Michigan
Railroad hubs…cities where trains
make stops on their way to other
places.
Time Zones
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24 time zones worldwide
6 time zones in the United States
Growing Pains
Chapter 5: Lesson 2
Building Railroads
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Needed 1000’s of workers
Most immigrants were from Ireland
and China
Civil War Veterans
African Americans
Mexican Americans
Dangerous Work
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400 rails per mile
Pickaxes, shovels, and dynamite
Built bridges across canyons
Blasted through rock for tunnels
Chinese usually did the explosives
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Lowered by basket
Drilled hole
Lit dynamite
Pulled up…in time…USUALLY!!!!
Worked year round in all kinds of weather
Avalanches, snowdrifts, and attacks
Work in Factories
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So many workers….low wages
Didn’t make enough to support family
Kids had to work, too
1910 made up 1/5 of all workers
60 cents for 8 hrs. work
Walked 22 miles a day carrying glass
Unsafe machines so many accidents
happened
Owners against Workers
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Workers spoke out about problems
Some went on strike
– Usually just got FIRED!
– Formed labor union – group of workers
who join together
Samuel Gompers
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Early labor union leader
13 years old worked as a cigar maker
Federation – made up of many member
groups
AFL American Federation of Labor
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Wanted 8 hr. days
Better working conditions
End to child labor
Accident insurance
Labor Unions and Strikes
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Going on strike was the most
important way unions had to get the
owners’ attention
Sometimes became violent
– Harvesting Machine Company strike
– Bomb killed seven police
Homestead Strike
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Carnegie steel mill
Announced a pay cut
Workers went on strike to protest
Detectives hired to protect the mill
Angry union workers and detectives
got in a fight killing people from both
sides
Government and Business
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Wanted government to help improve
working conditions
Factory owners did not want the
government to get involved.
Government did not want to get
involved.
– Thought businesses would grow best if
they left them alone to make decisions.
New Immigrants
Chapter 5. Lesson 3
Asian Immigrants
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Chinese immigrants came to United States
after the California gold rush in 1849.
Faced prejudice from some Americans.
Had to pay a special tax.
Some were beaten and even killed.
When gold mines dried up, looked for other
work.
Worked for low wages on the railroad so
they could stay in the United States.
Stopping the Chinese
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Many Americans wanted to stop other
Chinese from coming to America.
Wanted the others to go back to
China.
Americans were worried the
immigrants would take away their
jobs.
Unfair Laws
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Chinese had to pay higher taxes.
Could not work for the states.
Not allow to sue in state courts.
Congress passed a law stopping all
immigration by Chinese people.
Japanese and other
Asians
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Still allowed to move to the U.S.
Found jobs in agriculture (farming)
Some bought small farms in California
and the southwest.
Later, they too, were mistreated.
U.S. convinced Japan to stop Japanese
from leaving Japan
Mexican Immigrants
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Lived mostly in Texas, New Mexico,
Arizona, and southern California
Few spoke English
Barrios, or neighborhoods of Mexicans
helped Mexican immigrants feel at
home.
They helped each other find jobs
picking lettuce, tomatoes, and grapes.
Mexicans Mistreated
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Like other immigrants, they were
treated unfairly.
Some were beaten and killed.
European Immigrants
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LARGEST GROUP of immigrants.
Nearly 16 million came between 1890
and 1920
Britain, Ireland, Germany, Norway, and
Sweden
Italy, Greece, Poland, Austria,
Hungary, Armenia, and Russia
A Better Life in America
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Poor and unhappy in their homelands.
Wanted a better life.
Came on ships
Ellis Island in New York
Most had to live with relatives or lived in
crowded apartment houses called
tenements.
Very low wages; everyone had to work.
Same Prejudice
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Like other immigrants, Europeans
were sometimes treated badly.
Sometimes even other immigrants
who were already here were unkind to
them because they didn’t want them
to get their jobs.
Becoming a Citizen
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No matter how bad it might be, most
immigrants wanted to become a U.S.
citizen.
They could then take part and vote
and serve on juries in court.
Naturalization
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Process for becoming a citizen
– Had to live in U.S. for five years
– Had to pass a test about the government
and history of the United States.
– Had to answer in English.
– Had to take an oath of allegiance, or
loyalty to U.S.
Migration by African
Americans
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Many African Americans moved west
after the Civil War.
Later, however many moved to the
North.
Settled in industrial cities to work in
the factories.
The Great Migration
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Why did they move North?
– Farm workers in south suffering from
floods, and an insect called the boll
weevil. Cotton crops had been
destroyed.
– Children had to work all day in the field
so they often got very little education.
– Many factory jobs available in the North.
Life in the North
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Better than the south for most
– Living conditions were still poor
– Lived in crowded neighborhoods
– Faced prejudice just like in the south
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GOOD PART
– Children went to school
– Parents could vote
– Nearly half still live in the North and West
The Growth of Cities
Chapter 5 Lesson 4
City Problems
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Overcrowded tenemants
Disease spread rapidly
Insects and rates everywhere because
garbage pick up was awful
Fire Danger
– Wood buildings
– Few full-time fire departments.
– Chicago fire of 1871
City Problems (con’t)
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Crime
– More than police could handle
– Gangs sometimes took over
neighborhoods
Help for the Cities’ Poor
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People tried to help fix problems
– Jane Addams
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Hull House settlement house (Community
Center)
– Provided kindergarten for children
– Classes on sewing, cooking, and English
– Helped try to do away with child labor
– Tried to improve health and safety
conditions in mills and factories
Hull House
More Help for the Poor
– Janie Porter Barrett
African American teacher
 Settlement house in Virginia
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– Lillian Wald
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Henry Street Settlement in New York City
By 1900, over 100 Settlement Houses
were open in American cities!!!
The Changing City
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The Good Stuff Cities Offered
– Parks
– Theaters
– Schools
– Zoos
– Railroad stations
– Tall office Buildings
William Jenney’s
Skyscraper
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Used steel frames instead of bricks
Like a steel skeleton
Built the first skyscraper in 1885 in
Chicago
Elevators: Going Up?
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1st electric elevator put into a
skyscraper in New York City in 1889
Transportation Needed
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Needed a way to get to work faster
Had been using streetcars pulled by
horses
Andrew S. Hallidie invented the CABLE
CAR…steam powered
Frank Sprague built electric cable
car…called a trolley