UNIT 1 TEST REVIEW POWER POINT

1. UNIT 1 TEST REVIEW POWER POINT

2. SETTLEMENT OF THE FRONTIER • By the end of the Civil War, American settlers occupied the Mid-Western prairies and had a foothold along the Pacific Coast. • Between was a vast expanse of territory that consisted mostly of the Great Plains. Home to millions of buffalo and the Native Americans who lived of them for food and hides. • People looking for land for farming, ranching and mining contributed to the Indian Wars that removed the Native Americans and put them on reservations.

3. Continued… • The impact of the Railroads • The Transcontinental Railroad, completed in 1869, reduced the journey from New York to San Francisco from 6 months to 10 days • The U.S. led the world in railroad track mileage • Railroads attracted an increasing number of settlers to the west, since they could ship their crops by rail to Eastern markets and cities grew in the West • Because they sometimes ran through Native American territories, new conflicts arose • From 1870-1890, the buffalo herds on the Plains were destroyed by sharp-shooters traveling by trains, affecting the ability of the Plains Indians to survive.

4. Continued… • Farming on the Great Plains • The Homestead Act and sale of railroad land-grants lured farmers westwards. • Railroads made it possible to ship crops to the East. • About half were immigrants from Europe • Farmers faced hostility from both Indians and cattlemen • Natural hardships included little rainfall, few trees, tough soil, extreme temperatures, grasshoppers, and isolation. • New technology – sod-houses, barbed wire, steel plows, drilling equipment, harvesters, and threshers

5. THE FATE OF NATIVE AMERICANS • Government Policy – to push Native Americans from traditional lands to gov’t. reservations in the West • The Reservation – usually smaller than the lands from which the tribe was removed and was less desirable • The gov’t. promised food, blankets, and seed • Clashed with tribal customs, since most were hunters, not farmers • The Dawes Act, 1887 – sought to hasten the “Americanization” of Native Americans by abolishing tribes, giving 160 acres to each family as private property, promising citizenship for those that complied, and the right to vote. It tried to make farmers out of hunters and led to malnutrition and poverty.

6. INDUSTRIALIZATION AND THE “GILDED AGE” The period in which wealthy businessmen expanded the industrial economy in the United States

7. THE COMMERCIAL USE OF ELECTRICITY • First used as a means of communication along telegraph wires • In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) invented the telephone • In 1879,Thomas Edison produced the first effective electric light bulb • Electricity ran motors to drive machinery in factories and contributed to the effectiveness of the assembly line and mass production. • By 1900, it was powering streetcars and subway trains • By 1920s, it was used for appliances

8. BIG BUSINESS CONSOLIDATION In 1873, America experienced a depression. Larger corporations began driving smaller companies out of business, hoping to establish monopolies. At first government did little to regulate big business Believed in laissez-faire (gov’t. should not interfere in the free market). This idea was embraced by Social Darwinists Even under laissez-faire, gov’t. protects property, enforces contracts, issues patents, and enacts tariffs Reformers called for legislation to remedy some of the anti-competitive practices of big business

9. THE RISE OF UNIONS • Labor Unions were groupsof workers organized to improve working conditions and wages • Strikes • Collective bargaining • The Knights of Labor – formed in 1869 seeking to create a single national union by joining skilled and unskilled workers. Wanted 8 hr. days, higher wages, safety codes, opposed child labor, supported equal pay for women, supported restrictions on immigration. Disorganization led to it falling apart in the 1890s • The American Federation of Labor (AFL) – founded in 1881 by joining separate unions of skilled workers into a single federation. Limited membership to skilled workers (carpenters, cigar makers, etc.). Sought closed shops (union members only). Emerged as the main voice of organized labor.

10. Two successful entrepreneurs Andrew Carnegie – worked his way up from a penniless Scottish immigrant to one of America’s riches and most powerful men. As a boy, he worked in a cotton mill and later became a telegraph operator for the railroad. He became friends with the president of the railroad, who promoted him and advised him on investments. After the Civil War, Carnegie invested in ironworks and build a steel mill in Pittsburgh. With profits made from selling iron to the railroad, he bought other mills and founded the Carnegie Steel Corporation in 1892. He undercut the competition, bought ore fields, mines, and ships so he could mine his own ore and ship it to his mills. He paid workers low wages and required them to work long hours, while crushing their attempts to for labor unions. He spent his later life in acts of philanthropy, giving away $350 million to build libraries and endow universities as charities. John D. Rockefeller – made his fortune in the oil industry. He started a successful company selling produce and used his profits to build an early oil refinery in Cleveland, OH. Oil in his day was mainly used to make kerosene to burn in lamps in place of whale oil. Rockefeller formed the Standard Oil Company in 1870, and by 1779 controlled 90% of the oil refining in the U.S. By 1882, his company became a “trust” in which he controlled the largest proportion of shares. His company continued to grow and became a virtual monopoly. He forced railroads to give him special, secret rates for shipping In 1892, the government forced Rockefeller to dissolve Standard Oil, which was divided into 20 smaller companies. Despite the breakup, the leaders of Standard Oil remained the main shareholders of the new companies. Rockefeller also gave millions of his fortune away to education and science, such as the University of Chicago and Rockefeller Foundation.

11. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO URBAN GROWTH • The introduction of new farm machinery (such as Cyrus McCormick’s reaper) reduced farm jobs • Farmers and rural laborers sought work in towns and cities • Industry created new jobs (factories, mines, shipping, workshops) • Cities also provided cultural opportunities and popular entertainments • Immigration in unprecedented levels

12. RESULTS OF URBANIZATION • Physical changes in the landscape (trees and fields replaced by brick and wood buildings and paved roads) • Cities grew haphazardly (there was little urban planning) • Streets were crowded, pollutions from factories and trains, and sewage sometimes contaminated drinking water • Whole families crowded into tenements (single room apartments) and often had no heat or lighting

13. Political machines • City gov’ts. were often run by corrupt leaders know as political “bosses” • The machines often provided jobs and other services to immigrants and the poor in exchange for votes • Power depended on the ability to dominate voting and control agencies of municipal gov’t. • Often had the support of local business leaders

14. Why immigrants came • In the late 19th century, Europeans flooded American cities in search of work and homes • “PULL” FACTORS • Freedom • Economic • Opportunity • Cultural Ties • Jobs • “PUSH” FACTORS • Oppression • Poverty • War • Religious/ • Ethnic • Persecution • Over population • Poor harvests

15. Shifting patterns • Before 1880, most immigrants to America came from Northern Europe (Britain, Ireland, Germany), were Protestant or Irish Catholic, and spoke English. Prior to the 1880s, the U.S. had an open, or unlimited immigration policy. • 1880-1920 – Railroads and large ocean-going steamships made the voyage to America more possible for many Europeans. • Most of these “New Immigrants” came from Southern and Eastern Europe (Poland, Italy, Greece, Russia) • Most were not Protestant • Most spoke little or no English

16. The Process of Americanization • Most immigrants were too busy working and caring for families to learn language or new culture (some adults attended night school) • It was left to their children to learn English and become “Americanized” (dress, speech, etc.) • Immigrant children became assimilated • America was seen as a “melting pot” in which immigrants were melted down and reshaped (public schools helped this process) • Often “Americanization” created conflict between parents and their children

17. The Rise of Nativism • Hostility toward immigrants mounted as numbers increased • Nativists (those born or native the the U.S.) wanted restrictions on immigration • Believed that other races were inferior (especially non-whites) • Feared that “New Immigrants” could never be fully absorbed into American society • Argued that they took jobs from Americans because they worked for lower wages • Fought for legislation like the Chinese Exclusion Act and Gentleman’s Agreement to limit immigration

18. GROWTH OF THE NATION • Federal gov’t. secured its supremacy over states • The Great Plains were opened to settlement • New railroad lines criss-crossed the nation • The Northeast accelerated its industrial growth The notion that Americans stand together is expressed in the motto of the Great Seal of the U.S. “E Pluribus Unum” (out of many comes one) –America has emerged from many races, ethnicities, and religions Our national motto “In God We Trust” has been used on coins since 1864.

19. IMPORTANT PRINCIPLES OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION Republicanism: Popular Sovereignty: Limited Government: Federalism: Amendments: Separation of Powers: Checks and Balances THIS IS YOUR EXTRA CREDIT QUESTION: List and briefly explain the constitutional principles.