Emergence of Modern America & Its Modern Industrial Economy

1. Emergence of Modern America&Its Modern Industrial Economy

2. Warm-up • What two inventions helped spur westward movement? • What did the Homestead Act do? • After 1871, where did most immigrants to America come from? • Which group of people built the Transcontinental Railroad? • Why did America restrict immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s?

3. During the period from the Civil War to World War I, the United States underwent an economic transformation that involved a developing industrial economy, the expansion of big business, the growth of large-scale agriculture, and the rise of national labor unions and industrial conflict

4. Industry in the North • Technological change spurred growth of industry primarily in northern cities.

5. Innovations: Corporation • Investors would buy stock in companies, then earn dividends when profits were made. • This would give the corporation capital with which to operate and expand. • Investors could only lose the amount of money they put into the company (limited liability)

6. Bessemer steel process • This was a quicker and cheaper way to make steel by purifying iron. • Railroads were the largest users of steel by the end of the 19th century. • Steel was a primary resource used for America’s industrialization!

7. Light Bulb and Electricity • Both developed by Thomas Edison • Electricity as a source of power and light allowed for American lives to change at work and at play. • Edison founded the first electric company.

8. Telephone • Invented by Alexander Graham Bell • This improved communication. • This even helped women to find work as switchboard operators – much better job than a factory worker!

9. Airplane • Invented by the Wright Brothers • First flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1904 • The use of planes has grown considerably over the last century!

10. Assembly Line • Innovation by Henry Ford • Moves the product along an electric conveyor belt while individual people add parts to it • Way to make his Ford automobile more cheaply.

11. Industrial Leaders – Men Who Built America

12. Andrew Carnegie (steel) • Made his fortune in producing steel in Pittsburgh • Came to America as a poor Scottish immigrant • Later in life, Carnegie became a respected philanthropist (charity-giver) – believing the wealthy should “give back” to the community.

13. J.P. Morgan(finance) • Earned his first wealth in banking business • Then later created U.S. Steel Corporation whey he bought Carnegie’s company.

14. Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroads) • Became a tycoon as he acquired vast amounts of railroad tracks and forced smaller companies out of business by charging lower fares in areas of competition. • He VanderBUILT the railroads

15. John D. Rockefeller (oil) • Created the Standard Oil Company (first economic monopoly) and increased wealth through vertical integration of resources as well as advertising. • Eventually broken up by the Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890 • Like Carnegie, he became a respected philanthropist.

17. Reasons for America’s Industrialization • Government policies of laissez-faire (“let it be”) capitalism, where the gov’t doesn’t intervene in the economy • special considerations (e.g., giving land to railroad builders) • The increasing labor supply (from immigration and migration from farms) in the cities • America’s possession of a wealth of natural resources and navigable rivers

18. Inventors, Innovators, & Moguls Activity • For 5 of the following 9 people, you’re going to recreate the invention or business they created: 1. Henry Bessemer 2. Wright brothers 3. Henry Ford 4. Thomas Edison 5. Alexander Graham Bell 6. Andrew Carnegie 7. Cornelius Vanderbilt 8. John D. Rockefeller 9. J.P. Morgan • On a sheet of paper, for each of the 5 people you choose, include • An illustration of whatever he made (steel factory, airplane, telephone) • ONE sentence explaining what he did