chapter 18 industry and urban growth

Chapter 18Industry and

Urban Growth

Industry Boom

• the nation expanded west and found deposits of coal, iron, and copper,

• Government created policies that favored industrial growth– Including tariffs

– Tax on imports

Steel and Oil

• Building blocks of modern United States

Inventions

• In the late 1800s Americans started to create many new inventions– In 1897 the government issued more patents than

in the ten years before the Civil War• America became known as the land of

Invention

Inventions

• Thomas Edison- invented the light bulb, phonograph, motion picture camera, and hundreds of other devices

• In 1882, Edison opened the nation’s first electrical power plant in New York City– Helped to bring in the age of electricity

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Inventions

• Communications– In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell built a device that

carried the human voice (telephone)• By 1885 more than 300,00 phones had been sold

– Succeeded in 1876 when he sent the first telephone message to his assistant “Mr. Watson, come here. I want you.”

Inventions

• Other inventions include the type writer, shoe making machine, light weight camera, flash for the camera

Inventions

• In 1900 only 8,000 Americans owned automobiles

• Henry Ford perfected a system that made the automobile available to millions, known as the assembly line– By 1917 more than 4.5 million Americans owned

cars

Inventions

• In 1903 Wilbur and Orville Wright were the first people ever to fly– The first flight lasted 12 seconds and flew 120 feet

New Ways of Doing Business

• Business expansion was led by bold entrepreneurs

• Businesses became corporations– Corporations limited the risk of investors

New Ways of Doing Business

• Banks lent huge amounts of money to corporations, which led to industries growing faster

Growth of Big Business

• Government had a laissez-faire approach to business in the late 1800s

• They allowed for the rapid growth of big business and for the creation of monopolies

Growth of Big Business

• Andrew Carnegie– Managed to gain control of the steel industry– Believed that the rich had a duty to improve

society (Gospel of Wealth)

Growth of Big Business

• John D. Rockefeller– Started an oil refinery at the age of 23– Used his profits to buy other oil companies and

managed to take control of the oil industry

Working Conditions

• Industries attracted millions of new workers• Most were immigrants or native born whites

Working Conditions

• Women worked and outnumbered men in some industries, such as textile mills, tobacco factories, and the garment sweatshops of New York

• Children worked in bottle factories, textile mills, tobacco factories, coal mines, and sweatshops– Most child laborers could not go to school, and

had little chance of improving their lives

Working Conditions

• New York City, March 25, 1911 fire broke out in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.– Hundreds of workers raced to the exits only to find

the exits were locked– Nearly 150 people died as a result of the fire

Working Conditions

• Factory work was dangerous– Workers would breathe in fibers or dust while

working at textile mills or mines and would come down with lung diseases

– Steelworkers risked death and burns from the molten metal

• Social Darwinists believed that harsh conditions were necessary to cut costs, increase production, and ensure survival of the business

Lewis Hine

• was an American sociologist and photographer. Hine used his camera as a tool for social reform. His photographs were instrumental in changing the child labor laws in the United States

Workers Organize

• Workers attempted to form unions in order to secure safer working conditions, higher wages, and shorter hours

Workers Organize

• Knights of Labor-1869– One of the earliest and most powerful unions in

the United States– Success were undercut by a series of violent labor

disputes• Haymarket Square (May 4, 1886)

Workers Organize

• 1886 Samuel Gompers formed a new union called the American Federation of Labor (AFL)– By 1904 the AFL had over one million members

Workers Organize

• The AFL believed in using collective bargaining and strikes but only if all else failed

• AFL only allowed skilled workers and banned African Americans, immigrants, and unskilled workers

Workers Organize

• Bitter Strikes– In 1893 the nation was hit by a severe economic

depression• Businesses cut production, fired workers, and cut

wages

Workers Organize

• Pullman Strike– Workers’ pay was cut by 25%

• Angry workers walked out – Railroad workers also walked out in support– Rail lines were shut down from coast to coast– President Grover Cleveland sent in federal troops

to end the strike

Workers Organize

• Army fired into the crowds killing two protesters

• Most Americans sided with owners when workers would strike

Rapid Growth of Cities

• New technology helped cities grow– Elevated trains, electric streetcar, subways

• Public transportation allowed for the creation of the suburbs (people no longer had to live in the city in order to work in the city)– Creation of steel bridges (Brooklyn Bridge) helped

to create suburbs

Rapid Growth of Cities

• Cities also began to expand upward with skyscrapers

Problems of Urban Life

• People lived in crowded tenements– Buildings had no windows, heat, or indoor

plumbing– 10 people might live in a single room– Street were littered with garbage• Outbreaks of diseases were common• in one Chicago tenement half of all babies died before

age of one

• Jacob Riis helped to bring attention to the horrible living conditions and wrote a book entitled How the Other Half Lives

Problems of Urban Life

• In 1880s cities began to improve urban life– Installed streetlights, set up fire, sanitation, and

police departments• social reformers worked to help the poor– Jane Addams, opened a settlement house in the

slums of Chicago

The New Colossus Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning, and her nameMother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she

With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

The New Immigrants

• Between 1865 and 1915 about 25 million immigrants entered the United States – (that is more than the population of the entire

country in 1850)

The New Immigrants

Why were there so many immigrants coming to the United States?

The New Immigrants

• countries were becoming over populated • immigrants wanted religious freedom• were trying to escape political persecution

The New Immigrants

Why the United States?

The New Immigrants

• The U.S. was seen as a land of opportunity where they could build a better life– U.S. had jobs, promise of freedom, a tradition of

democracy and liberty

The New Immigrants

• In early 1800s most immigrants were Protestant and from northern and western Europe (most spoke English)

• In the late 1800s “new immigrants” began to arrive from Italy, Poland Russia, and Greece– Most were Catholic or Jewish and most did not

speak English

The New Immigrants

• Coming to America– Immigrants came by boat and were crammed

below decks in steerage– Most people coming from Europe landed in New

York and after 1892 went through Ellis Island

The New Immigrants

• About 2/3 of immigrants settled in cities and near people from the same country

The New Immigrants

• New immigrants worked hard to assimilate– It was easier for children to assimilate

• Goal of many immigrants was to educate their children so they would be better off

Nativism

• Increased immigration led to a wave of nativism– People that sought to preserve the U.S. for native-

born American citizens• Nativists argued that the new immigrants

would not assimilate

Educating Americans

• Before 1870, fewer than half of American children went to school

• United States realized the need for an educated workforce

• States passed compulsory education laws

Educating Americans

• The School Day– Typical school day lasted from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00

p.m. – Pupils learned the three r’s “reading, ‘riting, and

‘rithmetic

Educating Americans

• As more Americans began to read, more books and magazines became available– Most people read low-priced paperbacks that told

about thrilling adventures (“Wild West” or “rags-to-riches”)

New American Writers

• Some writers were realists– Realists described the hardships of most

immigrants living in the slums

– Jack London• The Call of the Wild• White Fang

• Kate Chopin– The Awakening

• Mark Twain– Huckleberry Finn

Newspaper Boom

• The amount of newspapers in the united states grew very quickly in the late 1800s– The spread of education was one reason for the

growth of the newspaper industry– The newspaper boom was linked to urbanization

Newspaper Boom

• Joseph Pulitzer created the first modern newspaper, New York World

Newspaper Boom

• Pulitzer added features to the newspaper, like The Yellow Kid

Newspaper Boom

• New York World became known for its sensational headlines that told of crime and scandal.– This style of writing became known as yellow

journalism