Analyze the impact of technological innovations on the lives of TWO of the following groups. Confine your answer to the period 1865-1920.

Factory workersMiddle-class urban residents

Midwestern farmers

Analyze the impact of technological innovations on the lives of two of the following groups. 1865-1920 ~Factory workers

~Midwestern farmers

• Thesis: In the time period from 1865 to 1920, the technological changes that transformed the lives of factory workers and midwestern farmers were mainly in social and economic spheres. In both aspects, the identity of the common man as a factory worker or farmer was based not on skill but on the service that they could provide as a whole to a larger corporation. The farmer’s isolation created the drive to create new technologies that connected the nation. The workers were impacted with technologies that made them more aware of self health and their well being was increased.

Factory Workers Midwestern Farmers

Economics:-Mass production means skill and craftsmanship less import-Carnegie steel and Bessemer Process-Assembly Line leads to monotonous dangerous work; wage system; slaves to clock-TaylorismSocial:-Led to workers unionizing (NLU, Knights, AFL, Triangle Shirtwaist Fire)-Pasteurization-Mass entertainment to enjoy (baseball, amusement parks)

Economics: -Bound to national and international markets which helped but destroyed individuality-Allowed for Commercial Farming but led o overproduction and boom and bust cycles-Dry land Farming allow for farm in American desert-Received more bank loans but leads to debtSocial:-Reduced tedious work (plow, tractors)-Mail-order houses can be apart of consumerism-Transcontinental Line connects to east-Telegraph connects to east

If you wanted to know what you could write about the Middle-Class Urban

ResidentsSocial• Rise of leisure time due to

technological advancement– Carnivals, movies, sports

• Health (reduction of disease in overcrowded conditions)– Indoor plumbing/private

bathrooms – Better medicine (xrays,

antiseptic techniques)

• Transportation– Cable cars (allowed workers to

live farther from their jobs)

Economic• More office work for women

– Typewriters, cash registers, telephone receptionists

• Lower prices for goods– Refrigerated railroad cars made

food more available and cheaper

2nd Prompt

• Analyze the ways in which government policy and economic conditions changed American agriculture in the period 1865–1900.

Thesis Statement• Between 1858 and 1900, the agricultural industry

experienced political changes in land management by the government that raised prices and regulated land sales and economic changes with the introduction of new technology and equipment that influenced the growth of the commercial farming business. Farmers responded to the agricultural decline caused by political and economic transformations through increased involvement in the government and in politics in order to advocate for laws and rights that benefited the agriculture community.

Political OI• Government unwillingness to intervene in pools and other monopolistic practices of the

railroad companies• Government gave best land to railroads with land grants• Homestead act provides Americans with free land which encourages agricultural

development• Federal Government creates the Department of Agriculture• Dawes Severalty Act

– Opened up reservation land for white settlement which increased the amount of acreage for farming

• Subsidies and land grants encouraged railroad expansion– Cow towns emerged and hurt agriculture

• Timber Culture Act– 160 acres of land given to farmers who would plant trees on 40 of those acres

• Desert Land Act– 640 acres of land given to farmers who would begin irrigation

Economic OI• Railroad Companies

– Made farmers angry– Increased transport prices– In debt to RR companies (storage rates)

• Boom and Bust (panic and prosperity)– Increased land option led to decrease in debt– Farmers who couldn’t pay debt moved back east– Panic of 1893 hurt farmers, led to poverty, hardship and widespread

unemployment– Dependence on international markets drove wheat prices incredibly

low– US currency was backed by gold,

• Commercial Farming– Overproduction because farmers were trying to produce a large profit– Made farmers rely on banks– Couldn’t manage their own prices

Farmers’ Response• Fought Crime of ‘73• Grange

– First farmers’ alliance– Brought farmers together to discuss issues– Formed cooperatives– Got Granger laws- railroads must publish rates (Wabash cases)

• Ocala Demands– Party platform at 1889 convention– Candidates won partial control of legislature

• Peoples’ Party– Made up of radical supporters of farmers’ movement– Wants silver; bimetallism– Cross of Gold Speech

• Hamlin Garland– Further wrote novels about disillusionment of farmers

• Mary Lease

Prompt #3Strategies of the American

Federation of Labor and of the Populist Party to help the worker.

How successful were they?

Thesis • During the late 1800s many labor unions

emerged in the United States, the American Federation of Labor and the Knights of Labor were two of the many unions that somehow made a difference. Even though the Knights of Labor had more radical views not making them as successful as the AFL they still both achieved some their objectives making them fairly successful. With their use industrial action and worker mobilization they were able to achieve more than the other labor unions that came before them.

American Federation of Labor• Believed in collective bargaining, which was when the workers and management would bargain on

wages. Part of their strategies to gain supporters and goal to achieve. Not as scary as the Knights (success)

• But willing to strike (success because used all options but fail because government would disapprove of shutdowns)

• Made up of mostly skilled workers, meaning they were filled with middle class workers. They frowned on the organization of unskilled work. (fail laborers were divided)

• Not support women labor, because believed lowered wages.• Held a strike to demand a national 8 hour work day on May 1, 1886.• Employers won by blacklisting, hiring scabs, getting the government involved• Accepted capitalism. Didn’t want to change the system. Just change the workers pay, hrs and

conditions within the system. (success)• Federation organization made sense and allowed them to mobilize (success)• 1920: AFL membership peaked at almost four million active members across the country. (success)• But lost most strikes.• Got the Chinese Exclusion Act (success kept jobs for representatives)

Knights of Labor• Let in all workers- skilled, unskilled, women,

blacks (fail because disorganized)• Wanted socialism (child labor laws, cooperatives,

workers to have a share in companies). This was a fail because seemed too radical

• Didn’t use strikes (fail limited them)• Revived the 8 hr work day movement (success

because got the idea out there)• Hurt by the Haymarket Square Riot• Pushed out by the AFL

Describe the pattern immigration. Compare and contrast the responses of Americans to

immigrants in these periods 1820-1860 and 1880-1924.

PROMPT 4

Immigration

• Thesis: While the first wave of immigration to the US (1820-1860) was mainly of the Irish, who came for economic reasons, and the Germans who came for political; the second wave of immigration (1880-1924) mainly consisted of southeastern Europeans and Chinese, who came in search of economic opportunity. This second wave of immigrants though, were greeted for the most part, although not completely, with the same animosity and hatred as the first wave.

First Wave of immigration• Irish:

– Potato Famine– Economic and Social Reasons– Poor Irishmen came because of oppression by landlords– Irish settled in East and did unskilled labor

• Immigration also came from England, France, Italy, Scandinavia, Poland and Holland

• German– Political Reasons: Revolutions and wars between

german states– Became factory workers because had money– Moved west and started farms because had money

American Response• First Wave

– Wealthy Americans welcomed immigration, providing cheap labor and keeping wages low

– Accepted western Europeans that came from republics– Accepted Germans. Adopted kindergarten and Christmas tree– Disliked Irish because Catholics and drinkers– Nativism – American Party

• Second Wave– Democrats (Tammany Hall, Boss Tweed) would give Irish the ability to

vote, which meant more votes for them– Railroads corporations accepted the Chinese– Disliked Chinese- Chinese Exclusion Act, called them “coolies” and

formed Anti Coolie Clubs– Nativism- Immigration Restriction League

The effect of government intervention and new technology on the Plain Indians

PROMPT #5

Thesis

• In the second half of the 19th century, technological

developments and government actions which increased the

possibility of westward expansion severely impacted the

Plains Indians by redefining their economic structure and

hindering their cultural practices.

Political• Topic Sentence: When it came to Native Americans government policy was focused on

either assimilation or concentration of the natives which weakened tribes making them more vulnerable to shady deals and broken treaties.

• Outside Info:• Bureau of Indian Affairs• “Concentration Policy”-unauthorized representatives of the tribe gave whites access to

Indian land. the tribes were split, separating long family lineages that usually lived and worked together.

• 1867 Indian Peace Commission– Tried to move all Indians on two reservations

• 1887 Dawes Act- destroy tribes. Took land from Natives. Assimilation• Le Sabre Indian School

– Assimilated white children• 1862 Homestead Act

– Gave away Natives land to whites• 1889 Oklahoma (formerly Indian Territory) opened up to white settlement. • Buffalo Hunting- no government action to stop. Destroy Native way of life• Indian Hunting- government encouraged

Social• Topic sentence: Technological developments that helped to expand

western life and benefitted settlers made it easier to infringe upon Native American land, combat the Natives and led to the death of the Buffalo.

• Outside Info:• Railroad

– Transcontinental– Pacific Union– Central Union

• Winchester Model 1873 “The Gun that Won the West”• Farmer’s Technology Encouraged Westward Movement

– Barbed Wire 1873– Steel plow– Irrigation– Telegraph to ocmmunicate

Identify and analyze the factors that changed the American city in the second half of the nineteenth century. PROMPT #6

• During the late 19th and early 20th century, the United States underwent massive changes in American life brought about by technological advances, economic transformations and social change in the growth of industrial industry, a larger workforce fueled by a second wave of European immigrants, and a change in city architectural structure.

Social

• Rise in urban population – due to immigration and migration leading to a

large poor population in cities

• Crime, pollution, lack of sanitation, and urban poverty lead to a social divide between the rich and the poor neighborhoods in urban cities

• Tenement Housing

Technological• Electricity

– helped American cities for commercial purposes– improved hygiene in the city

• Architectural changes – such as skyscrapers gave the city a “luxurious “ look – amusement parks, theaters and museums that were being

constructed– City Beautiful Movement

• Improved transportation – railroads and streetcars – made traveling to and from the cities easier allowing people to

live outside of the city yet work in it (wealthy)– Ended the “walking city.”

Economic• From 1851 to 1900 an increase in industries sparked

an economic change, new industries sprang up with profitable ideas and jobs to fill the unemployed.

• The middle class started increasing in size, people started moving from the farms to the city, increasing the population of the cities.

• Cities also started becoming port cities home to many immigrants looking for the new industrial jobs that were appearing all over eastern united states.

• With an increase in population there were more people spending their earn money on other goods supplied by the industries. – chain stores, department stores, mail order houses

• The market changed into a national market economy as they would provide technological advancements mass produced in factories to the rest of the united states- assembly lines