BELL WORK

Page 228-229

INTERACT with HISTORY

Examine the Issues

Answer the 3 questions

Chapter 6

A New Industrial Age

Essential Question: What impact did

scientific discoveries and manufacturing

processes have on the nature of work, the

American labor movement, and American

businesses?

Section 1 – The Expansion of Industry

Examples: railroads, skyscrapers, nails, pins

The Steel Industry

1850’s – The Bessemer Process allowed steel to be produced

cheaply.

· Therefore, the steel industry grew rapidly.

Henry Bessemer

Bessemer

converter,

Kelham

Island

Museum,

Sheffield,

England

(2002)

· Scottish immigrant Andrew

Carnegie became the “King of

Steel”, producing the majority

of America’s steel.

Andrew Carnegie

Section 2 – The Age of the Railroads

· Railroad companies raced to lay tracks to the mines in order

to supply the miners.

The Transcontinental Railroad

J

j

. . x

Omaha, Nebraska

Sacramento,

California

Promontory Point, Utah

Union Pacific

Railroad

Central

Pacific

Railroad

· In 1863, two companies, the Union Pacific and the Central

Pacific, began building the first transcontinental railroad.

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j

On May 10, 1869, a golden spike was hammered into a track

joining the two tracks in Promontory Point, UT.

- Once the gauge, or width, of tracks was standardized,

railroads formed a network, or system of connected lines.

Growth of Railroads

Top: Railroads in 1890

Right: Railroads in 1918

- Cornelius Vanderbilt was one of the richest men in America,

and the most powerful railroad baron.

Cornelius Vanderbilt

- Railroad companies began to consolidate, or combine, in

order to compete with large companies, such as Cornelius

Vanderbilt’s.

- This forced many small

railroad companies out of

business.

Abuses:

- Railroad companies offered

rebates, or discounts, in order

to keep or win customers.

- In order to end competition

and keep prices high, railroad

companies agreed to divide up

business in an area and set

high prices. This was known as

pooling.

- The railroads opened

up the country to

settlement and growth.

Effects on Industry:

- The railroad industry

created thousands of

new jobs.

Examples: steelworkers,

lumberjacks, miners,

railroad workers

Anti-railroad

propaganda

The Grange and the Railroads

1. Farmers were angry with RR

companies:

• Price fixing

• Selling gov’t land to businesses

2. Congress passed the Interstate

Commerce Act.

3. Gave gov’t right supervise RR

companies & established the Interstate

Commerce Commission (ICC)