Chapter 20 Power Point

Industrial Revolution in America

Mr. Glay 2012

Causes for Industrial Growth

• Plentiful Natural Resources- Gold, coal, iron, forests, water, oil.

• Growing Population- From 1860-1900 population grew from 31.5 million to 76 million.

• Improved transportation- Railroads made shipping materials and people faster and more economical.

Causes for Industrial Growth

• High Immigration – 14 million people came to this country looking for work. They provided cheap labor and took many factory jobs.

• New Inventions – New machines and processes helped to produce more goods and to make them affordable.

Bessemer Steel Process

• Henry Bessemer developed a new process for making steel. It used less coal and it decreased the cost to make steel.

• As a result, steel became cheap leading to an increase in railroads and skyscrapers.

Transcontinental Railroad

• Transcontinental railroad stretched across the entire continent, from the east to the west coast. The Atlantic to the Pacific ocean.

• The railroad tracks connected in Promontory Utah. A golden spiked was the last to be put into place securing the railroad tracks.

Golden SpikeSix years after the groundbreaking, laborers of the Central Pacific Railroad from the west and the Union Pacific Railroad from the east met at Promontory Summit, Utah on May 10, 1869.

Transcontinental Railroad

• The Chinese were responsible for building the western portion of the railroad.

• At one point over 10,000 Chinese were working together to construct it.

• They worked for low wages performing very dangerous tasks.

• They were efficient, hard working, and seldom became sick.

Railroads change time.

• As trains spread across the country it became very difficult to keep time and set schedules for passengers riding trains into other states.

• Originally solar time was used. It used the sun and shadows to determine time. It was not very effective.

• Standard time was created. It split the country into 4 time zones. Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific. It is still used today.

STANDARD TIME

Corporations

• A corporation is a business owned by investors who buy a part of the company (a share of stock).

• Corporations have advantages over a provate business.

1. From selling stock they can raise a lot of money

2. If the owner dies the corporation lives on.

Monopoly

• A monopoly is a company that wipes out its competitors and controls an industry.

• Monopolies are bad because they limit choices. The less choices you have, the more the company can charge you.

No other company can sell coffee. Instead of charging you 5 dollars, they now charge you 10 dollars for a cup of coffee.

Competition

Because there are so many other coffee companies, Starbucks cannot charge 10 dollars for a cup of coffee. If they did, people would go to another coffee shop and pay less money for coffee.

The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age

• For the rich, the late 1800’s were a great time. Mark twain called this the Gilded Age.

• To Gild is to cover an object with gold, making it look very valuable. This artificial or fake wealth led others to believe that America was a land of opportunity.

• Most people, however, lived like this….

The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age

Student Activity

•On the odd numbered page of your notebook, define the terms and names on page 604 numbers 1-10.