US History Industrialization exam questions and answers

causes of industrial growth (5) natural resources, capital, railroads, inventions, human labor natural resources - water - timber - soil - silver - gold - coal - iron - copper - oil/petroleum America's vast natural resources allowed American companies to obtain resources cheaply without importing them from other countries. many of these resources were located in the west. western settlement helped accelerate industrialization. inventions - new inventions and technology were important to industrialization revolution of electricity: - 1882: Lewis Latimer invented a process for making cheap long-lasting carbon filaments for light bulbs. because of this, electric lighting became more affordable - George Westinghouse developed an AC system to distribute electricity over long distances using transformers and generators. this invention allowed electricity to rapidly improve living standards (city streets safer with lights, electric trolley cars decreased commute times, electric devices made domestic chores easier and faster) - 1874: Alexander Graham Bell began experimenting with ways to transmit sound via an electric current. in 1877, Bell founded the Bell Telephone Company. his telephone transformed communications and helped improve the nation's standard of living. businesses could place orders quickly and news of events that might change business choices could be obtained in time for better decision making - After the Civil War: Thaddeus Lowe invented an ice making machine, enabling people to obtain low cost ice year round for ice boxes that kept food fresh - 1870s: Gustavus Swift hired an engineer to develop a refrigerated railroad car. shipped the first refrigerated load of fresh meat in 1877. widespread use enabled fresh food, especially meat, to be shipped across long distances. the price of food began to drop and the quality of food people could obtain year round rose dramatically. - 1873: Christopher Scholes invented the typewriter. - 1886: Josephine Cochrane developed the automatic dishwasher - 1888: George Eastman patented the first handheld camera - 1893: Frank and Charles Duryea built the first gasoline-powered carriage - power-driven sewing machines and cloth cutters rapidly moved the clothing business from small tailor shops to large factories - large factories used new processes and inventions to mass-produce shoes efficiently and inexpensively, lead to low prices for customers - invention of air breaks enabled railroads to put longer and heavier trains on their lines railroads - the transcontinental railroad helped accelerate industrialization - railroads took settlers and miners to the west and carried resources back to the east. - railroad boom began with the Pacific Railway Act - the transcontinental railroad was the first of many lines that began crisscrossing the nation after the Civil War - by linking the nation, railroads increased the markets for many products, spurring industrial growth - railroad companies stimulated the economy by spending huge amounts of money on steel, coal, number, etc - large companies consolidated smaller lines to create integrated systems - operations became so efficient that the average rate per mile for a ton of freight dropped from 2 cents to 3/4 of a cent capital - money used for investment - important source of private capital: Europe, especially Great Britain - foreign investors saw great opportunities for profit in the US human labor - human resources just as important as natural resources in enabling the nation to industrialize rapidly. - between , the population of the US nearly tripled. this growth provided industry with a large workforce and created greater demand for consumer goods gross national product the total value of all goods and services a country produces during a year - by the early 1900s, the US was the leading industrial nation. its GNP was roughly 3 times what it had been in the late 1860s. Alexander Graham Bell 1874: Alexander Graham Bell began experimenting with ways to transmit sound via an electric current. in 1877, Bell founded the Bell Telephone Company. his telephone transformed communications and helped improve the nation's standard of living. businesses could place orders quickly and news of events that might change business choices could be obtained in time for better decision making Thomas Alva Edison - leading pioneer in new technology - great innovator, he worked to invent and improve products - first achieved international fame in 1877 with his invention of the phonograph, 2 years later he perfected the electric generator and the lightbulb - improved products like battery and motion picture - 1882: Lewis Latimer (worked for Edison) invented a process for making cheap long-lasting carbon filaments for light bulbs. because of this, electric lighting became more affordable - 1889: several Edison companies merged to form the Edison General Electric Company impact of technology - technology improved the standard of living - refrigerated railroad cars: quality of food increase, price decrease - ice making machine, ice box: kept food fresh - telephone: businesses could make orders, could obtain news quickly for better decision making - AC electric current: city streets safer with lights, electric trolley cars decreased commute times, electric devices made domestic chores easier and faster - prices of many goods dropped significantly entrepreneurs - people of high ability and ambition - people who risk their capital in organizing and running a business - believed they could make money in manufacturing and transportation - many of the new inventions that transformed society would not have been possible without entrepreneurs willing to risk their money to help develop and implement them. - many entrepreneurs from New England accumulated their money by investing in trade, fishing, and textile mills. they invested their money in factories and railroads Laissez-Faire - attracted entrepreneurs to invest in American businesses - "let people do as they choose" - supporters believe that the government should not interfere in the economy other than to protect private property rights and maintain peace, a free market with competing companies leads to greater efficiency and creates more wealth for everyone, and low taxes and limited government debt to ensure that private individuals, not the government, will make most of the decisions about how the nation's wealth is spent - argued that if the government regulates the economy, it increases costs and eventually hurts society more than helps - relies on supply and demand rather than the government to regulate wages and prices - practiced in the late 1800s. state and federal governments kept taxes and spending low. did not impose costly regulations on industry or try to control wages and prices. - US was one of the largest free trade areas in the world, Constitution bans states from imposing tariffs, few regulations on commerce/immigration - benefited consumers because competition led to price decrease, but business leaders did not like the intense competition being forced on them. cutting prices cut into profits - these factors played a major role in the country's rapid economic growth - government went beyond laissez-faire and introduced policies intended to promote business. - tariffs very contradictory. leaders in the North and South had different ideas about the role of government in economy: North wanted high tariffs to protect manufacturers from foreign competition and supported federal subsidies for companies building roads, canals, and railroads. South opposed subsidies and favored low tariffs to promote trade and keep cost of imports low - Civil War ended this debate: Congress passed Morrill Tariff increasing tariff rates. Congress also gave tracts of western land and nearly $65mil in loans to western railroads and sold public lands with mineral resources for less than their market value. - high tariffs contradict with laissez-faire ideas. when US raised tariffs on foreign goods, other countries raised tariffs on US goods. this hurt American companies trying to sell abroad. - many believed tariffs were necessary, new American industries could not compete with European factories without tariffs to protect them. - after American industries had become large and efficient, business leaders began to push for free trade because they could now compete Pacific Railway Act (1862) - gave the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific corporations permission to build a transcontinental railroad - offered each company land along its right-of-way Union Pacific Railroad - build from Omaha, NE towards Sacramento, CA - for each mile constructed, the company was granted 20 square miles of land and a federal loan ranging from $16,000-$48,000 - crews were made of of the Irish (3000 in total paid $35/month with boarding), Civil War soldiers, African Americans, Germans, Mexicans, Englishmen - record day... 10 miles laid by 5,000 men - faced Native American raids - faced illnesses from dietary and weather conditions - "Hell on Wheels:" tented towns - laid a total of 1,086 miles of track - The Credit Mobilier Construction Company pocketed $73 million for $50 million of construction, paid of Congress to look the other way Central Pacific Railroad - build eastward from Sacramento, CA - originally contracted to build 150 miles, Congress made it a competition in 1866 - eventually, the company hired up to 12,000 Chinese immigrants who were thought to be too puny for the labor but had a very strong work ethic. worked for about $1/day without boarding. they were healthier and more sanitary people, ate seafood and vegetables, drank tea, able to be more productive - crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains - laid a total of 690 miles of track immigrant labor - because of a labor shortage in CA, the Central Pacific Railroad hired about 10,000 workers from China - paid about $1/day - changed demographics of America's workforce - every immigrant group had some sort of its members working in every type of job and profession available - Italian: bricklayers and stonemasons, contributed to the construction of many homes, churches, and buildings - Polish: coal miners, meatpackers, steel workers - Jewish: garment industry, common laborers, merchants - Irish: railroad workers, miners, dockworkers, ditch diggers, factory workers Chinese: laborers, servants, merchants, some skilled at trade, helped build Central Pacific Railroad Promontory Summit, UT - on May 10th, 1869, hundreds of spectators gathered here to watch dignitaries hammer 5 gold and silver spikes into the final rails that would join the Union Pacific and Central Pacific land grants - to encourage railroad construction across the great plains, the federal government gave these to many railroad companies - the railroads then sold the land to settlers, real estate companies, and other businesses to raise money to build the railroad - 1850s-60s: federal land grant system gave railroads more than 120mil acres of public land - several railroads, including the Union Pacific and Central Pacific, received enough land to cover most of the cost of building their lines - land was only valuable if railroads could sell it: to convince people to move west, railroads and real estate companies offered the land at low prices and provided credit to settlers. pamphlets, posters, newspaper ads enticed people to move west Manifest Destiny - a notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent, from the Atlantic the Pacific. - different things travelling westward: trains, horse-wagons, farmers, animals, civilians, an angel guiding them - various methods of transportation travelling westward to show the development and spread of transportation in the west - various types of people travelling westward to show how they will populate the region - eastern side of the photo is already developed with bridges and trains while the west side has yet to be developed - artist is trying to convey the goodness that is to come of this development with the angel figure, she may also represent God, and that America's expansion is his will - may inspire hopefulness among American citizens Gilded Age - coined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley - refers to the time period following Reconstruction () and the turn of the century - industrial and economic growth - tumultuous and scandalous politics - emergence of modern businesses - waves of immigration (southern and eastern Europe, 40 mil in 1870, 76 mil in 1900) - monopolies: greed and deceit - America was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath immigration: push and pull factors push - lack of jobs - population pressures - wars and military service - political oppression - religious oppression pull - plenty of land and work - higher standards of living - democracy - opportunities for advancement, "the American dream" new vs old immigrants new immigration: immigrants from eastern and southern Europe, including Italy, Greece, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Serbia old immigration: occurred before 1890, immigrants primarily from northern and western Europe nativism - reemerged in the 1880s - "anti-foreignism" - viewed immigrants as culturally/religiously inferior - many were concerned that the new immigrants would outbreed/outrole the "native" Americans - many blamed immigrants for degrading the urban landscape and government, their willingness to work at "starvation" wages, and socialism, communism, and anarchism Ellis Island - the processing center where the majority of new Americans passed through - located in NYC