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Industrialization
Railroads
• Federal land grants were made to railroad
owners after the Civil War to encourage
more railroad construction.
• They hoped to connect the eastern U.S.
with western states to create new markets
for goods and sources of raw materials.
First Transcontinental Railroad
• The first
transcontinental
railroad was
completed in 1869
when the Union
Pacific and the
Central Pacific
Railroad companies
joined their tracks at
Promontory Point,
Utah.
• Railroad construction was
very dangerous and many
workers died in
explosions, rock slides,
and heavy snowstorms.
• Chinese immigrants were
used for much of the
railroad construction
because they would work
for lower wages.
• Asian immigrants faced
strong anti-immigrant
sentiment (nativism)
because the wages for all
workers began to decline.
First Limits Placed on Immigration
• Chinese Exclusion Act -- Banned Chinese
immigration to the U.S. from 1882 until after
WWII
Japanese immigrants also
faced opposition and
California passed laws
prohibiting them from
owning land and forcing
them to attend
segregated schools.
Japan protested these
actions and negotiated an
agreement with the
federal government.
• Gentlemen’s Agreement
– Limited Japanese
immigration to the U.S.
and ended segregation in
the California schools
Japanese
Immigrants
Western Settlement
• Railroad companies
contributed to western
development by selling lowcost parcels of fertile land
(they had been given by the
government) to settlers for
farming.
• These farmers used the
railroads to ship their grain
east while cattle ranchers used
then to ship their cattle to
eastern butchers. They sold
their goods in eastern markets.
• Railroads made money by
transporting settlers west and
goods east.
Steel Industry
• The expansion of the railroad
industry increased demand for
related goods such as wood,
iron, coal, fabric, glass, and
most of all steel.
• Railroads were the biggest
customers for the steel industry
who developed a cheap,
efficient method for mass
producing steel called the
Bessemer process.
• This process made
it more affordable
for industries to
use the steel
companies’
products.
• Andrew Carnegie
(a Scottish
immigrant) made a
fortune in steel
production using
the Bessemer
process.
• The rapid growth of the
railroad and steel
industries spurred the
growth of other big
industries in the oil,
financial, and
manufacturing sectors of
the economy
• They began to acquire
enormous wealth and
economic power which
allowed them to control
many aspects of American
culture and politics
• Most began to form
monopolies (markets in
which there is only one
major seller) which
gave them complete
control over the price of
their products.
• These big businesses
became the target of
government reform
movements at the
beginning of the 20th
century.
Oil Industry
• John D. Rockefeller made a
fortune in the oil refinery
business with his company,
Standard Oil.
• Standard Oil was the most
famous big business of the era
because Rockefeller created a
trust by gaining control of most
other oil companies in the
area.
• He eventually owned more
than 90% of America’s oil
industry.
Electricity
• The advances in this industry
changed forever how people in the
U.S. lived.
• Thomas Edison was the famous
inventor responsible for a system
for distributing electrical power,
the light bulb, the phonograph,
and early motion pictures.
• Edison also established the
concept of industrial research and
founded a research laboratory in
New Jersey.
• Other inventors developed
systems for long-distance
transmission of electricity which
allowed homes and businesses
to widely use Edison’s
inventions.
• Electricity began to replace
steam power, horse power, and
even manual labor (especially in
household appliances).
• Electricity and the products that
used it helped to improve the
quality of life in the U.S.
Effects of Industrialization
• Native American Unrest
• Immigration and Urbanization
• Development of Labor Unions
Native American Unrest
• Industrialization of the east
forced many seeking a rural
lifestyle to move west.
• Overcrowded conditions and
the development of effective
transportation to the region
(the railroads) increased
western settlement.
• These new western settlers
competed with Native
Americans for land causing
tension and sometimes
violence.
• The Sioux tribe was
granted by the U.S.
government a large
reservation in the Dakotas
to be held by them forever.
• Gold was then discovered
in the Black Hills which
was in Sioux territory and
the U.S. government tried
to buy the land back from
the tribe.
• The Sioux refused to sell
the land to the U.S.
government.
The Sioux
Indian Wars
• When the U.S. pressured them,
the medicine man leader of the
Sioux, Sitting Bull, joined many
tribes together and began the
Sioux Indian Wars on the Great
Plains.
• They fought U.S. Army troops,
tried to escape to Canada, and
finally agreed to settle on a
reservation.
• Sitting Bull tried to unite the tribes
again under the Ghost Dance
Movement (a religious
movement).
• The white settlers would
Ghost
Dance
disappear from the west.
Movement
• The buffalo (which were
almost extinct due to improved
Beliefs
hunting tactics and profit
seekers) would return to their
lands.
• Their original land holdings
would be returned to them.
The U.S. government ordered
Sitting Bull arrested and
outlawed the Ghost Dance.
The Sioux leader was killed in
a brief gun battle.
Massacre at Wounded Knee
• The outlawing of the Ghost
Dance sparked a new war with
the united Plains Indians
• The Sioux Indian Wars ended
with the Massacre at Wounded
Knee in 1890
• While collecting weapons from
captured Sioux, a shot was fired
and U.S. soldiers killed 300
Sioux Indians including many
women and children
• This officially ended the Ghost
Dance Movement and the Sioux
Indian Wars
New Immigration
• Numbers of immigrants
entering the U.S. greatly
increased after the Civil War.
• These “new” immigrants
came from eastern and
southern Europe instead of
northern and western
Europe.
• They were often Jewish or
Catholic, spoke no English,
and were more likely to be
poor.
• Wealthier immigrants were
readily accepted, but the
poor ones had to endure
many health tests before
entrance was granted.
• These tests were given at
government reception
centers such as Ellis Island
located in New York Harbor.
• Asian immigration increased
as well and most of these
immigrants entered the U.S.
at Angel Island in San
Francisco.
Ellis Island
• The new immigrants tended to
settle in areas populated by people
from their home country because
they were unfamiliar with the
American language and culture.
They did not blend in with the
culture like earlier immigrants did.
• Most of these poor immigrants
could not afford to purchase land
to farm, so they flocked to the
cities to search for jobs in factories.
• This rapid increase in the
population of cities is called
urbanization.
Development of Labor Unions
• Poor working
conditions for
unskilled laborers
included
– Low wages
– Long working hours
– No vacations
– Unsafe conditions
– No system for
addressing worker
grievances
– No job security
• Workers began to ban together
in labor unions.
• Labor Union – an organization
for workers who fight for better
working conditions for its
members through collective
bargaining
• Collective bargaining – the union
process of collecting the
demands of the workers and
bargaining with employers to get
the maximum number of them
met
• Goals of early labor unions
included
– Higher wages
– Shorter hours (usually an 8 hour
day)
American Federation of Labor
or AFL
• A national organization
representing a number of local
labor unions to give them more
power at the federal level
• Originally led by Samuel Gompers
from 1886 to his death in 1924
who was respected by both
workers and employers
• Used strikes (work stoppages) to
get better working conditions for
its members and give them more
control over their workplace
Pullman Strike
• A violent strike that broke out
when the Pullman railcar
company in Chicago fired half
its workers and cut the pay of
those left by 25% to 50%
• The strike drew the attention
of the American Railway Union
who supported the strike by
refusing to move any trains
with Pullman cars on them
• Railroad traffic west of Chicago
came to a halt.
• The Pullman company hired
replacement workers (called
scabs) who were attacked by
the strikers when they tried to
go to work.
• Pressured by the railroad
owners, the federal
government placed mail cars
on trains with Pullman cars
because any interference with
mail delivery is a federal crime.
• The railroad owners
convinced the federal
government to declare the
strike illegal and President
Grover Cleveland sent the
U.S. troops to restore
peace.
• Labor unions were feared
by business and the
government because they
felt the unions would
interrupt the capitalistic
economy of the nation.