Industrialization – Immigration & Growth of Cities

After the Civil War life in America started to change. The biggest change was that America was turning from an agricultural nation into an industrial nation. That means that even though farms were still an important part of American life more people were starting to live in the cities and work in factories instead of living in the country and working on farms.

Facts you gotta know!

Between The Civil War and WWI, The United States was transformed from an agricultural nation to an industrial nation.

Advances in Transportation

Stuff you gotta know!

1. Advances in transportation linked resources, products and markets.

That means that the Transcontinental Railroad helped get raw materials from the mines to the factories to make the products, and then get the products to the markets to sell them.

1. Manufacturing areas were clustered near population centers. That means that the factories were built near where lots of people lived.

Transportation of Resources

1. Moving natural resources (lead & copper) to eastern factories

2. Moving iron ore deposits to sites of steel mills. (like Pittsburgh)

3. Transporting finished products to national markets.

resources leave The railroads take The factories use The railroads then the mines the resources to the resources to take the products the factories make products to markets around the country.

1 Examples of Manufacturing Areas

1. Textile Industry New England 2. Automobile Industry Detroit 3. Steel Industry Pittsburgh

Inventions that added to great change and industrial growth

1. Electric lighting and other uses for electricity

Thomas Edison

2. Telephone service

Alexander Graham Bell

2 Immigration

Reasons for immigration

1. Hope for better opportunities Many people around the world come to the US for a better life.

2. Escape from oppressive governments Oppressive means cruel, not all governments in the world are fair.

3. Religious Freedom People want to worship their own way. Not all countries in the world allow people to do that. People come to America so that they can worship as they want.

4. Adventure Some people just want to have fun.

Discrimination Against Immigrants Two groups of immigrants that were discriminated against were the Irish and the Chinese. Both of these groups worked on the Transcontinental Railroad.

KNOW THAT: Rapid industrialization and urbanization led to overcrowded immigrant neighborhoods and tenements.

. Industrialization is the build up of industries/factories. . Urbanization is the build up of cities.

What this means is that the factories were being built so quickly and people were moving into the cities so quickly that it caused some problems. One of those problems was overcrowded immigrant neighborhoods and tenements. A tenement is a run down apartment building that has way to many people living in it. These neighborhoods were called ghettos. Another problem was political corruption. That means the government was not doing the right things. An example of this is political machines. Political machines were both good and bad. One way they were good was that they helped some immigrants find a place to live and a job. The bad part was that they stole from the cities they worked for and many times they cheated during elections. They were basically bullies.

3 Reasons that cities developed

1. Specialized industries including steel in Pittsburg & meatpacking in Chicago.

2. Immigration from other countries. (most of these people settled in the cities)

3. Movement of Americans from rural areas to urban areas in search of job opportunities.

Challenges for Cities

1. Tenements and ghettos

2. Political Corruption (political machines) 3. Population changes, growth of cities, and new inventions produced interaction and often conflict between different cultural groups. 4. Population changes, growth of cities and new inventions produced problems in urban areas.

Efforts to solve immigration problems

1. Settlement Houses like Hull House that was founded by Jane Addams. Jane Addams

2. Political Machines that gained power attending to the needs of immigrants. (helping find jobs & housing) Political Machines were both good and bad.

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