Industrialization, Immigration and Urbanization Overview

The end of the Civil War and Reconstruction (1861-1876) not only marked the end of a calamitous (tragic) and uneasy era, but it also ushered in the beginning of profound (weighty) and rapid technological and economic development. While technically the second Industrial Revolution in U.S. History, the period from 1877-1900 would generate several important trends that would positively and negatively shape the 20th century: the growth of technology, mass production and the U.S. factory system; the rise of big business and wealthy titans (giants) of industry; the rise of major cities; a dramatic increase in immigration to the United States; and the rise of organized labor and their uneasy relationship with both government and business.

The sheer amount of technological progress made during this era was stunning. With the creation of his workshop in Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison led the way in producing some of the most important inventions of the century, like the light bulb and the phonograph. Edison also helped to develop the use of electricity, and his competition with other scientists like George Westinghouse, who championed (supported) a form of electrical current known as alternating current, eventually pushed the spread of electricity into businesses and homes. The telephone of Alexander Graham Bell, the telegraph of Granville Woods, the Morse code form of telegraphy developed by Samuel Morse, and a process for creating lighter, stronger steel developed by Henry Bessemer all created products that revolutionized business and society. With the addition of Henry Ford’s concept of the assembly line, the factory system – based upon the idea of factory workers participating in the mass production of products, leading to increased productivity and lower product costs – changed the way that Americans worked and consumed products.

For the businessmen of this time, this was an unprecedented (unmatched) era for creating companies, consolidating (combining) business interests into corporations, and amassing (building) personal wealth. The steel industry’s Andrew Carnegie, the oil industry’s John D. Rockefeller, and railroad tycoons like Leland Stanford and Cornelius Vanderbilt built modern business empires that strangled or eliminated the competition. These business titans turned their companies into strong, efficient machines that used their competitive advantages to increase their profits and power and eliminate competition. For example, Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, using a form of monopoly known as a trust, which allowed his company to combine business operations with his oil competitors, was able to control over 90% of the nation’s oil market. The Carnegie Steel Corporation, on the other hand, owned many of the levels of steel production, such as the coal mines, factories, and railroad lines, which allowed Carnegie to sell his steel cheaper than his competitors. Adjusting for inflation (the decrease in the value of money), some of the richest Americans in history lived during this era.

This use of the factory system by big business was dependent upon low wage-earning workers who would operate these new machines to mass produce items. The factories were located in urban areas where the company would have access to capital (money for investment), resources, transportation, and most importantly, the workers themselves. As more factory jobs became available, more people moved to the city to fill these jobs, especially former farm workers that lost their jobs to machines in rural areas. This increase in population would help create modern cities like New York and Chicago. Cities grew at such a fast pace that many city governments had a difficult time handling the problems that arose because of the sudden influx of mostly poor workers and immigrants, like overcrowding, crime, the spread of disease, and a debilitating (unbearable) level of poverty.

These factory jobs, combined with the desire for the American promise of freedom and opportunity, lured millions of immigrants to the U.S. But unlike the immigration of the past, these new immigrants were more likely to come from Eastern and Southern Europe, were less likely to speak English, and were on average less educated than the previous generation of immigrants. A rising tide of Chinese immigration as well helped to create an immigrant backlash in the U.S., with some calling for the creation of immigration quotas (limits) and outright banning of certain immigration, as seen in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The immigrants of this era tended to cluster (collect) in the ethnic neighborhoods of urban areas, where they could find factory jobs and cultural similarities with fellow immigrants.

The rising wealth and prestige of the business owners of the era, in conjunction with the rising numbers of factory workers and their lack of financial growth, inevitably created tension between workers and owners. Workers sought to group themselves together into labor unions that would represent all of their interests. Labor unions fought for what they called “bread and butter” issues: higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions. Some labor unions even sought collective bargaining, which allowed workers to negotiate with the owners as one group instead of negotiating individually. Strikes, or work stoppages started by laborers to get owners to agree to their demands, also occurred with increasing frequency during the era. As workers began to popularize labor unions nationally, owners saw labor unions as a threat to their efficient companies. Owners saw labor unions as “radical” and being corrupted by socialists (people that seek to increase government to help create an equal distribution of resources) and anarchists (people that want to get rid of all government) that sought to overthrow the American capitalist system (a system based upon the free market and supply and demand). Violence frequently erupted between the two sides at labor strikes like the Homestead Steel Strike in 1892 and the Pullman Strike of 1894. During this era, however, the federal government usually sided with big business, so many of the strikes and reforms that labor unions sought had a difficult time being enacted (passed) during the era.

Homework Format On a separate sheet of paper, describe the main idea of each paragraph. Then provide three supporting details for each main idea. There are six paragraphs, so you should end up with a total of six main ideas and 18 supporting details.

Paragraph #1 Main Idea: