Expansion of Industry & the Age of Railroads

1. Expansion of Industry & the Age of Railroads Industrial Boom due to wealth of natural resources, Government support for business, and a growing Urban population that provided cheap labor & markets For new products Michelle Maupin Vista Ridge High

2. Essential Question Industrialization increased the standard of living and the opportunities of most Americans, but at what cost?

3. Natural Resources • In the 1840’s, what became extracted from oil to light lamps? Kerosene • What led to the nation’s oil boom? Edwin L. Drake successfully used a steam engine to drill for oil beneath the earth’s surface • What is an entrepreneur? person who organizes, operates, and assumes the risk for a business venture • What byproduct of oil was originally thrown away but became most important? gasoline

4. Iron & coal were abundant • Iron was a dense metal with what problems associated with it? soft, tends to break, & rust • How is steel created & what are its benefits? removing the carbon from iron produces lighter, more flexible, & rust resistant metal • Describe the Bessemer Process. 1850’s cheap/efficient method for making steel by injecting air into molten iron to remove carbon • What was the open-hearth process able to do? produce steel from scrap metal as well as raw material

5. Iron & coal were abundant • What were some of the biggest uses for steel? railroads, machines, construction such as bridges & skyscrapers

6. Inventions promote Change at work & Home • What contributions were made by Thomas Edison? Incandescent light bulb & later a system for producing & distributing electricity • Who invented the typewriter in 1867? Christopher sholes • What did Alexander Graham Bell invent in 1876? telephone

7. Inventions promote Change at work & Home • How did new inventions & products affect people at home & work? powered machines, time saving appliances, jobs created, mass produced, improved standard of living, workweek reduced, etc.

8. Expansion of Railroads • How did the government facilitate the expansion of the railroads? land grants / loans • As a result, the nation saw its first transcontinental railroad in 1869. What is a transcontinental railroad? railroad line linking the Atlantic & Pacific coasts of the U.S. • What were the positive & negative aspects of railroad expansion? Positive-reality of available land, economic opportunity Negative-workers who created RR often faced injury, disease, attacks Promontory Point, Utah Union Pacific Railroad x Central Pacific Railroad

9. Expansion of Railroads • What was done to set/remedy the problem of time? earth divided into 24 time zones… U.S. – Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific

10. Railroad Magnates (Giants) • The title of this cartoon is a pun on • the Colossus of Rhodes, a statue in • 282 B.C. on an island near Greece. • According to legend, the 100-ft statue • straddled Rhode’s harbor entrance. • Do you think the artist means the • comparison as a compliment or • criticism? Why? • Joseph Keppler drew this cartoon in 1879, featuring Cornelius Vanderbilt (top), Jay Gould (bottom rt), & Cyrus W. Fields (bottom lt). The three formed a railroad trust out of their Union Pacific, New York Central & Lake Shore Dependence lines. “The Modern Colossus of (Rail) Roads”

11. Opportunities & Opportunists • How did the growth of railroads promote industry, towns, and trade? needed materials boosted industry, towns developed around RR, linked trade with city • Describe the innovation of George Pullman & the town he created around his business? developed sleeper railroad cars; town provided all basic needs for workers… company controlled ! • What was the Credit Mobilier Scandal. stockholders of Union Pacific RR formed a construction company that was charged 2-3X to lay track… stockholders pocketed profit

12. Farmers fight Back !!! • For what reasons were farmers angry at the railroads? misuse of government land grants; fixed prices; overcharged shipments • What were Granger laws? series of laws to help regulate RR & curb abuses • What was the result of the court case Munn v Illinois? Supreme Court upheld state’s regulation of RR to serve public interest

13. Farmers fight Back !!! • What was the Interstate Commerce Act? 5 member commission given right to supervise but was powerless to regulate RR Eventually mismanagement of RR leads to bankruptcy and taking over by 7 powerful companies

14. Process Perspective: While the Railroads captured the imagination of most 19th century Americans, there were those who didn’t get on the bandwagon. The writer Herman Melville raged against the smoke-belching iron horse & the waves of change it set in motion as vehemently as his character Captain Ahab raged against the white whale & the sea in Moby Dick. “Hark! Here comes that old dragon again—that gigantic gadfly…snort! Puff! Scream! Great improvements of the age,” Melville fumed. “Who wants to travel so fast? My grandfather did not, and he was no fool.” Describe and give at least 3 pieces of evidence to back up this perspective of why some people disliked this new means of transportation.