Chapter 3 Section 1 The Triumph of Industry

Section Focus What factors led to the industrialization of

America, and what impact did industrialization have on society?
I.

Industry and Technology Advance Rapidly

A. Causes of Industrial Expansion
1. Natural resources
2. Immigrants
3. Encouragement from government
4. Entrepreneurs
B. New Technologies Transform the Economy
1. Thomas Alva Edison
C. Impact of Industrialization
1. Made a rise in peoples standard of living
2. Cities grew
3. Mass consumerism

What factors contributed to the Industrialization of America?

II.

The Rise of Big Business

A. Corporations Amass Huge Fortunes
1. Andrew Carnegie steel
2. John D. Rockefeller Oil
3. How?
i.
Robber Barons? - stole their fortunes by paying their workers low
wages
ii.
Captains of industry steering the country in the direction of
economic success
B. Carnegie and the Gospel of Wealth
1. Explanation of their earnings
i.
Social Darwinism only the fittest survive
2. Carnegie explained it in a doctrine called Gospel of Wealth which called on
those who accumulated wealth to share their riches for the betterment of
society
C. Federal Regulations Target Corporate Abuses
1. Monopolies (single corporations came to control an entire industry)
2. Interstate Commerce Commission of 1887 oversee railroad operations.
3. Sherman Antitrust Act in 1890 outlaws mergers and monopolies

Which factors explained the emergence of large corporations and what did Americans
think of them?
III.

Workers Organize
A. Workers Endure Hardships
1. long days
2. poor conditions
3. low pay
4. men / women / children
i.
women / children payed less than men
B. Labor Unions Promote Workers; Rights
1. created to improve working conditions
2. Knights of Labor
i.
Helped all types of workers unite
ii.
Wanted workers to own where they worked
iii. Fell apart in the late 1880s
3. American Federation of Labor (AFL)
i.
Focused on specific working issues (wages, hours, conditions)
ii.
Led by Samuel Gompers
iii. For skilled workers

You should be able to answer:

- The growth of the United States as an industrial power.

- Summarize the rise of big business

- Understand the plight of the industrial worker and how workers tried to improve their
condition.
- Identify reasons that workers and big business clashed.