The Triumph of Industry (1865-1914) Technology and Industrial Growth –End of Civil War marks major transformation in American Society 1800 – US largely

The Triumph of Industry (1865-1914)• Technology and Industrial Growth

– End of Civil War marks major transformation in American Society

• 1800 – US largely an agrarian (agricultural) society (90% of population on farm)

The Triumph of Industry (1865-1914)– Transformation in American Society (cont.)

• 1830s-1860s – Territorial expansion/population growth (spurred by immigration) challenges country to improve technology/transportation & communication networks

– Roads & Bridges, Canals, Steamboats, Railroads, Telegraph

The Triumph of Industry (1865-1914)

– Transformation in American Society (cont.)

• Civil War – products needed to be made quickly/ efficiently

– Factories employ new tools/methods of production

– Food industry developed methods to process food and transport it long distances

– Railroads expanded exponentially

– Technological advances allow manufactured goods to be made cheaply/efficiently



– Encouraging Industrial Growth

• Abundant Natural Resources– Edwin Drake successfully

drills for crude oil in Titusville, PA in 1859

– By 1871, the entire industry producing 5.8 million barrels/year

– Soon replaced whale oil for lighting/fuel because it was easy to produce/transport

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Edwindrake.jpg

The Triumph of Industry (1865-1914)– Encouraging

Industrial Growth (Cont.)

• Government encouraged immigration to meet increasing demands for industrial labor



• Encouraging Industrial Growth (Cont.)– Capitalism

• End of Civil War meant investment funds to build war materials diverted to industrial purposes

– Government Policies• Gave railroad industry million of acres of land for

promise to build a transcontinental system• Set protective tariffs against foreign manufactured

goods to encourage buying of US products • Laissez faire policies allowed business to operate

without government interference/regulation


• Innovation Drives the Nation– Rise of Industrialism

• Industrialism- movement from agriculture to manufacturing as the main source of economic growth

– Before Civil War most manufacturing tied to agriculture» Cotton and wool to clothing» Hides to shoes/boots» Trees to ships/barrels/furniture

– After Civil War increased funding and labor leads to manufacturing explosion (consumer goods, railroad, steam engine)

– Heavy industry driven by steel, iron ore, coal, oil

The Triumph of Industry (1865-1914)• Rise of Industrialism

(Cont.)– Thomas Alva Edison

(1880) electric light bulb• Cheap/efficient replacement

for candles, oil lamps• Produces other technology

for production/distribution of electricity

• Edison receives over 1000 patents before death in 1931

• Also invents phonograph, movie camera


Electric Dynamo

Phonograph

Movie Camera

Edison’s Menlo Park Laboratory

Electric Dynamo

The Triumph of Industry (1865-1914)• Andrew Carnegie (1873) steel

plant to produce railroad tracks– Bessemer converter and open-hearth

steel making (50 percent less labor)– Combines all phases of steel

production in one plant (smelting, refining, rolling, etc.)

– Price of rails drop from $107/ton in 1870 to $32/ton in 1890

– Steel produced in the United States went from 77,000 tons in 1870 to over 10 million tons in 1900 (Carnegie controls 90%)

– Drives rapid railroad expansion and other steel construction (Suspension bridges, skyscrapers)


• Technology Boom– Alexander Graham

Bell (1876) telephone• revolutionizes long-

distance communication

• 1884 long distance service between New York and Boston

• By 1900, 1.3 million telephones in US


• Technology Boom (Cont.)– Elisha Otis (1861) steam

elevator• Electric elevator

(1880s), escalator (1890s)

– George Westinghouse -railroad airbrakes, AC Electric Generator

– George Pullman - railroad sleeping cars, luxury passenger cars

Otis Elevator

AC Generator



• Technology Boom (Cont.)– Isaac Merritt Singer

(1853) - sewing machine

Elijah Howe Machine (1844)

Singer Machine (1853)

The Triumph of Industry (1865-1914)• National Markets

– Refrigerated railroad cars (1880s) end need to ship live animals to eastern markets

• Gustavus Swift- Chicago cattle dealer- processed/ packed meats

• Joseph Armour-Kansas City cattle dealer- begins meat-packing

– Creates market for fresh fruit/vegetables from California and Florida

The Triumph of Industry (1865-1914)– National Businesses

• McCormick Harvesting Machine Company- farm machinery (International Harvester)

• Singer Sewing Machine Company- give access to cheap machines for home use

• F.W. Woolworth- five & ten-cent variety stores

• Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P)- first chain grocery stores

• John Wannamaker – Department Stores

The Triumph of Industry (1865-1914)• Aaron Montgomery Ward-

first mail-order retailer

The Triumph of Industry (1865-1914)• Impact of Industrialization

US Railroads (1887)

Growth of US Railroads

Miles of Track (approx.)

1850 – 9000

1860 - 30,000

1870 – 53,000

1880 – 93,000

1890 – 130,000 (65% west of Mississippi

River)


• Impact of Industrialization (Cont.)– Linking of World Markets

• By 1880s 50% of all world’s railroad tracks in the US• Goods easily transported to ports for shipment• Export of food, consumer goods, oil make US world

economic power

– Changes American Society• Farms mechanize; less labor needed• Many former farmers move families to urban areas

looking for work • Mass production leads to goods being

available/abundant for all who could afford them

Documents

The Triumph of Industry (1865-1914) Technology and Industrial Growth –End of Civil War marks major transformation in American Society 1800 – US largely