American History Chapter 6: The Expansion of American Industry

1. American History Chapter 6: The Expansion of American Industry I. A Technological Revolution

2. Objectives of Lesson:Key Concepts • Learn how daily lives changed in the decades following the Civil War. • Find out how advances in electric power and communication affected people and businesses in this era. • Discover the effects the development of railroads had on industrial growth. • Think about the impact of the Bessemer process on American culture.

3. Attention Getter • Typewriter Phonograph telegraph • Telephone • What is the most important invention? Why?

4. Recall Prior Knowledge • How many times do you use the telephone per day? • If you lived before the telephone was invented – how would you communicate? • How would your life be different without telephones? • Lets find out about early forms of communication!

5. A) Setting the Scene • Samuel Morse in 1844 sends the first successful telegram from Washington DC to Baltimore. • US on the verge of a second industrial revolution • New inventions will change our lives • Picture: early form of telegraph

6. B) Changes in Daily Life • No internal electricity in house – went to bed at dark and up at first light – unless had money for candles and lamps • Ice cost too much – saved it in ice houses • Took over a month for mail to go coast to coast • Patent and Trademark Office issued patents on new inventions • patents: licenses that give an inventor the exclusive right to make, use or sell an invention • Productivity: amount of goods and services created in a given period of time’ • Productivity in US growing fast. By 1900, US standard of living was one of the highest in the world.

7. C) New Forms of Energy • In 1858, Edwin L Drake strikes oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania. • Drilling for oil cheaper then digging • Oil companies made kerosene, gasoline was the byproduct and was thrown away until the automobile invented. • Thomas A. Edison – invented the light bulb in 1880 – by 1882 had set up the first electric power plant • (CLICK ON HYPERLINK FOR MOVIE ON EDISON) • Lewis Latimer improved light bulbs – son of a slave • George Westinghouse – used alternating current – traveled farther with the help of transformers to boost power • Edison created General Electric – Westinghouse created Westinghouse Electric

8. Electric sewing machine in 1889 led to ready made clothing growth • With electricity the Refrigerator was possible

9. D) Advances in Communications • Samuel F.B. Morse perfected the telegraph – 1844 • Western Union formed • Alexander Graham Bell invented the “talking telegraph” in 1876 at the age of 29. • Set up the American Telephone and Telegraph Company • 1879 first telephone in White House – by 1900 1.5 million telephones • Picture: Alexander Graham Bell

10. E) Railroads Create a National Network • Transcontinental railroad: railway extending from coast to coast • Government paid for it – not as efficient if private industry paid for it • Construction began on the Pacific Coast and at the Mississippi – meet in the middle • Irish immigrants worked for the Union Pacific and Chinese immigrants worked on the Central Pacific • Met at Promontory Summit Utah in 1869 (Picture) • Time Zones created to help scheduling • Railroads were good because they were faster, cheaper, created national markets, model for big business, stimulated other industries.

11. F) The Bessemer Process • Bessemer Process: easier and cheaper way to make steel • Mass production: production in great amounts • Steal is lighter and stronger than iron • Because of the Bessemer Process, companies could now mass produce steal • Brooklyn Bridge built – Chicago Reliance Building built • These became symbols of American inventiveness and hard work • Picture: Chicago Reliance building then and now

12. Review • Why did people’s daily lives change in the decades following the Civil War? • How did advances in electric power and communication affect life for people and businesses? • What effects did the development of railroads have on industrial growth? • What was the impact of the Bessemer process on American culture?

13. Process Information • What are some of the ways in which new technology revolutionized American life in the years following the Civil War?

14. Finished Section 6.1 • Once you finish, go back to the web-page and download and print quiz 6.1. After completing the quiz, send an e-mail to me with your answers. In the subject line put (your first and last name – quiz 6.1) • When you finish with that – check with the syllabus to find out when section 6.2 needs to be completed • Good Luck!