Themes of the Gilded Age-
Problems of Factory Work, Problems of Cities, Transportation Revolution, Communication Revolution, An Age of Invention
The Problems of Factory Work
Child Labor
Noise
Dangerous Working Conditions
No building/fire codes
Poor air quality
Low wages, punishment by pay deduction
Extremely Long Hours
Few or no breaks
Punishments and beatings
Crowded
Ones
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Twos interpret the political cartoon
Urbanization
mass migration of people from rural areas to cities
Rapid growth of cities
The Problems of Cities
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What was life like in the rapidly growing cities?
America, Story of Us-Cities
(25:21-33:00)
The Industrial Revolution made America more diverse as immigrants joined us in large numbers. Push factors and pull factors moved people into and around the United States in massive migrations.
Potato Famine
Mistreatment and Racism
Famines, Poverty, War
War, political problems, famine, natural disasters
Irish Americans
African Americans
Chinese
Americans
Italian Americans
Factory Job Opportunities
Jobs, More equality
Railroad jobs, Gold Rush
Job Opportunities
Push Factors Ethnic Group Pull Factors
Labor Unions
Labor Union: an organized group of workers formed to protect and expand the rights and interests of those workers.
The Transportation Revolution
The steamship meant much faster transportation. It also meant that a lot of canals were built.
The invention of steam engine locomotive allowed goods to be transported more easily over land. Huge change!
Massive expansion of railroad lines. The growth of railroads was both fast and widespread!
Ford’s early automobiles would be the start of another new era in transportation
Air travel would take us even further.
How were people’s lives influenced by the invention of the railroad?
Videos-
Story of Us, Transcontinental Railroad
(Heartland, 0:00-11:00)
The Communication Revolution was a huge change in how quickly people could communicate
Inventions
*Steam powered printing press
*Telegraph
*Telephone
The telegraph made a noise that could be transported over a wire. It was the first time people were able to communicate instantly over long distances.
Telephone adds human voice!
Samuel Morse
Morse Code Translator
An Age of Invention
The Wizard of Menlo Park
Thomas Edison-American Inventor, Scientist, and Businessman
Invented the Phonograph, motion picture camera, and the long-lasting practical electric lightbulb
Nikola Tesla creates the first electric motors
Bessemer Smelting Process
Skyscrapers
Engineers see new, cheaper, stronger steel, and figure out how to make buildings many times taller than they had ever been before. New 10-20 story builders are nicknamed “skyscrapers”.
One Word Trade Center is 104 stories, Burj Khalifa in Dubai is 163 stories, 2,717 feet
Story of Us-Cities
9:39-22:50
Immigrants
Carnegie Steel,
Skyscrapers
Interchangeable Parts
Assembly Line
Products should be made in an assembly line-each person does the same simple job, repeatedly, and all completed products are identical