The Industrial Revolution in America

1
The Industrial Revolution in America
2
Causes

1. Coal Deposits and the Introduction of Steel
   (Bessemer Process)
2. Workers (immigration)
3. Management (vertical v. horizontal integration)
4. Competition
5. New Technology

3
Industry

• Large growth in the coal and steel industry
• Larger production with factories
• New machinery
• Mass production
• Mass advertising campaigns
• Consolidation rise of very large companies
• Vertical and horizontal integration

4
Vertical Integration
5
Labor

• Immigrant work force
• Coming from eastern southern Europe
• Chinese immigrants came to work on railroads
• More women in the work force
• Uneducated workers pay less
• Children (cheap and work long hours)
• Dangerous conditions
• Rise of Labor Unions
• e.g. Knights of Labor, AFL

6
Legislation

• New laws and acts
• Eventually passage of the minimum wage and safety
  laws
• Most laws passed favored big business
• Companies bribed politicians no laws to stop
  that
• Campaign finance Reform eventually passed
• Interstate Commerce Act
• Union formed to protect workers

7
Gender Roles

• More women in the work force
• Single, female teenagers from New England
  primarily worked
• Lower class and uneducated needed to work to
  earn money for their families.