Chapter 14 The Industrial Age

Chapter 14 The Industrial Age
Themes: Science and Technology, The American Dream, Women in America
Section 1, The Expansion of Industry
Section 2, The Age of the Railroads
Section 3, Big Business Emerges
Section 4, Workers of the Nation Unite

Starting With the Student
What images of the phrase "The Industrial Age" come to mind when you hear the phrase?
Who might be the key players during this age?
What does the quote from "Mother" Jones mean in your own words?
Based on the image that accompanies the quotation and on the time line, what do you think the people fought for during the Industrial age?

Previewing the Chapter
Examine the entries and images on the time line. What issues seem to characterize the era?

More About. . .
"Mother" Jones
Mary Harris "Mother" Jones (1830-1930) worked tirelessly during most of her long life to win decent working conditions and adequate pay for laborers. She particularly supported miners and railraod workers.

Section 1 The Expansion of Industry
Overview
Objectives1. To explain how the abundance of natural resources, new recovery and refining methods, and new uses for them led to intensive industrialization.
2. To identify inventions that changed the way people lived and worked.

Focus & Motivate
Starting With the Student
Can you imagine life without electricity, the light bulb, or the telephone. How would your daily activities be affected?
How eager do you think people would have been to acquire these conveniences when they became available?

More About. . .
Mark Twain
Mark Twain (1835-1910) was an enthusiastic traveler. He made many trips to the East and West coasts of the United States, to Hawaii, to Europe, and he even circled the globe. Yet, at least in his books, he seemed to resist change. His most popular books, Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, took place before the Civil War. In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, he ridicules the boorish ways of modern society.

Objective 1 Instruct
Natural Resources Fuel Industrialization
Starting With the Student
What components do you think are required for industrialization to occur. Industry needs: resources, power, transportation to market, markets, technology.

Discussing New Ideas
New methods of recovery and refining oil touch off an oil boom.
Abundance of iron and coal fuel steel production.
New uses for steel emerge.

History From Visuals
Natural Resources and the Birth of a Steel Town
1886-1906

Reading the Maps
The Map of Pittsburgh is projected out from the United States map.

Extention
Choose a city other than Pittsburgh and identify the nearest coal and iron deposts and waterway.

History From Visuals
The Technological Explosion

Reading the Time Line
How much time elapsed between the invention of the steam engine used in trains and the internal combustion engine used in cars (170 years)? How much time between the combustion engine and the airplane (43 years)?

Objective 2
Instruct
Inventions Promote Change
Starting With the Student
How would your life be made more difficult without electricity? Make a chart listing ways you use electricity and nonelectrical alternatives.
The chart should include:
Use: Pencil sharpener, Substitute: Knive or mechanical sharpener, Clothes dryer, Outdoor clothesline

Discussing Key Ideas
The harnessing of electricity transforms American business.
A profusion of inventions promotes rapid change.
New products affect people at home and at work.

Historical Spotlight
Illuminating the Light Bulb
Critical Thinking: Clarifying
Thomas Edison defined genius: "1% inspiraton and 99% perspiration." How does the search for the perfect lamp filament illustrate this definition?

Close
An industrial explosion created a demand for shipping routes for both raw materials and finished products and increased the demand for rail networks. Technological advances in the production of steel made rapid expansion of the railroads possible.

Critical Thinking
A. Inexpensive, readily available raw materials gave inventors and entrepreneurs the means they needed to develop and implement new products and methods.
Geography Skillbuilder.
Human-Environment Interaction: Coal
Location: Steel mills were located near coal deposits and along the transportation routes formed by rivers.
B. It changed the nature of business, made the invention of new appliances possible, and helped cites and industries grow.
C. Development of natural resources and a growing receptive market.
D. The created new jobs and made factory work easier; but contributed to a loss of worker's self-esteem.

Assessment
1. Drake, p. 410
Bessemer process, p. 411
Edison, p. 412
Sholes, p. 412
Bell, p. 412
2. Possible answers
oil drill--initiated oil boom
Bessemer steel process--made steel production cheaper and more efficient
barbed wire and farm--
machines--increased farmers' output or production
light bulb--made artificial light widely available
telephone--revolutionized communications
3. Possible Responses:
Agree--Availability of products and increase of promotional gimmicks.
Disagree--Low incomes and increasing dependence on manufactured (rather than homemade) products.
4. Possible Responses:
Some may cite electricity as the invention with the greatest impact because it changed the nature of business, of travel, and of home and social life. Others may cite the telephone and the Bessemer steel process for similar reasons.