8th Grade US History - Industrial Revolution and Migration Study Guide
Migration and Industry
- The Industrial Revolution in America led to increased job opportunities, serving as a major pull factor for immigrants.
- Resulted in densely populated areas, crowded factories, and homes.
Population Density Changes (1870-1890)
- Significant increase in population density due to industrial growth and immigration.
Impact on Native American Tribes
- Western migration and settlement after the Civil War led to conflict with Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest and West.
- Relative peace deteriorated in the 1870s as white settlers moved into their lands, leading to displacement and conflict.
Homestead Act (1862)
- Congress passed the Homestead Act in 1862 to encourage settlement of the West.
- Offered farmers 160 acres of land for free in exchange for clearing and farming the land for five years.
- Settlers taking advantage of the law were called homesteaders.
- Between 1860 and 1910, the number of American farmers increased from 2 million to 6 million.
Transcontinental Railroad
- Congress passed the Pacific Railroad Act to encourage migration west.
- The Act called for the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.
- The construction project was given to the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad companies.
- Congress provided land and money to the two companies in the form of subsidies.
- The Union Pacific Company started in Nebraska and built tracks westward.
- The Central Pacific started in California and built tracks eastward.
- Project faced geographical challenges, such as the Rocky Mountains.
- The two companies met at Promontory Summit in Utah.
Laborers of the Transcontinental Railroad
- Both Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad companies employed immigrants, veterans of the Civil War, Mexicans, and freed slaves.
- The Central Pacific Railroad Company used 12,000 Chinese laborers who faced immense discrimination and racism.
Boomtowns and Ghost Towns
- A boomtown is a town that grows rapidly, often overnight, due to a sudden economic shock.
- A ghost town is a town that has been abandoned.
American Bison
- Bison herds formed stampedes that put cattle and livestock at risk for ranchers and cowboys.
- Ranchers and Cowboys began killing bison at alarming rates for bones and hides.
- Native Americans who depended on the bison for sustenance were horrified by the extermination.
Challenges for Settlers on the Great Plains
- Bison vanished from the Great Plains.
- Native Americans who depended on them were forced onto reservations.
Motivations for Moving West
- Civil War veterans, immigrants, and religious freedom seekers chose to move west to take advantage of the Homestead Act.
Indian Removal Act
- In the 1830s, Congress passed the Indian Removal Act, which sent Native Americans to the Great Plains.
- Homesteaders and Native Americans came into conflict.
- Congress decided to move Native Americans to reservations with promises of food, shelter, farming tools, and schools.
- The relocation to reservations was enforced by the US Army.
- The promised benefits of moving to reservations never came to fruition for many Native Americans; spoiled food, poor schools, poor living conditions.
Battle of Little Bighorn
- The Battle of Little Bighorn, or "Custer’s Last Stand,” was the most famous battle between Native Americans and the US Army.
- In June 1876, the US Government ordered the Sioux Native Americans out of the Black Hills of South Dakota because gold had been found there.
- General Custer engaged thousands of Sioux and Cheyenne warriors along the banks of the Little Bighorn River.
- The Native American army overwhelmed and killed all of Custer’s men; angry whites called the battle a massacre.
- After the battle, the US Army relocated the entire Cheyenne and Sioux people to reservations.
- In 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act, a law designed to assimilate Native Americans into white culture and destroy their traditional identity.
Industrialization
- The development of industries in a country or region on a wide scale.
Laissez-Faire Economics
- Government policy that helped business grow in the United States
- Laissez-Faire Economics is a hands-off approach.
- Government helped the growth of business by passing tariffs, giving land and subsidies to companies, and passing favorable laws.
The Gilded Age
- Between 1860 and 1892, the number of millionaires in the US increased from 300 to 4,000.
- America’s newly rich families built opulent palace-like homes.
- Author Mark Twain called this period in American history “The Gilded Age,” meaning golden on the outside but not on the inside.
- While wealthy capitalists lived like royalty, many workers lived in poverty.
- Immigrants were the worst off, working for low wages and in dangerous conditions.
- A majority of Americans did not benefit from industrialization and the wealth that came from it.
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
- A fire happened at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory.
- The fire killed 146 people and many were injured.
Monopoly
- The exclusive possession or control of the supply of or trade in a commodity or service.
Andrew Carnegie
- Andrew Carnegie traveled to Britain and brought British steel-making practices to the United States.
- Carnegie built an enormous company called Carnegie Steel Company and used vertical integration to build a monopoly.
- Vertical integration involves one company acquiring all stages of a production process from raw materials, to manufacturing, to transportation.
- Carnegie's steel became the primary building material in the US, and his company produced between 25 and 50% of all steel in the US.
- Carnegie’s steel production was centered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
John D. Rockefeller
- One of America’s most well-known businessmen and richest in American History; oil.
- Rockefeller created another type of organization called a trust, a group of corporations controlled by one board of directors: Standard Oil.
- Rockefeller used a process called horizontal integration to buy up competition in the oil industry, forming a monopoly.
Vertical Integration
- Vertical integration is the purchase of companies at all levels of production.
Horizontal Integration
- Horizontal integration is the purchase of competing companies in the same industry.
New Inventions During Industrialization
- Electric power, telephone, mass production, air transport.
Corporation
- Corporations raise money by selling stock; buyers of stock become stockholders or investors.
Captain of Industry vs. Robber Baron
- Men like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller created enormous wealth for themselves and the United States.
- They provided jobs to thousands of Americans and advanced society immeasurably but kept many poor and stifled competition with their business practices.
Urbanization
- Tenement housing consisted of just one or two rooms, usually with no heat or water.
- Tenement neighborhoods were densely populated and crime-ridden.
- Tenements lacked sewer services and only had one common water source; diseases like cholera and typhoid spread quickly, and fire was an ever-present danger.
- Urbanization is the process of making an area more urban.
Working Conditions During Industrialization
- Working conditions in most industries and in most factories were appalling.
- Factory workers had inadequate pay that could not provide for a family; in many cases, both a husband and wife would have to work to support their families.
- Factory workers earned about 25\%50\%.## Child Labor
Children were forced to go to work if their parents could not provide for them and the rest of their families.
Children were desirable employees because they could be paid less and complete specific tasks that adults could not.
Labor Union
- During the Industrial Revolution, labor unions started to rise.
- A labor union is organized by workers in the same trade or job to fight for better wages and working conditions; could threaten a strike or work stoppage.
- Unions allow workers to engage in collective bargaining; working together to negotiate with management.
Immigrant Origins During the Gilded Age
- Eastern Europe.
Push Factors
- Push Factors: Factors that contribute to immigrants leaving their home countries
- Population Growth in Europe
- Food shortages and famines
- Lack of arable land in Europe
- Religious persecution in Europe
Pull Factors
- Pull factors: Factors that contribute to immigrants being attracted to a new country
- Idea of a free and democratic society
- Ample natural resources; land, minerals, forests, etc.
- Available jobs in expanding industries
- “America Letters”
Assimilation
- Most Americans favored assimilation of immigrants into American culture.
- Immigrants were expected to Americanize: learn English and dress and act like Americans.
"America Letter"
- Often, immigrants moved to communities that already had significant numbers of people from the same home country.
- Immigrants wrote letters home describing the United States to relatives and friends back home called "American Letters."
Ellis Island
- Ellis Island was an island in New York Harbor that processed thousands of immigrants every day between 1892 and 1954.
- After a two-week journey, immigrants would go through a medical exam and legal interview before being allowed to carry on to New York City.
- Immigrants feared deportation if they failed the medical exam or the legal interview.
Immigrant Settlement
- After passing through Ellis Island, immigrants would generally settle in industrial cities, where low-skilled jobs were plentiful.
- Immigration led to immigrants settling in neighborhoods with people from the same country.
- From 1870 to 1920, the percentage of Americans living in cities rose from 25\%50\%$$.