Industrialization: How did America CHANGE from a mainly agricultural to a mainly factory based nation?

What is Industrialization? When a country goes from mainly being agricultural (farming) to mainly based on producing or making goods in factories.

1. Reasons for Growth of Industry (Factories)/Big Business - Inventions After: Thomas Edison (1870s-1880s) was able to perfect the use of mass electricity (an entire city could now be lit – even a factory) Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, communication was much easier than before. Before: Difficult to work at night – only candles/oil lamps for lighting. - Only communication was through written letters that would take weeks to get to their destination.

2. Reason for Growth of Industry – Availability of Workforce Before: - Fewer immigrants in the U.S. and few factories (more agriculture) – there were not as many reasons to move to cities. After: - Millions of Immigrants were coming to the U.S. from all over the world and needed jobs! They found many of these jobs in the cities working in factories.

3. Reason for Growth of Industry – Transportation Advances After: - Thousands of miles of railroads were built after the Civil War (including the Transcontinental Railroad) – supplies and products could be shipped much faster! Before: - Travel was slow and difficult and many of the railroad lines were still being built.

4. Reason for Growth of Industry – Advertising Before: - Goods or products were mostly within a local area or kept for home use (little need to advertise or show off your product). After: - As the United States grows in size and goods are sent throughout the country (by railroad), businesses must advertise their product!

5. Reason for Growth of Industry – The Bessemer Process After: The Bessemer process removed the impurities of iron and created steel more cheaply than ever before. Bridges, Railroads, and buildings were now constructed with stronger material (steel). Before: Most bridges, railroads, and buildings were made of iron. Henry Bessemer – British Inventor and Engineer

5. GROWTH of industry was due to… Captains of Industry (Leaders of Business) BANKING/FINANCE STEEL OIL AUTOMOBILES SHIPPING/RAILROADS J.P Morgan Andrew Carnegie John D. Rockefeller Henry Ford Cornelius Vanderbilt