Industrialism and Response An Introduction

Monopoly Believe it or not… The game of Monopoly is a good metaphor for the unit we are about to begin: Industrialism and Response. Why? You’ll see…

Monopoly Pieces An introduction – industry in the US and causes of industrialization. Thimble & Iron (textiles/industry) Battleship & cannon (power & empire) Top hat (status & wealth) Work shoe (hard work/labor) Added later: Horse & rider (the West), Car (new inventions), Scottish Terrier, Bag of $ (status & wealth), wheelbarrow (hard work)

The Rules of the Game Each player begins with $1500 What is the goal of the game? How do you win? This is exactly what industrialists did during industrialization of the 1880s -1900s

Reading Railroad Innovations that led to the industrial period: Railroads!!!!! Railroads connected the entire country and made big business & the growth of cities possible

Just Visiting: Philosophy of Big Business Social Darwinism, Laissez-faire governing, and the ideal of rugged individualism left every man for himself in the business world. How does that compare to today?

Big Business (the Hotels) Like the hotels in Monopoly, Big Business meant cutthroat strategies, meaning large profits for the big business, and heartbreak for everyone else.

Monopoly… How does one get a monopoly in the game? What can you do once you have a monopoly? Should you try to prevent other players from getting a monopoly? What does it feel like to get a monopoly? What about when another player has a monopoly (or more) and you have none?

Profiles of Big Business: Who owned monopolies? John D. Rockefeller – oil Andrew Carnegie – steel Cornelius Vanderbilt – railroads JP Morgan – banking and stocks

The Gilded Age Mark Twain’s name for the time in American history where it looked like everything was “covered in gold” but underneath the surface, there were a lot of problems in society

Labor Workers fought for fair wages, safe working conditions and an eight hour workday

Labor Movement In trying to gain rights for workers, many strikers faced stiff penalties from the businesses. Government usually favored the businesses.

Immigration The United States faced a tremendous wave of immigration during the Industrial Era. Who are these immigrants, and where did they come from?

Immigrant Life in America Low wage jobs Tenements and Ghettos Jacob Riis Photo: Jacob Riis, 1890

Urbanization: Growth of Cities Because they grew so fast, for the first time, cities needed to plan out who could build where (zoning), what features buildings needed to have (building codes), and provide services to residents, industries and businesses

Progressive Era, Responding to the Excesses of Industrialism Although it was a time of great economic progress, the Industrial Period had clear winners and losers. Because of the excesses of the period, the Progressive Era was born.

The Progressives The Progressives tried to restore economic opportunities and correct social injustice (Take out the chance, and help people with the community chest) Social welfare, moral improvement, more fair economy, better government (more democratic)

Income Tax To pay for new social programs, government needed to collect money from citizens and the federal income tax was created