America Enters the Industrial Age The Industrial Revolution Continues Section 1 Chapter 20 Pg.631-637

The Industrial Revolution Continues Key ? - What new inventions changed life in the 1800s? Patent – a government document that gives an inventor the exclusive right to make and sell an invention for a number of years. Factory machines replaced hand tools. Manufacturing began to replace farming. Causes for growth: Steel industry – Kelly (US) Bessemer in England developed the Bessemer steel process. Cut the cost of steel – increased output – 350xs between 1867 & 1900.

Edison & Bell Electric power industry – Edison and Latimer – laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ. Invented a safe steady lightbulb; system to deliver electricity to buildings. Bell invented the telephone in 1876. Thomas Watson assistant. Breakthrough on telephone was an accident.

New Industries New inventions became the basis of new industries. Telephone – switchboard operators. Typewriter – Christopher Latham Sholes invented. Elias Howe & Isaac Singer patented sewing machines – ready made clothes.

Corporations Gain Power How did corporations affect business competition? Corporations – a business owned by shareholders – investors who buy part of the company through shares of stock. Late 1800s few laws regulating corporations. Growth of a few powerful corporations.

Rockefeller & Carnegie Rockefeller dominated the oil industry by creating a monopoly – a company that wipes out its competitors. Bought refineries and built pipelines. Created a trust – a legal body created to hold stock in many companies, often in the same industry. Robber baron – a business leader who uses dishonest methods to grow rich. Carnegie – steel industry – wanted to make the best and cheapest product by controlling all the processes of making steel. Philanthropists – people who give large sums of money to charities.

Business Cycle Business cycle – the pattern of good and bad times. Booms – good times; busts – bad times; lay off workers and make fewer goods. Depression – period of extremely low economic activity.

Economic Growth Brings Wealth and Poverty. Key ? - What inequalities emerged in the late 19th century? Industrialization raised living standards in US and wealth to business owners. Did little to help minorities, factory workers, and the South.

The Gilded Age “Rags to Riches” stories – Horatio Alger wrote popular stories. Mark Twain & Charles Warner – named it the Gilded Age. ( to coat an object with gold) masked society’s problems of corrupt politics and widespread poverty. 1890 – 11 out of 12 million people – income $380; below the poverty line. South remained mostly agricultural and continued to struggle economically through this period.