Age of the Railroad and Expansion of Industry

Age of the Railroad and Expansion of Industry

Agenda 1. Bell Ringer: How does populism represent the people? 2. Notes: Age of the Railroad, Expansion of Industry (20 minutes) 3. Impact of Technology Analysis (15 minutes) 4. Video Clip: Promoting Edison and Tesla (15 minutes) 5. The War of the Currents (10 minutes) 6. Quick Kahoot Review (15 minutes)

Resources Fuel Industrialization • New inventions help improve processes and aid in factories being open continuously. • • Lightbulb- Thomas Edison Typewriter- Charles Sholes Telephone- Alexander Graham Bell Bessemer Steel Process

Transcontinental Railroad • Railroads provide increased economic potential and easier travel. • Transcontinental railroad completed in 1869. • Time zones created to regulate train travel throughout the United States.

New Opportunities • Towns become known for independent economies, all linked by rail. • Chicago, stockyards and meatpacking • Minneapolis- Grain production • George Pullman built a town for their employees to manufacture rail cars. • Strict rules in place to promote harmony between groups.

Conflict • The Grange- Farmers that did not like the high costs of railroads. • They needed to send grain and livestock east. The railroads charged high taxes, bankrupting the farmers. • Munn v. Illinois would allow states to regulate the railroads for the benefit of farmers, and limited the taxes imposed on those groups by the railroads. • It became a national issue under the Interstate Commerce Act • The Panic of 1893 would consolidate the railroads, and this would lead to seven companies controlling 66% of track.