The Birth of Modern America 1865 1901 Industrialization
The Birth of Modern America 1865 -1901
Industrialization -American business and industry boomed Post Civil War 1. Gross National Product (GNP) 1. Total value of all goods and services -between 1865 -1914 – GNP 8 x’s 2. Henry Comstock 2. Sold claim – couldn’t find gold -$230 mil. silver ore -financed Union Army 3. Boomtowns 3. mining towns went from few 100 people to 30, 000+ - AZ, Mont, SD/ND, CO 4. Hydraulic Mining 4. High pressure water use -bad for envir.
Abundance of Natural Resources 5. timber, coal, iron, copper, petroleum -transcontinental railroad/settlement sped up industrial. 6. Alexander Graham Bell 6. Telephone – now AT&T 7. Thomas Edison 7. lightbulb, phonograph, battery, motion picture -supplied NYC w/ elec power – now GE 8. George Westinghouse 8. air-brake system (trains)
Questions to Consider � 1. What impact did the convergence of immigration, the influx of investment money, �and technological change have on the United States after the Civil War? � 2. How did the rise in the quantity of consumer goods affect daily life? What was lost? �What was gained?
Bell Ringer 8/22/2013 �What type of law did boomtowns have? A. B. C. D. Sheriffs Marshalls Vigilance committees None
Homestead Act of 1862 �Encouraged settlement of Great Plains � 160 acres/plot , title after 5 years
Problems w/ Homestead 160 acres Often too small for profits �Hot/dry in summer, blizzards in winter �Overpopulated -> led to “Dust Bowl”
Dawes Act of 1887 �Assimilate – NA’s land divided up into allotments as the rest of the country Families = 160 acres , single = 80 acres , children = 40 acres Stay for 25 years = citizenship � Problems?
Failure of Dawes Act �NA’s weren’t farmers Nomadic due to buffalo �Often sold lands as other Americans � 25 years? !? �Not until 1924 that Congress passed Citizenship Act – making NA’s actual citizens �AZ, Maine, NM – no right to vote until after WWII
- Slides: 12