1. U.S. HISTORY
UNIT 2 – INDUSTRIALIZATION and IMMIGRATION
Section 1 – Immigration
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THE “NEW IMMIGRATION” of the LATE 1800s – During the 17 and most of the 18 centuries, most immigrants
coming to America had been from northern and western Europe – countries such as England, France, Germany,
Belgium and the Netherlands. But there was a shift in the late 1800s, when most immigrants coming to the U.S. were
from southern and eastern Europe. Many of these immigrants entered the U.S. in New York City. The first thing they
saw was the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor, which became the symbol of America to many immigrants looking for
a new life. After a difficult 14-day journey across the Atlantic, immigrants would usually disembark at Ellis Island, a tiny
island in New York Harbor. There, they were inspected by doctors checking for diseases or other illnesses. If someone
failed to pass inspection, they were often sent back to Europe and separated from their families.
REASONS FOR IMMIGRATION – As mentioned, by the late 1800s, more than half of all immigrants in the United
States were from eastern and southern Europe, including Italians, Greeks, Poles, Slavs and Russians. Many of the 14
million immigrants who came to the U.S. during this time were Jews who were being persecuted in Europe for their
religious beliefs. There were numerous factors that pushed immigrants to the United States: 1) poor farming conditions
in their homeland; 2) wars in their homeland forced them out; 3) political tyranny and religious oppression. Things that
pulled immigrants to the U.S. included: 1) plenty of land and plenty of work for farmers; 2) the U.S. had a higher
standard of living; 3) people were free to live they way they wanted in America.
ETHNIC CITIES – By the late 1800s, immigrants made up a great portion of the country‟s largest cities, including New
York City, Chicago and Detroit. In these cities, immigrants lived in neighborhoods that were normally separated into
ethnic groups such as “Little Italy,” or „Chinatown,” or Little Havana, or the Jewish “Lower East Side.” There, they spoke
their native tongue and recreated the culture of their homeland in a tiny part of an American city. How well immigrants
adjusted depended heavily on how quickly they learned English and adapted to the American culture.
POOR CONDITIONS FOR IMMIGRANTS – Immigration led to a massive increase in the number of slums in U.S. cities.
Tenement buildings – cheaply built apartment buildings – were often overcrowded and lacked many necessities. The
journalist whose books gave a vivid account of the life for ethnic groups of New York City living in this tenement slums
during this time was the Muckraker Jacob Riis. His books helped shine a spotlight on problems in the inner cities and
helped to put pressure on the government to make reforms to help the poor. Many immigrants counted on politicians
from corrupt political machines to take care of their needs.
POOR WORKING CONDITIONS – Conditions for immigrants at work were no better than they were at home. Back in
the day before a minimum wage, a 5-day work week and workers‟ rights, immigrants had to work in harsh conditions for
little pay. Factories often locked their workers in the building and did not allow them out until their shift ended. Often,
immigrant children were put to work in sweatshops – businesses with harsh working conditions that took advantage of
immigrants who were desperate for work. Businesses wanted to hire children because they were a cheap source of
labor. Immigrants didn‟t mind their children working because it gave families more money. Many people began calling for
the government to make changes to prevent such abuses in the workplace. One event that led to changes was the
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.
TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FIRE – The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City in 1911 was the largest
industrial disaster in the history of New York City, causing the death of 146 garment workers who either died from the
fire or jumped to their deaths. When a fire broke out in the factory, workers were locked in and could not get out. The fire
led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies'
Garment Workers' Union, which fought for safer and better working conditions for sweatshop workers in that industry.
NATIVISM – The flood of immigrants into the United States in the late 1800s worried many Americans. They felt their
way of life could be changed and often felt they were being overtaken by immigrants with different cultures. This fear led
to a rise of what is known as nativism. Nativism is an extreme dislike for foreigners by native-born people and a desire
to limit immigration. Many labor unions also opposed immigration, arguing that immigrant workers would work for low
wages, thus undermining American-born workers. Nativism has not been uncommon in the United States. In the mid-
1800s, many feared a massive rise in the amount of Irish immigrants coming to the U.S. In mid-1900s, many Americans
feared an increase in eastern Europeans who many felt were Communists. Today, nativism is widespread in the
Southwest as people fear a rise in immigrants coming from Mexico and other parts of Latin America. During the late
1800s, numerous laws were passed to slow immigration, including the Chinese Exclusion Act.

2. ASIAN IMMIGRATION – While there was a flood of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe on the east coast,
the west coast (California) in the late 1800s saw a boom in the amount of immigrants coming from Asia. W hile
immigrants coming to New York disembarked at Ellis Island, Asian immigrants were checked out at Angel Island in San
Francisco. Most Chinese immigrants came to the United States because overcrowding in China led to high
unemployment, poverty and famine. The gold rush also brought many Chinese to America. Finally, the Taiping Rebellion
forced many people out of China.
CHINESE EXCLUSION ACT – The Chinese Exclusion Act was the law passed by Congress that great reduced the
amount of Asian immigration coming to America in the late 1800s. The law barred Chinese immigration for 10 years and
prevented the Chinese from becoming U.S. citizens. The law greatly reduced the amount of Chinese living in the U.S.
the law was repealed (they got rid of it) in the 1940s.
MIGRATING TO THE CITIES – Following the U.S. Civil War the population of urban areas in the United States – cities –
skyrocketed. The population of U.S. cities went from 10 million in 1870 to 30 million by 1900. New York City alone
jumped from 800,000 to 3.5 million. Chicago went from a town of 109,000 (smaller than Grand Prairie) to 1.6 million in
that same time span. Most people moving to cities were poor farmers who gave up farming to work in factories in the
cities. Most of these people ended up working long hours for little pay. Still, the pay was better than they were receiving
in the farming business. Cities had a lot to offer people that they didn‟t have in rural areas: things such as bright lights,
running water and modern plumbing.
URBAN ENVIRONMENT – As people flooded to the cities, engineers and architects developed new approaches to
housing and transportation for a large amount of people. As cities grew, the price of land in cities increased as well as
people needed land for housing to live or businesses to grow. With a limited amount of land, businesses in cities had to
build up, not out. This led to the building of skyscrapers. New York City quickly became the city with more skyscrapers
than any city in the world. The invention of elevators made building skyscrapers more practical. Chicago was another
city whose skyline grew at an enormous rate. Meanwhile, cities also moved to improve transportation. This led to the
development of mass transit to move large amounts of people around cities quickly. Some forms of mass transit
included cable cars (first built in San Francisco), trolleys and, eventually, subways. New York‟s subway system is the
largest in the world.
URBAN AREAS SEPARATED BY CLASS – As cities grew, people of different levels of society became segregated
(separated) from each other. The upper class – or high society – often lived in mansions outside the inner city. American
industrialization helped to create a large middle class of society – people who were not rich, but had good paying jobs
such as doctors, lawyers, engineers, managers and teachers. Many of these middle class people also lived outside the
inner city, creating what became known as “streetcar suburbs,” because these people took the transit system into the
city to work. In the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, places like Plano, Irving and Grand Prairie are suburbs. The working class
often lived much closer to the inner city than the upper or middle classes. Housing was much cheaper in the inner city,
where most people lived in tenements. Tenements were dark, crowded multi-family apartments. These poor conditions
led to a harder, rougher daily life for the working class.
URBAN PROBLEMS – As the cities grew, so did problems. With overcrowding in the inner city, it created many
problems for urban areas. Some of these problems included crime, violence, disease and air pollution. Major crimes,
such as murder, increased at a high rate. Native-born Americans often blamed immigrants for this increase in crime.
Disease and pollution posed even bigger problems. Poor sewage led to contaminated drinking water, a limited water
supply and triggered epidemics.

3. U.S. HISTORY
UNIT 2 – INDUSTRIALIZATION and IMMIGRATION
Section 2 – The Rise of Industry
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION – Although the Industrial Revolution began in the United States in the late 1800s, the
nation was still primarily an agricultural country in the year‟s leading up the Civil War. Following the Civil War, however,
industry rapidly expanded as millions left the farm and moved to cities to work in factories and mines. By the early
1900s, the United States was the world‟s leading industrial nation. The abundance of natural resources was a major
reason for this industrial success. Wheat, corn and cotton came from the newly settled Great Plains while gold, silver
and iron came from the Rocky Mountains in the West. A new natural resource also came from the region – oil. The
construction of the transcontinental railway also was a factor in the rise of the Industrial Revolution. Another factor was
the population increase in the United States. Between 1860 and 1910, thanks in part of 20 million new immigrants – the
U.S. population tripled, creating a large workforce and a greater demand for consumer goods. Finally new inventions
and the free enterprise system were two other factors that led to a rise in the Industrial Rev.
FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM – One important factor that enabled the United States to industrialize rapidly was the
free enterprise system. The free enterprise system is the economic system where citizens of a country can own
businesses without government interference and are free to run their business (or enterprise) as they want. This was
also known as the laissez-faire theory of business. Laissez-faire is French for “leave alone.” The laissez-faire theory
believed that if the government did not interfere with people‟s private businesses – if they left them alone -- then they
would be free to run efficiently. The laissez-faire theory relies on supply and demand rather than the government
regulating prices. The only time the government should interfere with business owners is protect private property rights
and maintain peace. The free enterprise system allowed new businesses and new inventions to come about.
NEW INVENTIONS – The free enterprise system helped to led to new inventions by private businesses. This flood of
inventions helped to increase the nation‟s productive capacity and improved the network of transportation and
communications that was vital to the nation‟s industrial growth. New inventions led to an expansion of business, which in
turn created more jobs. One of the most dramatic inventions of the late 1800s was in the field of communications. In
1876, Alexander Graham Bell developed the first working telephone. This invention revolutionized both business and
private communication by increasing the scale and speed of nationwide communications. Bell later formed American
Telephone and Telegraph (AT&T). Another important inventor in U.S. history was Thomas Edison. Edison had
numerous inventions, but his most significant were the invention of the light bulb and the phonograph. The invention of
the light bulb led to the wide spread use of electrical power and factories being able to run at night. This in turn produced
more jobs and more product, which led to lower prices. These technological innovations of the late 1800s and early
1900s raised the standard of living for people in the United States and other industrialized nations.
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD – After the Civil War, railroad construction expanded dramatically, linking distant
regions of the nation in a transportation network. By 1900 the United States, now a booming industrial power, had over
200,000 miles of railroad track. The railroad boom began in 1862 when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific
Railway Act. This law provided the funding to build a transcontinental railroad – a railroad that went from coast to coast
and joined the East Coast to the West Coast. The two railroads that joined together to create this “transcontinental
railroad was the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific. Thousands of workers – most of which were Chinese immigrants
– worked to make the transcontinental railroad possible. Because of a shortage of labor in California, the Central Pacific
hired about 10,000 from China. The expansion of the railroad industry helped to increase both the availability and the
variety of consumers goods available to U.S. citizens.
RAILROAD PIONEERS – Numerous men had a huge impact on the railroad industry. The person who engineered the
building of the Union Pacific railroad was a former Union army general named Greenville Dodge. The Central Pacific
was owned by a group of owners known as the “Big Four.” One member of this group was Leland Stanford, who would
later become governor of California and would found Stanford University. Another person who became rich and powerful
and famous from the railroad business was Cornelius Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt combined – or consolidated – three New
York railroads to form the New York Central, the most important railroad company on the East Coast. Vanderbilt was the
first to offer direct rail service between New York City and Chicago. He later built New York‟s Grand Central Station.
A NATIONAL SYSTEM – Before the 1880s, there was no set time in the United States. It could be 4:00 in Dallas, 3:30
in Chicago and 2:15 in New York City. This caused a problem for railroad service. To solve the problem, the American
Railway Association created four time zones in the United States. In 1918, the federal government made the time
zones law for the entire nation.

4. U.S. HISTORY
UNIT 2 – INDUSTRIALIZATION and IMMIGRATION
Section 3 – Robber Barons
ROBBER BARONS – The massive expansion of railroads made people like Leland Stanford and Cornelius Vanderbilt
millionaires almost overnight. But some people felt like these entrepreneurs were taking advantage of people and were
building their fortunes by swindling investors and taxpayers and bribing government officials. People called these
business men who they felt unfairly swindled people out of money to make their fortune robber barons. One of the most
famous scandals involving robber barons was the Credit Mobilier Scandal.
CREDIT MOBILIER SCANDAL – The Credit Mobilier Scandal was the business venture that triggered one of the
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greatest financial and political scandals of the 19 century in the United States. A part owner of the Union Pacific
Railroad who was also a U.S. Congressman – Oakes Ames – bribed members of Congress to vote to give the Union
Pacific more money from the government, even though the Union Pacific had made millions of dollars. But the money
had been going to Credit Mobilier, which had contracts to do work for the Union Pacific but greatly overcharged for their
services. The scandal was that the owners of the Union Pacific – including Congressman Ames – were also the owners
of Credit Mobilier. By overcharging the railroad, owners of Credit Mobilier were essentially taking money from the
government and from taxpayers. The Credit Mobilier Scandal was comparable to the Enron scandal of the late 1990s.
THE RISE of BIG BUSINESS – Before the Civil War, most manufacturing businesses were relatively small. A few men
got together to start and run a business. By 1900, that had changed dramatically as businesses became huge
enterprises involving hundreds or even thousands of investors and even more employees. Big business would not have
been possible without the corporation. A corporation is an organization owned by many people, but treated by law as
though it were a single person. The people who own the corporations are known as stockholders. The shares these
“part owners” had are called stock. A person can own just a few shares of a company or can hold hundreds of
thousands of shares and be a primary stockholder, which gives that person more power in the company.
ECONOMIES of SCALE – With money raised with the sale of stock, a corporation often uses that money to reinvest in
things that make the corporation grow, such as new technology, more machines or more workers. This enabled
corporations to achieve what is called economies of scale, in which corporations make goods more cheaply because
they produce so much so quickly by using large manufacturing facilities. Wal-Mart‟s ability to sells things at a very low
price because it sells such a high volume is an example of economies of scale. Because companies like Wal-Mart came
produce goods more cheaply and efficiently, it translates into lower prices for the consumer.
ANDREW CARNEGIE – One of the most famous entrepreneurs in the United States in the late 1800s was a man
named Andrew Carnegie. From a poor upbringing, Carnegie went on to become a pioneer in the U.S. steel industry and
one of the richest men in the world. After making money by investing in railroads, Carnegie decided to concentrate his
investments in the steel industry. He started a steel company in Pittsburgh in 1875. Using a new technique of making
steel, a technique known as the Bessemer Process, Carnegie revolutionized the steel industry. The Bessemer Process
was the process of making high quality steel both efficiently and cheaply. Carnegie created what was known as vertical
integration.
MONOPOLIES – To increase his factory‟s efficiency, Andrew Carnegie developed one of the first vertically integrated
companies. A vertically integrated company owns all of the different businesses in which it depends upon to operate.
Vertically integrated company saved companies money while it enabled big companies to become even bigger. Later,
Carnegie helped to develop the technique known as horizontal integration. Horizontal integration combined many
firms engaged in the same type of business into one large corporation. When a company achieves control of an entire
market, it becomes a monopoly. When one company has a monopoly, there is no competition and that company has
the power to charge whatever it wants for its product. Big businesses disliked competition because it reduced profits.
TRUSTS – Because of the fear of monopolies, many states passed laws making it illegal for one company to own stock
in another (thus creating horizontal integration). To get around these laws, some corporations formed trusts, which was
a new way of merging businesses in a way that did not violate the laws against owning other companies. A trust is a
legal concept that allows one person to manage another person‟s property. In reality, a trust was just a monopoly and
was just a way that a corporation would form itself to avoid laws against monopolies. Many people called for government
action to stop these trust companies from having a monopoly. For instance, many felt that Vanderbilt had created a
monopoly in the railroad industry. In 1890, the government did take action to try to stop trusts when the Sherman
Antitrust Act was passed.

5. SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT – Trusts – which were corporations created to allow a business to create a monopoly –
became very popular in the late 1800s. To curb the power of trusts, Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act of
1890. At first, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act was not very effective because the courts were responsible for enforcement.
The courts saw nothing in the law that would require big companies to change they way they did business. Therefore,
the law was ineffective. The Sherman Anti-trust law was another example of how the government was ineffective in
dealing with the nation‟s problems. By the election of 1890, many people began to believe that the two political parties
could not solve the nation‟s problems. It would not be until Theodore Roosevelt became president in the early 1900s that
the government was able to put a stop to the powerful monopolies and trusts.
NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE – The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange based in New York City. It is
the largest stock exchange in the world by dollar volume and has 2,764 listed securities. The New York Stock Exchange
gives an efficient method for buyers and sellers to trade shares of stock in companies registered for public trading. The
exchange provides price discovery via an auction environment designed to produce the fairest price for both parties.

6. U.S. HISTORY
UNIT 2 – INDUSTRIALIZATION and IMMIGRATION
Section 4 – Unions
UNIONS – As the United States became more industrialized in the years following the Civil War (late 1800s), conditions
for workers in industries were difficult. Work was monotonous and repetitive. Workers often worked in unhealthy and
unsafe environments. These conditions led to the formation of workers unions. Unions fought to protect the rights of
workers from their employers. Some things that labor unions fought for (and got) included a five-day work week, an 8-
hour work day, and a minimum wage law. Later unions would gain things such as workers compensation, paid vacations
and other benefits. There were two kinds of unions: 1) trade unions, which were made up of people who had special
skills and training; and 2) industrial unions, which largely represented common laborers in factories. Employers had to
deal with trade unions because they needed the skills the workers in unions had. However, employers of large
corporations disliked industrial unions. If workers felt they were being mistreated, they could strike. A strike is when
workers refuse to work until their demands for better conditions or pay is met by the employers.
OPPOSITION AGAINST UNIONS – Industrial corporations tried to stop unions from forming in their companies in
several ways. One was they required workers to sign contracts promising not to join unions. Another was that they hired
detectives to point out union organizers. Those who tried to start a union or a strike were fired and placed on a blacklist
– a list of “troublemakers.” Once a worker was blacklisted, that person found it almost impossible to get hired. Another
way employers tried to stop unions was by using a lockout to break the union. In a lockout, employers locked workers
out of the factory and refused to pay them. If the union called a strike, employers would hire replacements workers.
MARXISM – Workers who wanted to organize faced several problems. No laws gave them the right to organize and
some people thought that unions threatened American institutions. Others believed that unions were influenced by
Marxism – the ideas of Karl Marx. Marx believed that the basic force that shaped society was the conflict between
workers and business owners. He believed that workers would eventually revolt, take control of factories, and overthrow
the government. Once the workers did this, the new workers-led government would take all private property and
distribute wealth evenly among every citizen. This is what is today known as communism. Marxism greatly influenced
European unions and led to numerous revolutions in Europe in the mid-1800s. When immigrants came to the United
States from Europe, many feared they would bring their ideas of workers revolutions with them, leading to a distrust of
many Americans of immigrant workers.
GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE of 1877 – Although many workers tried to organize unions, they were not often successful.
Government laws favored business owners and, as mentioned earlier, business owners fired many who tried to organize
labor. In 1873, a severe economic recession known as the Panic of 1873 struck the economy and forced many
companies to cut wages. In 1877, as the recession continued, several railroads announced another cut in wages. This
triggered the first nationwide labor strike as railroad workers across the nation walked off their job. It became known as
the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. Some workers turned violent and numerous states had to call out their militias
(National Guard) to stop the violence. President Rutherford B. Hayes finally called on the army to open the railroads.
THE KNIGHTS of LABOR – Following the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, many labor organizers believed workers
across the nation needed to be better organized. In response, they formed the first nationwide industrial union – the
Knights of Labor. The Knights called for an eight-hour workday. They supported the use of arbitration, which is the
process in which an impartial third party helps workers and management reach an agreement in labor disputes.
However, in the 1880s, the Knights of labor began to organize strikes. They were successful at first, leading to a huge
boom in the membership of unions in the late 1800s.
HAYMARKET RIOT – In 1886, union workers called for a nationwide strike on May 1 to show support for the eight-hour
workday. On May 3, a clash between strikers and the police at Haymarket Square in Chicago left one strikers dead.
The next day, an anarchist group organized a meeting to protest the killing. About 3,000 people showed up. Someone
threw a bomb, the police opened fire, and workers shot back. Seven police officers and four workers died. The police
arrested eight men – all who were German immigrants and anarchists (wanted to do away with government). Many
people were upset about the arrest. Even though no one knew who threw the bomb, it was what started the Haymarket
Riot. The men were convicted and four of them were executed. One of the men who were arrested was a member of
the Knights of Labor. This hurt the union‟s reputation and the union quickly lost membership.
EUGENE V. DEBS – Another industrial union that was formed during the late 1800s was the American Railway union
(ARU). Its leader was Eugene V. Debs. One company the ARU unionized was the Pullman Palace Car Company in
Illinois. In 1893, when a recession hit the nation, the company cut wages. Workers were unable to pay their rent. In 1894
the company fired three workers who complained. A strike began in protest that tied up the railroads and threatened the
nation‟s economy.

7. AMERICAN FEDERAL of LABOR – Although industrial unions were not very successful in the late 1800s, trade unions
were. Over twenty of the nation‟s trade unions organized together and became known as the American Federation of
Labor (AFL). Samuel Gompers was the union‟s first leader. He believed that unions should stay out of politics. He
believed that they should fight for things such as higher wages and better working conditions. He preferred negotiation
over striking. The AFL had three goals: 1) it tried to convince companies to recognize unions and agree to negotiations;
2) it pushed for closed shops (where companies hire only union members); and 3) it pushed for an eight-hour workday.
By 1900, the AFL was the largest union in the country. However, by 1900 most workers in the nation were still not union
members. Today the AFL is the AFL-CIO and is the largest trade union in the nation.
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE – After the Civil War, the number of women who earned wages increased. About one-
third of these women worked as servants. Another third worked as teachers, nurses, or secretaries. The final third were
industrial workers. Many of these women worked in clothing and food processing factories. Women were paid less than
men, and most unions did not include women. As a result, in 1903 two women formed the Women’s Trade Union
League (WTUL). This was the first union organized to address women‟s labor issues.