Industrialization, Immigration, and Urban America
Economic
New Inventions
![Picture](/uploads/1/2/2/8/12287160/2385834.jpg)
The model of the telephone Graham Bell had invented.
The new technology that was being invented brought much more success to business in America. Two main impactors are Thomas Edison with the lightbulb and phonograph, and Alexander Graham Bell with the telephone. With the help of inventors like these, big businesses thrived and took over the country.
Big Business and Business Techniques
![Picture](/uploads/1/2/2/8/12287160/1538070.jpg)
A picture of the Captain of Industry, Andrew Carnegie.
After new technological advances, businesses could now excel and grow. Using techniques such as horizontal and vertical integration, monopolies, trust agreements, and holding companies, men such as Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan and Cornelius Vanderbilt rose to the top of the industrial world. Often being characterized from the way they treated there workers and used there money, these men were either recognized as Robber Barons or Captains of Industry. For example, Andrew Carnegie wanted to cut his workers wages but did spend most of his money on charity, donating to teachers, and scientific funding. The good in this situation greatly outweighs the odds placing him in the Captain of Industry category.
Political
Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall
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Tammany Hall.
William M. Tweed was the New York City's political boss. His headquarters, named Tammany Hall, was where he made deals for funds in exchange for city contracts using grafts, a way of using one's political influence for personal gains. The most notorious thing Tweed did while he was in control was the construction of the New York County Courthouse. The city wound up paying $13 million for a building that should have cost several times less. Tweed was exposed by journalists called muckrakers, calling him a greedy businessmen who kept the political machines functioning.
Social
Workers Unions
![Picture](/uploads/1/2/2/8/12287160/4332708.jpg)
A photo of a strike in the 1800's.
Workers in factories were getting fed up with the extremely poor and even dangerous conditions along with the low pay they were dealing with so they joined together and formed groups, called unions, to try to better these conditions. By going on strike they would demand for better hours, pay, and safer conditions or they would not return. Some were successful, however, some were not. Bosses would create blacklists and if anyone seemed to be involved in a union, there name would be written on there and they would be fired. In some cases, if the strike lasted to long, owners would just hire immigrants to work for they were more desperate for a job and didn't care as much about the conditions.
New Immigrants
![Picture](/uploads/1/2/2/8/12287160/7520581.jpg)
More than a thousand immigrants on their way to America.
Immigrants who just began moving to the United States were classified as new immigrants. These immigrants coming from Europe would come over for a better living and a fresh start. Unfortunately, they weren't treated as well as they thought. They were often ridiculed for "taking" peoples jobs who had been here for a longer amount of time. Nativists would develop a deep hatred for the new immigrants.
How Does This Show Progress?
The new inventions and big business that came to be in the period of industrialization all show progress because America was becoming a strong and advanced country compared to the earlier times. Also, workers unions showed progress because workers stood up for what they believed in using their rights. However, political bosses and the way people treated new immigrants did not show progress because bosses used corrupt systems to gain power and the new immigrants who were coming to America for a fresh start weren't treated well at all.