Industrial RevolutionBy Solveig and Karlee

Civil War-The war encouraged production, innovation, and expansion of railroads

Natural Resources- Ample natural resources, including oil, fueled growth.

Growing Workforce-immigrants willing to work for low wages flowed into the country

Technology Innovation-new technology and innovative business practices spurred growth

Government Policies-encouraged investment in businesses and new technology

Causes of Industrialization

19th century Industrial Revolution Representatives of

workers in many industries

Labor Unions

National Trades Union- 1834, first national union, open to workers from all trades

Knights of Labor-1869, sought general ideological reform; open to workers from all trades

American Federation of Labor-focused on specific workers’ issues; organization of skilled workers from local craft unions

American Railway Union-1893, first industrial union; open to all railway workers

Influential Labor Unions

Protest A mass refusal of employees to perform work Strike breaking- government troops broke up

strikes

Strike

Railroad strikes, 1877. Cause : response to cuts in workers’ wages. Effects: set the scene for violent strikes to come

Haymarket Square, 1886. Cause : Part of a campaign to achieve an eight- hour workday. Effect: Americans became wary of labor unions; the Knights of Labor were blamed for the riot and membership declined.

Homestead Strike, 1892. Cause: Economic depression led to cuts in steelworkers wages. Effect: After losing the standoff, steelworker unions lost power throughout the country.

Pullman Strike, 1893. Cause: Wages cut without a decrease in the cost of living in the company town. Effect: Employers used to courts to limit the influence of unions.

Major Strikes

A boycott is a form of consumer activism involving the act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons.

Boycott

12 hour work days May 1, 1886 thousands of workers mounted

a national demonstration for an 8 hour work day

Terrible working conditions- long hours, small, dark, hot, and dirty, workhouses known as sweatshops.. mainly woman, owners clocked work and break hours and fined workers for breaking rules or working slowly

Work Week

Woman and children mainly worked in factories in long hours and little pay.

Woman and children- by the end of the 1800s, nearly one in five children between 10 and 16 worked rather than attending school. Conditions were especially harsh for children. Many suffered from stunted physical and mental growth.

Woman and Children

Pictures