​Industrial Advantages

The Second Industrial Revolution - characterized by increased technology

By the early 1900s, the United States was the leading industrial nation.

Gross national product (GNP) - the total value of goods and services produced by a country during a year

K.W.L. chart

In your notes, as we watch the video, I want you to complete the KWL chart.
What I Know
What I Wonder
What I Learned

​Natural Resources

The United States' industrial success was driven by its vast natural resources including timber, coal, iron, and copper.

Petroleum - it could be turned into kerosene (a fuel used in lanterns and stoves)

The American oil industry began in western Pennsylvania.

​A Large Workforce

The work force available to the American industry was just as important for industrialization.

Between 1860 and 1910, the population of the US nearly tripled.

This population growth created greater demand for consumer goods.

Population growth arose from three sources: a shape increase in immigration, better living conditions, and longer lifespans.

​Electric Power

New inventions and technology increased the nation's productivity, improved transportation and communication, and led to new industries that produced more wealth and jobs.

Thomas Edison - invented the phonograph, perfected the electric generator and the light bulb

Progress Learning

At this time, let's take a break from notes and complete TWO Progress Learning video quizzes.

Go to Canvas to find the following videos:

1. The Second Industrial Revolution
2. Thomas Edison

​Creating Big Business - Vocab

Corporation - an organization that is authorized by law to carry on an activity but treated as though it were a single person

Economies of scale - the duction in the cost of a good brought about by increased production at a given facility

Laissez-faire - economic philosophy that government should interfere as little as possible in a nation's economy

Consumer - a person who buys what is produced by an economy

​Creating Big Business

By 1900, big business operating vast complexes of factories dominated the economy.

Corporations sold stock to finance the business.

With the money raised from selling stock, corporations could invest in new technologies, hire large workforces, and purchase machines.

Laissez-faire is a French phrase meaning "let people do as they choose"

Carnegie and Rockefeller

Andrew Carnegie - Scottish immigrant, worked in a textile factory at the age of 12. He became superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad. In his 30s, he met Sir Henry Bessemer, who invented a new process to make steel efficiently and cheaply.

This became known as the Bessemer process.

Carnegie and Rockefeller

To make his company more efficient, Carnegie began the vertical integration of the steel industry.

A vertically integrated company owns all of the different businesses on which it depends for its operation. Example: Owning coal mines, iron ore fields.

Carnegie and Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller - achieved an almost completely horizontal integration of the oil industry. He controlled about 90 percent of the oil refining industry by 1880!

Horizontal integration- combining firms in the same type of business into one large corporation

Today, we call these a monopoly - total control of a type of industry by one person or one company

Carnegie and Rockefeller

Carnegie and Rockefeller are examples of entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs - People who organize, manage, and assume the risks of a business

​New Business Organization - Vocab

Trust - a combination of firms or corporations by a legal agreement, especially to reduce competition


Holding company - does not produce anything, but instead owns the stock of companies that do produce goods


Investor - one who puts money into a company in order to gain a future financial reward

​Railroads Spur Growth

The transcontinental railroad was the first of many lines built to connect the nation after the Civil War.

On page 349, there is a great diagram of all the railroads built from Federal Land Grants.

To encourage railroad construction across the Great Plains, the federal government gave land grants - a grant of land by the federal government especially for roads, railroads, or agricultural purposes