1. “The American Dream”
“What is the American Dream?”
(1) In your opinion, “What is the American Dream?”
(2) What do you think about the responses from the video?

2. Write the following questions in your notebooks, in preparation for a short video clip from “America: The Story of Us – Cities” (16:00 – 39:00):
(1) To what did the name “roughnecks” refer?
(2) Two out of five “roughnecks” …
(3) What makes the innovation of skyscrapers possible?
(4) What was the Rogues Gallery, which was made famous by detective, Thomas Byrnes?
(5) Describe the problems of cities, and the efforts of George Waring and Jacob Riis.
(6) Describe Thomas Edison’s big invention.

3. Skyscrapers Become Possible
Elisha Otis – first “safe” elevator
Steel Frame Buildings

4. Tenements

5. How the Other Half Lives
Jacob Riis

6. “The American Dream”
“What is the American Dream?”
(1) In your opinion, “What is the American Dream?”
(2) What do you think about the responses from the video?

7. Horatio Alger stories …
Individualism …

8. Read the selection from a Horatio Alger story, from “The World Before Him” and answer these questions on the PowerPoint slide in your notes.
1 – What major ideas are in this Horatio Alger story?
2 – How does this support the idea of the “American Dream?”

9. How were these men successful?
Generalizations?

10. The West

11. ** Capitalist Revolution
“2nd Industrial Revolution” & “The Gilded Age”
1860s
1870
1890
1900
** Capitalist Revolution
Important things to understand about this era in U.S. History:
** Time of Individualism
Legislation developing the West: Homestead Act, Land Grant Act, Pacific Railway Act
1870’s and 1880’s - Settling the Plains
1860’s and 1870’s - “Rise of Big Business” – Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Morgan, Rockefeller, etc.
1870’s to 1890’s - American Politics / an Age of Corruption & the Political Urban Machine

12. Rugged Individualism: “Success in life is pretty much determined by forces outside of your control.”
Pew Global Attitudes Survey, 44 nations, 2002.
Nigeria: 32% disagree
South Africa: 24% disagree
India: 14% disagree

13. “Success in life is pretty much determined by forces outside of your control.”
Japan: 52% disagree
Egypt: 42% disagree
Jordan: 39% disagree
Turkey: 17% disagree
Uzbekistan; 36% disagree
China: 25% disagree

14. United States: 65% disagree
“Success in life is pretty much determined by forces outside of your control.”
Great Britain: 48% disagree
France: 44% disagree
Germany: 31% disagree
Poland: 29% disagree
Ukraine: 35% disagree
Russia: 36% disagree
United States: 65% disagree

15. What’s the proper role of the state (government)?
“It is the responsibility of the (state or government) to take care of very poor people who can’t take care of themselves.”
% Completely Agree….
Turkey: 73% agree
Uzbekistan: 70% agree
India: 74% agree

16. “It is the responsibility of the (state or government) to take care of very poor people who can’t take care of themselves.”
% completely agree
Great Britain: 59% agree
Germany: 45% agree
Poland: 59% agree
Ukraine: 57% agree
Russia: 70% agree
United States: 29% agree

17. Individualism

18. What do you notice in the data?
% of Workers in U.S. Economy
% of Entire U.S. Economy
Year
Agriculture
Industry
Services
1840 68 12 20 47 21 31
1850 60 17 23 42 29
1860 56 19 25 38 28 34
1870 53 22 35
1880 52 32
1890 43 26 41 37
1900 40 33 39

19. The Second Industrial Revolution (1870 – 1914)
An era of unprecedented economic growth in the U.S.
By 1900, the U.S. becomes the world’s largest economy, producing 35% of the world’s manufactured goods.

20. Growth of Urban America
** The term “urbanized area” denotes an urban area of 50,000 or more people.
** About 82% of U.S. pop. lives within “urbanized area” (Dec., 2010).
1860 – 20% urban
1900 – 40% urban
1920 – 51% urban

21. Age of Steel Bessemer Process … Railroads Farm Equipment Skyscrapers
Suspension Bridges

22. Urbanization
1 Jan The Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883, linking Manhattan to Brooklyn
1 Jan 1885 – Chicago’s Home Insurance Building, called a “skyscraper,” because its top seemed to touch the sky
1 Jan 1887 – First electric street car, Richmond, VA.
1890 – 1 in 3 American live in cities

23. Age of Electricity Assembly Lines Factory Lighting
Electric street cars
Soon, other advances because of electricity

24. Benefits from Electricity
The average work week declines:
69.7 hours per week in 1860 (includes farming)
61.7 hours in 1890
54.9 hours in ** Eventually, more recreation & longer days of activity!!
Reasons:
Electrically powered assembly line
More consistent form of energy & lighting
Multiple working shifts

25. Rise in Recreation Opportunities
Ashley

26. Rise of Popular Entertainment
People divide their time between “work and going home” and “going out.”
Amusement Parks
Vaudeville and ragtime
“Saloon Culture”
New York’s Coney Island

27. Urban Planning
- Creating “havens” in the middle of busy cities to improve “live-ability.”
Frederick Law Olmsted created New York’s Central Park
Daniel Burnham created Chicago’s Navy Pier

28. More Leisure and Snacks
- Susan B. Anthony once said, …
“I think bicycling has done more to emancipate the woman than anything else in the world … it gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance.”
- Bicycle becomes safer …
- Tennis arrives to America in 1874 …
- Hershey’s Chocolate Bar …
- Coca-Cola …
Swift Safety Bicycle

29. Revolution in Printing
- Revolution in printing led to an increase in literacy to 90%
- Various advances in printing …
- Linotype
- Paper from pulp
- Printing on both sides of paper
- Increased proliferation of various print media …
- Mass circulation of newspapers … Pulitzer vs.
Linotype Machine
Randolph Hearst