1. The Industrial Revolution and Gilded Age (1865-1900)
After the Civil War, American scientists, inventors, and entrepreneurs, encouraged by capitalism and the government, transformed the U.S. into an industrial powerhouse.
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2. Natural Resources Fuel Growth
Coal Mines
Forests
Farm Land
Electricity!
1859 – 1st Oil Well drilled in PA (Edwin Drake)
Oil replaced whale blubber
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3. Railroads Lead the Way!
As the USA was united by rail (1st Transcontinental R.R. 1869), problems resulted for trains, freight, and people
Solar time was no longer adequate
Time Zones are created

4. The Genius of Invention
The typewriter
Adding machine
Kodak camera
Vacuum cleaner
Electrical Trolleys
Incubator

5. Electricity Changed Lives!
Thomas A. Edison
Phonograph (1877)
Electric Light (1880)
Power Plant (1882)
Motion Picture (1888)
We have had electricity for only 130 years!
Con Edison Steam Station
Lower Manhattan, NYC

6. Advancing Communications
Samuel F.B. Morse used Morse Code to transmit telegraph messages in 1844
By 1900 Western Union was sending 63 M messages a year
Alexander G. Bell’s telephone (1876) led to the formation of AT&T in 1885

7. The Rise of the Steel Industry
Brooklyn Bridge1883
Bessemer Process made steel production more efficient
John A. Roebling’s Brooklyn Bridge (1883)
“Race to the Skies” = Skyscrapers and RR’s improved too
Roebling Bridge (1866)