How the 2nd Industrial Revolution Changed American Lives

How the 2nd Industrial Revolution Changed American Lives

18 February 2021

Shift from Agriculture to Factory Work

• Farmers can only work during daylight hours

• Farming only happens between spring and autumn (fall)

Factory Work

• No longer limited by daylight hours

• Employees schedule adheres to a set duration

Child Labor becomes a common practice

Jane Addams

• Progressive social worker and activist during the 19th and 20th century

• Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931

• The first American woman to receive the award

• College educated, with liberal Christian values

Jane Addams

• Founded Hull House

• Social Settlement: middle class and wealthy individuals would settle in poor areas

• These houses would provide social services such as education and community activities (theater, day care, music, art)

• Some were religious, but the Hull House was secular (non-religious)

Hull House

• Began operations in 1889

• Italian, Irish, German, Greek, Bohemian, and Russian and Polish Jews

• Later expanded to include African Americans and Mexicans

Product Standardization

• Products were made in a set, unchanging process

• Products were identical, so parts were identical

• This made it easier to fix products when they broke

Railroads

• Made it easier to move to other parts of the country

• Made it easier to ship goods and produce to other parts of the country

Multiple Choice

What was the difference between factory work and farm work?

• Factory work involved working with livestock

• Factory work was regulated by set hours instead of daylight hours

• Farm work had a rigid schedule, whereas factory work was limited to daylight hours

• Farm work involved a strict organizational structure, whereas factory work was mostly independent

Multiple Choice

Who was Jane Addams?

• The wife of President Abraham Lincoln

• The wife of President John Adams

• The patron saint of factories

• A social activist in the 18th and 19th centuries

Multiple Choice

How did factory production change the products themselves?

• They became the work of highly skilled artisans

• The quality of these goods was drastically reduced

• They became more expensive

• They became more standardized

Multiple Choice

How did railroads impact American production and industry?

• It could transport buyers directly to the factories where goods were made

• It allowed goods to be shipped to other parts of the country more quickly, expanding the market

• It reduced the number of workers in factories by requiring more people to work in the railroad industry

• It slowed the pace of life in America by reducing travel time, thereby giving people more leisure time at home