SSUSH11 and SSUSH12

​Big Business, Labor Unions, and Technological Innovations

By Kimberly Bryant

Open Ended

Big business cartoons from the late 19th and early 20th centuries use symbolism to critique corporate power. What does this cartoon suggest about Big Business? Use complete sentences.

Multiple Choice

What is a corporation?

• the freedom to run a business

• policies that allow businesses to operate under minimal government regulation

• the freedom to run a business for profit with minimal regulation beyond what's necessary

• a number of people share ownership of a business

Multiple Choice

John D. Rockefeller was a(n)

• railroad tycoon

• steel tycoon

• oil tycoon

• politician

Multiple Choice

Andrew Carnegie was a(n)

• railroad tycoon

• steel tycoon

• oil tycoon

• politician

Multiple Choice

What is a monopoly?

• businesses making the same product agree to limit their production to keep their prices high

• complete control of a product or service

• a company either bought its competitors or drove them out of business

• companies assigned their stock to a board of trustees who combined them into a new organization

Multiple Choice

What is a trust?

• businesses making the same product agree to limit their production to keep their prices high

• complete control of a product or service

• a company either bought its competitors or drove them out of business

• companies assigned their stock to a board of trustees who combined them into a new organization

Multiple Choice

Who were key entrepreneurs that built vast corporations changing the business landscape in the early 20th century?

• Andrew Carnegie and J.D. Rockefeller

• Henry Ford and Thomas Edison

• Nikola Tesla and George Westinghouse

• Alexander Graham Bell and Samuel Morse

Multiple Choice

What allowed big businesses to control production and prices in the market?

• Globalization

• Forming trusts and monopolies

• Social media marketing

• E-commerce

Multiple Choice

What was the role of the telegraph operator in sending messages?

• To tap out the message in code
• To deliver the message in person
• To write down the message
• To decode the message

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847 and died on August 2, 1922 in Scotland. He became an American citizen in 1882. He was also a Canadian citizen.

He worked with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing population.
Invents the telephone in 1876

Multiple Choice

What did he invent?

• the telephone

• the television

• the typewriter

Multiple Choice

THINK: What technological advancements supported twenty-four hour factory operation?

• Renewable energy sources

• Internet and digital platforms

• New technologies for instant communication

• Artificial intelligence

Electricity

• Thomas Edison invents the incandescent light bulb (1879)

• Edison did NOT invent the light bulb

• His version was the first that was ready for home use

Multiple Choice

Why would the president have people turn out their light to honor Edison when he died?

• Turning the lights off would make it dark outside.
• Edison did not like the better light bulbs he invented that people were using.
• Edison invented the light bulbs, so turning off the lights honored his inventiveness.
• Edison invented movie projects that only worked in the dark.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is NOT an important technological development of the 19th century?

• telegraph

• telephone

• motion picture camera

• television

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While push factors push people from their homes, pull factors pull people to new locations.
Pull factors are the reasons that attract people to a new place, almost like they "pull" them in. Some examples include:

Job Opportunities: A place with lots of jobs can attract people looking for work.

Safety and Stability: Areas that are peaceful and safe often draw people in.

Better Education: Good schools and universities can pull families to a new area.

Family and Friends: If someone has relatives or friends in a place, they might move there to be closer to them.

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Why do People Move?

Lesson: Immigrating to the US

10/46

Categorize

Options (10)

Lack of (No) jobs

Religious Freedom

Better Schools

War

Poverty (No Money)

Job Opportunities

Better Medical Care

Famine (No Food)

Natural Disaster

Better Environment

Drag the push and pull factors into the appropriate columns.

Push Factor

Pull Factor

From 1880 to 1920 over 20 million people immigrated to the US. These people emigrated from many countries, including Italy, Greece, Poland and Russia.
They arrived on large, fast, steam-powered ships.

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​European Immigrants

Once in the United States, new arrivals were processed through government-run immigration centers. 

The busiest center on the East Coast was Ellis Island, which opened in New York Harbor in 1892. Over the next 40 years, millions of European immigrants came through Ellis Island. It’s estimated that 40% of all current US citizens have an ancestor who passed through Ellis Island in New York Harbor. Many immigrants at this time came from Russia and eastern Europe, escaping war, drought, famine and religious persecution. Many families left Russia due to violent attacks against the Jews known as pogroms.

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​European Immigrants

Immigrants traveled to the U.S. by ship, often taking long and difficult journeys. Once they arrived, they saw the Statue of Liberty, which symbolized hope and new beginnings.

​When they arrived at Ellis Island, immigrants stepped off the ship and into a large hall called the "Great Hall." This is where the processing began.
First, everyone went through a quick medical inspection. Doctors looked for any signs of illness. If someone was sick, they might be sent to the hospital or, in some cases, sent back home.

​Ellis Island Experience

After the physical examination came the Legal examination. Immigration inspectors would ask each immigrant’s name. If the official wasn’t sure how to spell a name, he would give the immigrant a simpler, more English sounding name. For example, the name Wallenchinsky might be written down as “Wallace.”
There were other questions, too: Where are you from? Any relatives in America? Why are you coming? Where will you live? Do you have a
job waiting for you? 

​Ellis Island Experience

Multiple Choice

What was Ellis Island primarily used for?

• An immigration station.
• A research facility.
• A tourist attraction.
• A military base.

Multiple Choice

What symbol did many immigrants see as they arrived in New York Harbor?

• Ellis Island
• Statue of Liberty
• Empire State Building
• Brooklyn Bridge

Multiple Select

What were TWO common reasons for immigrants to be denied entry at Ellis Island?

• Illness

• Criminal Records

• Desire to travel to other countries

Asian Immigrants

At the same time that European were arriving on the East Coast, thousands of Asians were arriving on the West Coast of the United States.

The majority of these Asian immigrants were Chinese.

Other countries in Asia, primarily Japan and the Philippines, also sent immigrants to America

​

Chinese Immigrants

Most came to escape problems similar to those facing European emigrants-famine, overpopulation, civil warfare. (Push Factors)

They were also lured by fantastic tales of the “mountain of Gold” that had been discovered in California. (Pull Factor)

Push/Pull Factors

After traveling for three weeks aboard crowded ships, Chinese immigrants wanted nothing more than to start their new lives in America.

 

Unfortunately, one thing stood in their way - Immigration officers. 

 

Often immigrants would be detained for months at Angel Island, waiting to see if they would be admitted or sent back to China.  

​

Asian Experience

While waiting, some immigrants expressed their feelings through poetry. They carved poems into the walls of their barracks, sharing their hopes, fears, and experiences. These poems are important historical artifacts that tell the story of their struggles.

​Today, Angel Island is a state park and a historical site. It honors the stories of those who passed through, helping us understand the experiences of immigrants in America.

Multiple Choice

What was the primary purpose of Angel Island?

• To function as a tourist attraction.
• To serve as an immigration station.
• To serve as a military base.
• To provide agricultural training.

Multiple Choice

“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the expiration of ninety days next after the passage of this act, and until the expiration of ten years next after the passage of this act, the coming of Chinese laborers to the United States be… suspended; and during such suspension it shall not be lawful for any Chinese laborer to come, or having so come after the expiration of said ninety days to remain within the United States.

SEC. 2. That the master of any vessel who shall knowingly bring within the United States on such vessel, and land or permit to be landed, any Chinese laborer, from any foreign port or place, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars for each and every such Chinese laborer so brought, and maybe also imprisoned for a term not exceeding one year….

SEC. 14. That hereafter no State court or court of the United States shall admit Chinese to citizenship; and all laws in conflict with this act are hereby repealed.

SEC.15. That the words "Chinese laborers", wherever used in this act shall be construed to mean both skilled and unskilled laborers and Chinese employed in mining.”

―Forty-Seventh U.S. Congress, Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882

The above legislation was a direct development of which of the following?

• A desire to balance the numbers of ethnicities immigrating into the US

• The end of an era of railroad construction leading large numbers of unemployed Chinese workers to spread across the nation

• A rapid growth in Chinese immigrant population

• Political pressure arising from strong anti-Chinese nativist sentiments in the West

Multiple Choice

What's the main idea of this political cartoon?

• Big business was not powerful enough.

• Big business had too much control over elected leaders.

• Big business can better serve the American people than the Senate.

Multiple Choice

“Of every thousand dollars spent in so-called charity today, it is probable that nine hundred and fifty dollars is unwisely spent.…The best means of benefiting the community is to place within its reach the ladders upon which the aspiring can rise—free libraries, parks, and means of recreation, by which men are helped in body and mind.…The laws of accumulation will be left free, the laws of distribution free. Individualism will continue, but the millionaire will be but a trustee for the poor.…The best minds will thus have reached a stage in the development of the race in which it is clearly seen there is no mode of disposing of surplus wealth creditable to thoughtful and earnest men into whose hands it flows, save by using it year by year for the general good.”

―Andrew Carnegie, “The Gospel of Wealth,” 1889

The view of the poor in the quote above is most consistent with the ideology of

• Social Gospel

• Populist Party

• Social Darwinism

• Utopianism

Multiple Choice

What was the main reason labor unions emerged in the United States?

• To promote global trade

• To address the nation's growing labor concerns

• To support technological innovation

• To increase worker salaries to match CEOs

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is an important tactic used by labor unions?

• strike

• suppressing protest

• ending collective bargaining

Multiple Choice

Who did NOT build the railroads?

• Irish Immigrants

• Chinese Immigrants

• Ellis Island Immigrants

Multiple Choice

What was the effect of the Wounded Knee Massacre?

• fueled more armed resistance from Native Americans

• end of armed Native American resistance

• additional battles with Plains Indians in the west

• Native groups were enthusiastic to assimilate and abandon aspect of culture

Multiple Choice

What made the expansion of railroads possible?

• The mass production of steel rails

• The development of electric trains

• The discovery of coal mines

• The invention of the steam engine

Multiple Choice

What was the biggest customer of the steel industry?

• Railroad companies

• Shipbuilding industries

• Construction companies

• Automobile manufacturers