Industrial Revolution

How did the discovery of minerals in America fuel industrialization?

• American companies could acquire natural resources more cheaply.

• The U.S. government could now regulate the mining of natural resources.

• New states, created by an influx of prospectors, welcomed new companies.

• Minerals could be exported to other countries at a high profit

What role did railroads play in industrialization?

• There were many laws in place that helped merchants profit from the railroads.

• Railroad tycoons used their money for many charitable causes.

• Railroads used coal, which was mined in the West.

• They expanded markets for industrial products by making it easier for Western settlers to purchase them

What two factors led to a larger workforce available to new industries?

• immigration and higher infant survival rates

• retired Civil War generals and army regulars entered the workforce

• lower tariffs and immigration from the American West

• urban tenements and widespread poverty

How did Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone contribute to growing industrialization?

• He founded the Bell Telephone Company.

• His assistant, Watson, became a communications tycoon

• His invention revolutionized communication between businesses and individuals.

• He invested heavily in new technologies that fueled business.

What ideal of the free enterprise system wanted the government to remain out of economic affairs?

• laissez-faire

• interregulation

• supply and demand

• commercial advancement

People who risk their own capital to organize and run a business are called

• capital investors

• robber barons

• industrialists

• entrepreneurs

Gustavus Swift's introduction of the __________ changed the American diet.

• refrigerated railroad car

• automatic loom

• battery

• electric generator

How did the Central Pacific Railroad deal with the shortage of labor in California?

• They used Civil War veterans.

• They hired a large number of Chinese immigrants.

• They hired Native Americans.

• They used enslaved labor.

How did railroads spur economic growth and create new markets for products after the Civil War?

• by linking the nation together

• by reinvesting in other industries

• by bringing immigrants west

• by providing railroad land to settlers

What happens when a business achieves an economy of scale?

• The market is glutted by an overabundance of one type of product.

• The demand for a product increases while the manufacturing process decreases output.

• Manufacturing costs fall as goods are produced quickly in large quantities.

• The government steps in and regulates the business as an industrial entity