Crossroads: High School Curriculum
Unit VII: "What, Then, Is This American?" ca. 1865-1900

Lesson 3

Contents

Major Concepts

Objectives

Suggested lesson/activities


Major Concepts:

  1. The United States became an industrial giant due to the rapid development of manufacturing technology, the growth of industrial capital investment, and the expansive growth of the industrial work force.

  2. The industrialization of the United States also led to the formation and growth of a labor union movement, as workers organized to defend their interests; the resulting conflict between management and labor threatened the nation's social peace and harmony.

  3. In this period, the United States was inundated by successive waves of immigrants from Eastern, Central, and Southern Europe and Asia; these newcomers rapidly expanded the spectrum of American cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity but also faced ethnic and racial prejudice.

Objective: The student will be able to:

Develop a portfolio of materials that describe the growth of a business or industry during the latter quarter of the nineteenth century.

Suggested lesson/activities:

  1. The teacher should begin the lesson with a short biographical sketch of Andrew Carnegie, noting the following:

    1. He was an immigrant from Scotland.
    2. His first regular employment was as a telegrapher for a railroad company.
    3. He used most of his first pay to purchase shares in the railroad for which he worked.
    4. He continued to work and invest in this way until he amassed a fortune.
    5. His work with the railroad led him into the steel making industry.
    6. His initiative developed into Carnegie Steel Company which later became United States Steel a large monopoly which controlled the industry from iron mines to the distribution of steel products.
    7. He left his heirs only enough money for essential sustenance, leaving the fortune itself to libraries and other educational institutions.

  2. Point out that Carnegie's biography touches upon all the elements of late 1800s America in terms of the growth of industry, the rise of banking and investment enterprises, government regulation of trade, labor relations, immigration, and urbanization. All of these things will become part of the students' work through the remainder of the unit.

  3. Distribute the "History of American Industry" assignment sheet and briefly explain the expectations.

A Crossroads Resource: History of American Industry

Back to Unit VII: "What, Then, Is This American?" ca. 1865-1900