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

HISTORY OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY

Lesson 3

HISTORY OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY

This activity allows you to become an active historian of an industry or business enterprise of your choice. If the community in which you live or a nearby city has such an enterprise that grew substantially in the latter part of the nineteenth century, you may wish to explore its development, using data available locally. Your task is to present evidence that the following three major themes interacted between 1865 and 1900:

1. America was changing from an agrarian society to an industrial one.
2. Population was shifting from rural areas to cities.
3. Huge numbers of people were emigrating from Europe and Asia to the United States.

1. Select a local company or one from a list provided by your teacher which had its origins prior to or during the years 1865-1900.

2. Describe its growth between 1865 and 1900 in terms of the following:
   1. number of employees
   2. gross earnings
   3. capital investment
   4. value of stock (if any) and shares outstanding
   5. plant expansion
   6. labor contracts
   7. extent of market
   8. impact on the local economy
   9. diversification of product
   10. working conditions

3. Describe the impact (if any) that governmental regulation had on its growth.

4. Using all the technologies available to you, present these data in a portfolio that contains a sufficient variety of materials so that students of differing interests and achievement will understand how your business demonstrates the interplay among the three themes mentioned in the introduction to the assignment.