Technological Innovations and Social Changes in America (1865-1920) | Slides Innovation

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Key for Time Lines (1865–1920)

Technological Innovation Time Line

1865 on A general trend of mass production, standardized parts, assembly-line production (that dates

from before 1865) transforms industry and labor and increases the availability of consumer goods.

1869 The first Transcontinental Railroad is completed when the Central Pacific Railroad meets the

Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah. This officially connected the United States by

rail, reducing a journey that had once taken four to six months to one lasting six days.

1874 Christopher Sholes invents the “Sholes and Glidden Type Writer.” The QWERTY keyboard layout

helps typists to increase their typing speed, thus increasing the efficiency of clerical workers.

1876 Alexander G. Bell invents the telephone, which improves business communications.

1877 Thomas Edison invents the phonograph. Edison suggests household uses such as dictation, letter

writing, phonographic books for the blind, recording family members’ voices, and recording tele-

phone conversations.

1878 Edison founds the Edison Electric Light Company, which provides support for Edison’s electric

light experiments in exchange for ownership of resulting patents. This provides further financial

support for Edison’s inventions.

1879 Edison invents the first commercially viable incandescent light bulb through the following innova-

tions: lower current electricity, a small carbonized filament, and an improved vacuum inside the

bulb’s globe.

1879 James Ritty and John Birch patent the cash register, which helps to streamline the retail industry.

1880s Frederick W. Taylor (Taylorism) and the Scientific Management/Efficiency Movement standardize

workflow processes, including time studies and the division of labor, to improve labor productivity.

In 1911, Taylor publishes The Principles of Scientific Management which codifies his ideas.

1880 James Bonsack invents the cigarette rolling machine, which increases the speed of cigarette

production.

1881 Lewis Latimer and Joseph Nichols patent an electric lamp that has an inexpensive and long-lasting

carbon filament. This improvement on Thomas Edison's original design improved access to more

efficient, longer lasting sources of electricity.

1887 Granville Woods patents the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph, which allows moving

trains to communicate with train stations, thus significantly increasing railway safety.

1891 Edison invents and patents the motion picture camera, which makes it possible to record, reproduce,

and project motion pictures.

1890s The Electric trolley replaces horse-drawn mass transit. Frank Sprague is credited with improving the

electric trolley concept, having developed the world’s first successful electric street railway system in

1887 in Richmond, Virginia.

1897 Andrew Beard patents the Jenny Coupler, which allows railway cars to join together simply by

bumping into one another. The Jenny Coupler increase railway safety by replacing the manual proc-

ess of joining railway cars together (Beard himself had lost a leg in car coupling accident).

1906 Ernst Alexanderson builds a high-frequency alternator, which allows radio to be broadcast in a

continuous wave. This leads to the world’s first radio program with voice and music.

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Key for Time Lines (1865–1920)

Technological Innovation Time Line

1865 on A general trend of mass production, standardized parts, assembly-line production (that dates from before 1865) transforms industry and labor and increases the availability of consumer goods. 1869 The first Transcontinental Railroad is completed when the Central Pacific Railroad meets the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah. This officially connected the United States by rail, reducing a journey that had once taken four to six months to one lasting six days. 1874 Christopher Sholes invents the “ Sholes and Glidden Type Writer .” The QWERTY keyboard layout helps typists to increase their typing speed, thus increasing the efficiency of clerical workers. 1876 Alexander G. Bell invents the telephone , which improves business communications. 1877 Thomas Edison invents the phonograph. Edison suggests household uses such as dictation, letter writing, phonographic books for the blind, recording family members’ voices, and recording tele- phone conversations. 1878 Edison founds the Edison Electric Light Company , which provides support for Edison’s electric light experiments in exchange for ownership of resulting patents. This provides further financial support for Edison’s inventions. 1879 Edison invents the first commercially viable incandescent^ light bulb^ through the following innova- tions: lower current electricity, a small carbonized filament, and an improved vacuum inside the bulb’s globe. 1879 James Ritty and John Birch patent the cash register , which helps to streamline the retail industry.

1880s Frederick W. Taylor^ ( Taylorism ) and the Scientific Management/Efficiency Movement standardize workflow processes, including time studies and the division of labor, to improve labor productivity. In 1911, Taylor publishes The Principles of Scientific Management which codifies his ideas.

1880 James Bonsack invents the^ cigarette rolling machine , which increases the speed of cigarette production.

1881 Lewis Latimer and Joseph Nichols patent an electric lamp that has an inexpensive and long-lasting carbon filament. This improvement on Thomas Edison's original design improved access to more efficient, longer lasting sources of electricity. 1887 Granville Woods patents the Synchronous Multiplex Railway Telegraph , which allows moving trains to communicate with train stations, thus significantly increasing railway safety. 1891 Edison invents and patents the motion picture camera , which makes it possible to record, reproduce, and project motion pictures. 1890s The Electric trolley replaces horse-drawn mass transit. Frank Sprague is credited with improving the electric trolley concept, having developed the world’s first successful electric street railway system in 1887 in Richmond, Virginia.

1897 Andrew Beard patents the Jenny Coupler , which allows railway cars to join together simply by bumping into one another. The Jenny Coupler increase railway safety by replacing the manual proc- ess of joining railway cars together (Beard himself had lost a leg in car coupling accident). 1906 Ernst Alexanderson builds a^ high-frequency alternator , which allows radio to be broadcast in a continuous wave. This leads to the world’s first radio program with voice and music.

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1880s–1920 The Social Gospel teaches that Christians should apply Christian principles from their religion to help solve social problems. Until that time, many Christians do not address challenges stemming from urbanization and industrialization. Notable figures include Washington Gladden, Charles Sheldon, and Walter Rauschenbusch. 1889 Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr open Hull House , one of the first settlement houses in the United States. Its purpose is to provide social and educational opportunities for surrounding working class neighborhoods. 1890–1891 Jacob Riis publishes How the Other Half Lives , a work of photojournalism that documents the daily lives of those living in New York City slums. This work laid the foundation for future muckraking exposés of urban poverty. 1920 The Census reports that a^ majority of the population (51.4%) now lives in cities. This represents a major shift away from the country’s rural settlement patterns and agrarian past. Roosevelt’s conven- ing of the Country Life Commission (1908) illustrates growing fears of rural in-migration, as do the lyrics to the song, “How You Gonna Keep Them Down on the Farm?”

Urbanization Time Line

Immigration Time Line

1880–1920 New immigrants from southern and eastern Europe begin to arrive in large numbers, effectively replacing previous immigration patterns that center on northern and western Europe. The new immigrants are largely unskilled workers, many of whom are Roman Catholic or Jewish (unlike previous Protestant immigrants). 1880s on Jewish immigrants flee Russian pogroms (a violent riot focused on a particular group) in large numbers. This contributes to the new immigration. 1882 Congress passes the Chinese Exclusion Act , which prohibits the immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years, under penalty of jail and deportation. This is the first significant restriction of free immigration in U.S. history. 1883 Emma Lazarus composes “ The New Colossus ” as part of a fundraising activity for building the Statue of Liberty. The poem, which depicts the United States as a haven for newcomers, is affixed to the statue’s base in 1903. 1900–1910 Immigration reaches its peak. This contributes to growing fears about the effect of new immigration on American society and culture. 1907 The Dillingham Commission investigates the impact of immigration on the U.S. and concludes that southern and eastern European immigrants pose a threat to American society and culture. The Commission’s findings serve as the foundation for sweeping immigration restrictions in the 1920s.

1908 Henry Ford introduces the first Model T , the first mass-produced automobile. Ford’s desire to produce the Model T in a more efficient manner ushers in the advent of the assembly line.

1913 Ford begins^ moving assembly-line^ production, based on the following principles: interchangeable parts, continuous flow, division of labor, and reducing wasted effort. The assembly line allows Ford to produce automobiles more cheaply, thus allowing him to sell his product at a lower price while still making a profit.

Technological Innovation Time Line Continued

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Intellectual and Social Trends Time Line

1865–1920 Advertising grows and a consumer culture is created. Examples include the Ladies’ Home Journal and the Sears Roebuck catalog. With women now shopping for goods instead of making them, the rise of consumer culture effectively shifts women’s roles from that of producer to that of consumer. 1879 Henry George writes Progress and Poverty , which argues for taxing unearned wealth, George’s work argues that poverty is not inevitable, but is rather the result of inequitable laws and institutions that deny individuals access to opportunity. 1880s on With the geographic separation of work from home, new patterns of family life and childhood emerge. This may involve the idealized notion of separate spheres, in which women and children occupy the private sphere of the home, while men occupy the public sphere of work. 1880s on Boss politics refers to a system in which a boss, who does not necessarily hold political office himself, holds considerable power over a certain political region or constituency. Examples include James A. Farley and Boss Tweed. 1880s on First articulated by Herbert Spencer, Social Darwinism is the theory that competition among indi- viduals, groups of people, and nations drives the evolution of society: Social Darwinism applies the idea of “survival of the fittest” to society, holding that the strongest should survive while the weakest should be allowed to die. This theory is used to justify social inequalities based on the inherent weaknesses of certain groups of people. 1883 Lester Ward writes Dynamic Sociology , in which he argues that poverty can be minimized, or even eliminated, through systematic social intervention. Ward’s thought represents a critique of Social Darwinism, which attributes social ills to the inherent weaknesses of some groups. 1889 Carnegie publishes the Gospel of Wealth , in which he argues that the accumulation of massive wealth benefits society. Dismissing the idea that the government should impede the growth of such wealth, Carnegie claims that the rich should act as trustees of their money until they find its appropriate public use (in Carnegie’s case, this was libraries). 1888 Edward Bellamy writes Looking Backward , a utopian novel that critiques the evils of industrial capitalism and laissez-faire economics, and promotes the notion of a socialist utopia arising in the United States. 1890 The Sherman Anti-Trust Act is the first federal statute outlawing “combinations in restraint of trade.” The Act makes illegal giant conglomerates such as the United States Steel Company. 1890s on New patterns of leisure, mass culture, and entertainment such as baseball, football, amusement parks, and mass-circulation magazines emerge. Popular entertainment draws people from the country- side to urban areas. 1893 The Columbian Exposition , also called the World’s Fair, opens in Chicago. The Exposition covers more than 600 acres and features almost 200 new buildings, based on classical architecture. Its impact on American culture includes technological innovations and the debut of consumer goods. 1900–1910 With workers now having increased leisure time, and with the rise of an urban middle-class audience, vaudeville gains in popularity. This form of entertainment includes musicians, comics, dancers, ma- gicians, and trained animals. 1915 D.W. Griffith directs Birth of a Nation , a silent film which depicts two families’ experiences during the Civil War and Reconstruction. Based on a propaganda piece by Thomas Dixon called The Clans- man, Birth of a Nation is sympathetic to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. The opening of the film pre- cipitates race riots throughout the country.

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Key for Time Lines (1865–1920)

Technological Innovation Time Line

Urbanization Time Line

Immigration Time Line

Technological Innovation Time Line Continued

Intellectual and Social Trends Time Line