Print Form
Name
Class
CHAPTER
4
S
ECTION
READING CHECK
Name two inventions that
changed Americans’ lives.
VOCABULARY STRATEGY
What does the word stimulated
mean in the underlined
sentence? Look for context
clues in the surrounding words,
phrases, and sentences.
READING SKILL
Identify Causes and Effects
How did industrialization cause
the United States to become
more involved in world affairs?
1
Date
Section Summary
TECHNOLOGY AND INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
During the Civil War, industries had grown because of the
need to make products more quickly than they had been made
before. Two factors fueled the country’s growth. One was the
vast supply of natural resources. The other was a huge workforce for industries. Many workers immigrated to the United
States from Europe and Asia.
Capitalism is a system in which individuals own most businesses. The heroes of this system were entrepreneurs, or
people who invest money in a product or enterprise in order to
make a profit. This encouraged industrialization.
Government encouraged the success of businesses. Congress
enacted protective tariffs, or taxes that would make imported
goods cost more than those made locally. The government also
encouraged laissez faire policies, which allowed business to
operate with little government regulation.
Thomas Edison received more than 1,000 patents for new
inventions. Edison and his team invented the light bulb.
George Westinghouse developed a means to send electricity
over long distances. Electricity powered homes and factories.
Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone. By 1900, there
were more than one million telephones in the United States.
The Bessemer process created strong but lightweight steel.
This steel made new innovations possible, such as skyscrapers
and suspension bridges. As railroads expanded, they
stimulated new technology. The globe was divided into
twenty-four time zones to help trains set schedules.
To meet the growing demand for goods, factory owners
developed systems known as mass production for turning out
large numbers of products quickly and inexpensively.
Industrialization touched every aspect of American life.
Farms became mechanized. People had easy access to goods.
The United States became more involved in the affairs of other
nations as it grew as an economic power.
Review Questions
1. How did entrepreneurs encourage industrialization?
2. What innovations were made possible by the Bessemer
process?
Copyright © by Pearson Education, Inc., or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
30