What were the working conditions like in sweatshops?
How did economic recessions and depressions affect workers health during the late 1800s, and how did workers respond to these challenges.
These economic downturns meant that many workers lost their jobs or faced pay cuts. Workers often responded by striking, sometimes with violent results.
Why was it important for trade unions to engage in collective bargaining?
Collective bargaining was a key way to improve wages and working conditions.
What impact did electricity have on American homes and businesses?
Electric engines replaced engines powered by steam, making factories safer and quieter. People used electric lights in their homes and businesses, and traveled around cities on electric powered street cars.
How did new technology affect the American diet in the late 1800s?
Refrigerated railroad cars allowed food to be shipped long distances without spoiling. Americans who lived in Eastern cities could purchase fresh food, even though they lived far from where the food was produced.
What were the goals of the Knights of Labor?
The Knights of Labor advocated for a shorter work day, an end to child labor, equal pay for men and women, and shared profits between employees.
What do working conditions at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory tell you in general about the attitude of Sweatshop employers toward their workers health and safety.
Young women worked long hours in hot, noisy sweatshops, which suggests that employers cared little for their workers health.
How did the Triangle Fire affect labor reform in New York and other states?
New York and other states passed new laws to improve safety and to protect factory workers.
How did the introduction of the moving assembly line make automobiles more popular?
The moving assembly line allowed factories to mass produce cars cheaply and quickly. When cars sold for less, more people were able to afford them.
What details show the usefulness of the Wright's "flying machines"?
What role did anarchists play in the Hay Market Riot?
The Hay Market riot took place at the demonstration organized by anarchists to protest the killing of strike breakers.
How did the employer worker relationship change over the course of the 1800s?
By the late 1800s, many employees and employers in the factories did not have a personal relationship with each other.
Why were unions unpopular with many Americans?
They thought that unions were run by radicals.
How did businesses benefit from American inventiveness?
New technologies helped businesses communicate, expand, and produce more goods, often more cheaply than before.
Why do you think Americans responded weakly to the newly invented telephone, automobile, and to the first plane flight.
They viewed the telephone as a toy, the automobile as too expensive, and the airplane as too dangerous.
How did Edison's light bulb and the electric power plant increase the amount of goods a factory was able to produce?
Factories were able to operate 24 hours a day.
What was the importance of the transatlantic cable?
It sped up communication across the ocean and improved the link between the U.S. and Europe.
How did Henry Ford's moving assembly line enable the mass production of the automobile?
It increased the speed at which the automobiles could be built, making cars more affordable.