8th Grade American History

Section Objectives

Teaching Focus

Activities / Skills

A Technology Revolution

1. Learn how daily lives changed in the decades following the Civil War.

2. Find out how the advancement of electric power and communication affected people and businesses in this era.

3. Discover the effects the development of railroads had on the industrial growth.

4. Think about the impact on the Bessemer process on American culture.

The Growth of Big Business

1. Read and find out why American industrialists of the late 1800s were called both “robber barons” and “captains of industry.”

2. Discover how social Darwinism affected Americans’ views on big business.

3. Analyze the ways in which big businesses differed from smaller businesses.

4. Learn how industrialists gained a competitive edge over their rivals.

Industrialization and Workers

1. Find out factors that led to a growing American work force between 1860 and 1900.

2. Learn what factory worked turn of the century was like.

3. Discover why it was sometimes necessary for entire families to work.

The Great Strikes

1. Discover the impact of industrialism on the gulf between the rich and the poor.

2. Find out the goals of the early labor unions in the U.S.

3. Learn why the American Railway Union was formed.

4. Study the causes and outcomes of the major strikes in the late 1800s.