The American Industrial Revolution

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Description

What forces led the United States away from its agrarian roots, transforming it into a nation dependent on mechanized farming, heavy industry, and large corporations? This program helps identify answers as it examines the Industrial Revolution in the latter half of the 19th century. Viewers learn about the establishment of the transcontinental railroad and its role in industrial growth, including the rise of the steel industry led by Andrew Carnegie. The emergence of John D. Rockefeller's oil empire as a major economic driver is also highlighted. Further subjects include the great inventors, such as George Eastman, Alexander Graham Bell, and Thomas Edison; westward expansion and the Homestead Act of 1862; the waves of immigration that occurred after 1870; and environmental issues that developed in the wake of American industrialization.