Industrial Age of America

The Industrial Age of America is usually given the nickname, the Industrial Revolution. 

This era or age, began in 1807 when the very first steamboat voyage was completed and successful. So for a long time, many years, steamboat was the fastest way to travel, if you wanted to get somewhere that was very far for you to ride in a wagon or cart, or a horse, really anything that would be considered “on foot”, you would buy a ticket and ride on a steamboat to get there faster. 

But all that changed in the year 1869 when the railroads came around. The railroads were way faster than steamboats, sometimes not even in actual speed, how fast the machine would run, but in how fast they could get you to your destination. Steamboats could only travel on water, so while they were fast, the voyages took way longer than a train would. Trains were able to cut across land and not have to make detours if there wasn’t water in ‘that’ spot. 

So when trains came around they blew everything else out of the park. They were not only faster, but also a lot more efficient in traveling long distances. 

Cornelius Vanderbilt lived during this ‘revolution’ and was a very important man during this time. He was a self-made millionaire and most powerful person of his day. His story is a great example of “rags to riches”. 

The reason he was so rich and successful was because he owned the biggest (as of then) steamboat shipping company. And he was doing great until trains came around. Taking a ‘leap of faith’ or making a rash decision he sold off his steamboats and went into the railroad industry. 

Vanderbilt was an amazing man, but like all of us had good and bad character traits. Some of his good traits were these; hard worker, diligent, and he was good at planning and calculating risk. But even with these he still had a few bad traits as well, the biggest one being this; because of his intense desire to be most powerful businessmen resulted in greed and he often treated both his employees and competitors very roughly.

Immigration to America

You must be thinking, “Why were there so many immigrants to America?” Well let me answer that question for you. The reason and causes of the influx of immigrants to America in the late 1800’s was because America was the fastest growing economically and attracted many new immigrants, whether for economic or political, or religious reasons, these immigrants flocked to America for a better life. 

Ellis Island had a big part in the history of immigration, so let’s look at that next.               A small island in New York harbor was purchased from NY state by the federal government in 1808 just before the war of 1812, and a small fort was erected on the island. But in 1890 this island became the main station for immigrants and buildings replaced the war fort. However, in the 1900’s the island was closed due to traffic, or lack thereof, because the U.S. was making it harder for immigrants to gain access into America. This caused Ellis Island to cease being an immigration office.

The American Red Cross and the Tuskegee Institute

The American red cross is a humanitarian organization that extends help when in a disaster, as well as teaches classes on self preparedness. 

The red cross was founded by Clara Barton on May, 21 1881. 

So who was Clara Barton? Clara Barton was the first woman of her time to have a position and pay comparable to that of a mans. She was also the first woman to hold a government job in the U.S. She served in the Civil war as a supplies distributor and later became a nurse, which gave her the nickname, “Angel of the Battlefield”. 

Some of the purposes of the Cross are, to aid in domestic disaster relief, community service for the needy, communication between military members and family, and the collection, processing, and distribution of blood,  as well as help with international relief. 

They also have set up educational programs on health, and development programs. 

The Tuskegee Institute was the first school for colored teachers. It was set up to  educate and teach black men and women to become teachers. It was the dream of Lewis Adams, an ex-slave who educated himself and a former slave owner, George Cambell. But later instead of just being a school teaching just adults it became a college for black adults and teenagers alike. 

Booker T. Washington was the first ever principle of the Tuskegee Institute at the age of 25 in 1881.