This document provides an overview of major events, people, and developments in the United States between 1877 and 1920, including the growth of industrialization and big business. Some of the topics covered include Thomas Edison and the electric light company, Henry Ford and the assembly line, child labor, strikes like the Homestead Strike, the rise of unions like the AFL and IWW, muckraking journalists, and business leaders and monopolies like John D. Rockefeller and US Steel Corporation.
Machine Age is a term associated with the early 20th Century. Considered to be at a peak in the time between the first and second World Wars it forms a late part of the Industrial Age. It was ultimately eclipsed by the Atomic Age beginning in 1945. Artifacts of the Machine Age include: Mass production of high volume goods on moving assembly lines Gigantic production machinery Powerful earthmoving equipment Steel framed buildings of great height (the skyscraper ) Radio and phonograph technology