OCR GCSE History B (J411) — The Making of America (1789–1900)
You can snap a single stick easily, but a bundle of sticks is almost impossible to break; this is exactly how American industries transformed in the late 19th century.
First, the US experienced a massive wave of corporate consolidation driven by the process of industrialisation. Between 1850 and 1900, the number of manufacturing firms plummeted from 5,300 to just 334 as small businesses were swallowed by giant corporations.
Then, powerful businessmen began to form monopolies to completely dominate their respective markets. The most significant examples included:
Finally, this immense corporate growth led to severe worker conflict and exploitation. During the 1894 Pullman Strike, 26 workers were shot during a dispute against a railroad car corporation. Corporations frequently hired African Americans or new immigrants as strike-breakers, which further fueled racial tensions, eventually prompting the government to pass the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890 to make monopolies illegal.
The skyline of a modern city is defined by towering skyscrapers, but this vertical leap only became possible during the late 1800s.
First, the boom in big business created an intense demand for labour, triggering mass urbanisation. By 1900, about 40% of the US population lived in cities, and the number of urban centres with over 100,000 residents grew from 14 in 1870 to 38 by 1900.
Next, technological advancements allowed cities to physically expand upwards and outwards. Key developments included:
Consequently, this rapid demographic growth led to severe overcrowding and the rise of the tenement. By the late 19th century, 50% of New York City housing consisted of poorly ventilated "dumbbell" tenements that lacked basic sanitation. In one Chicago neighbourhood, these slum conditions caused an infant mortality rate of nearly 60%.
To combat this squalor, the 1890s saw the rise of the "City Beautiful" Movement, which introduced public parks and cultural attractions to improve living environments.
Every time you see a neighbourhood named "Little Italy" or "Chinatown", you are looking at the direct legacy of 19th-century global movement.
Initially, migration to the US consisted of Old Immigrants from Northern and Western Europe, who were typically Protestant and English-speaking. However, post-1880, this shifted to a wave of mass migration from New Immigrants arriving from Southern and Eastern Europe, who were often Catholic or Jewish and faced severe language barriers.
These migrants were driven by powerful push and pull factors:
Upon arrival, this vast number of people was processed by the federal government at Ellis Island, which opened on January 1, 1892, and processed 12 million people over its lifespan. Migrants often settled in an ethnic enclave using the padrone system to secure housing and jobs. For example, Manhattan's "Little Italy" housed over 50,000 residents in just two square miles by 1910, though some migrants were simply birds of passage who intended to earn money and return home.
This massive demographic shift sparked a rise in nativism among established WASP populations. This hostility resulted in discriminatory legislation, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which targeted the Chinese labourers who made up 10% of San Francisco's population.
The end of slavery did not mean the end of oppression for African Americans, prompting many to seek a new life hundreds of miles away.
First, thousands of African Americans known as Exodusters began migrating internally to escape the rural South. Led by Benjamin "Pap" Singleton in 1879, around 6,000 migrants moved to Kansas, a number that swelled to 15,000 by 1880.
Then, between 1887 and 1900, a significant Northern Migration occurred as African Americans relocated to industrial cities like Chicago. They were pushed by the introduction of restrictive Jim Crow laws in the South and pulled by the prospect of urban factory work.
However, upon reaching Northern cities, migrants faced enforced residential segregation, restricted to black-only neighbourhoods by racist landlords. In 1896, the Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson established the separate but equal doctrine, legally validating racial segregation nationwide.
Despite facing systemic racism and lower pay than white workers, a distinct black professional class began to grow. By 1900, the US successfully boasted:
Students often confuse vertical and horizontal integration; remember that vertical is owning the whole supply chain (like Carnegie's mines to transport), whereas horizontal is buying out your direct competitors (like Rockefeller's refineries).
For high-level marks in 'Describe' questions, use sequential language like 'First', 'Then', and 'Consequently' to provide a logical, step-by-step account of urban or corporate growth.
When discussing the growth of cities, explicitly link the expansion of big business to urbanisation; examiners award marks for explaining that industrial monopolies created the massive demand for urban labour.
Use the specific figure of 334 manufacturing corporations remaining by 1900 to demonstrate the high-level 'detailed and specific knowledge' required by OCR mark schemes.
Use the '3 P's' mnemonic (Plessy, Poverty, and Polling Taxes) to easily recall the specific hardships and legal changes faced by African Americans during this period.
Industrialisation
The period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society reliant on mass manufacturing.
Corporation
A large business organisation owned by shareholders and run by a board of directors, allowing for massive capital investment.
Monopoly
A situation where a single company gains total control over a specific product or service, allowing them to eliminate competition and set high prices.
Vertical integration
A business strategy where one company owns every stage of its supply chain, from raw materials to final distribution.
Horizontal integration
A business strategy that involves buying out or forcing out competitors at the same level of the supply chain to dominate a specific market.
Trust
A legal arrangement used to bypass anti-monopoly laws by having a small group manage the stocks of multiple companies as a single entity.
Urbanisation
The physical and demographic expansion of towns and cities, caused by populations shifting from rural to urban areas.
Tenement
A multi-occupancy, multi-family apartment building that was typically overcrowded, poorly ventilated, and lacking basic sanitation.
Mass migration
The movement of a large number of people from one geographical area to another, driven by widespread push and pull factors.
Old Immigrants
Migrants primarily from Northern and Western Europe who were typically Protestant and English-speaking.
New Immigrants
Migrants arriving between 1880 and 1920 from Southern and Eastern Europe, who were often Catholic or Jewish and non-English speaking.
Mezzogiorno
The southern regions of Italy that suffered from severe poverty, agricultural failure, and natural disasters in the late 19th century.
Latifundia
Large landed estates in Italy owned by wealthy elites and worked by incredibly poor, landless peasants.
Magyarization
A policy enforced by the Hungarian government to force non-Hungarian ethnic minorities to adopt Hungarian culture and language.
Ethnic enclave
A specific area within a city that has a very high concentration of a particular ethnic group, such as Little Italy or Chinatown.
Padrone
A middleman who helped newly arrived immigrants secure jobs and housing, often creating concentrated chain migration patterns.
Birds of passage
Immigrants who moved to the US temporarily to earn money, with the intention of eventually returning to their home countries to buy land.
Nativism
A political policy or attitude that protects the interests of native-born or established inhabitants over those of new immigrants.
WASP
An acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, representing the established American middle class.
Exodusters
African Americans who migrated internally from the Southern states to Kansas in the late 1870s to seek land and escape oppression.
Jim Crow laws
State and local laws introduced in the late 19th century that mandated rigid racial segregation in all public facilities.
Separate but equal
A legal doctrine established by the 1896 Supreme Court that permitted racial segregation, claiming facilities could be separate as long as they were of equal quality.
Put your knowledge into practice — try past paper questions for History B
Industrialisation
The period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society reliant on mass manufacturing.
Corporation
A large business organisation owned by shareholders and run by a board of directors, allowing for massive capital investment.
Monopoly
A situation where a single company gains total control over a specific product or service, allowing them to eliminate competition and set high prices.
Vertical integration
A business strategy where one company owns every stage of its supply chain, from raw materials to final distribution.
Horizontal integration
A business strategy that involves buying out or forcing out competitors at the same level of the supply chain to dominate a specific market.
Trust
A legal arrangement used to bypass anti-monopoly laws by having a small group manage the stocks of multiple companies as a single entity.
Urbanisation
The physical and demographic expansion of towns and cities, caused by populations shifting from rural to urban areas.
Tenement
A multi-occupancy, multi-family apartment building that was typically overcrowded, poorly ventilated, and lacking basic sanitation.
Mass migration
The movement of a large number of people from one geographical area to another, driven by widespread push and pull factors.
Old Immigrants
Migrants primarily from Northern and Western Europe who were typically Protestant and English-speaking.
New Immigrants
Migrants arriving between 1880 and 1920 from Southern and Eastern Europe, who were often Catholic or Jewish and non-English speaking.
Mezzogiorno
The southern regions of Italy that suffered from severe poverty, agricultural failure, and natural disasters in the late 19th century.
Latifundia
Large landed estates in Italy owned by wealthy elites and worked by incredibly poor, landless peasants.
Magyarization
A policy enforced by the Hungarian government to force non-Hungarian ethnic minorities to adopt Hungarian culture and language.
Ethnic enclave
A specific area within a city that has a very high concentration of a particular ethnic group, such as Little Italy or Chinatown.
Padrone
A middleman who helped newly arrived immigrants secure jobs and housing, often creating concentrated chain migration patterns.
Birds of passage
Immigrants who moved to the US temporarily to earn money, with the intention of eventually returning to their home countries to buy land.
Nativism
A political policy or attitude that protects the interests of native-born or established inhabitants over those of new immigrants.
WASP
An acronym for White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, representing the established American middle class.
Exodusters
African Americans who migrated internally from the Southern states to Kansas in the late 1870s to seek land and escape oppression.
Jim Crow laws
State and local laws introduced in the late 19th century that mandated rigid racial segregation in all public facilities.
Separate but equal
A legal doctrine established by the 1896 Supreme Court that permitted racial segregation, claiming facilities could be separate as long as they were of equal quality.
