Transcript Towards a Modern America

Towards a Modern
America
Industrialization to 1900
The United States
Industries
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The Industrial Revolution began in the
United States in the early 1800’s
Out of 30 million Americans only 1.3
worked in industry in 1860
“By 1900 Americans had transformed the
USA into the leading industrial nation”
In 1914 the gross national product, “the
total value of all goods and services
produced by a country, was growing
rapidly
Natural Resources
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The USA has water, timber, iron, copper
and coal available for industry
Many resources were located in the
West and railroads helped people in the
east to access these resources over time
At this time petroleum was also being
tested
Petroleum was really important mostly
because it could be turned into Kerosene
The American oil company began thanks
to Kerosene
Kerosene
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Kerosene was used in lamps and stoves
Kerosene, therefore, became a necessity
This began in Pennsylvania, as residents
there saw oil coming to the surface
Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well near
Titusville, PA in 1859.
Oil was also found in many other places
such as Texas.
Oil production led to economic
expansion.
It is fair to say that currently, Americans
are addicted to oil.
Addicted to Oil
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Addicted to Oil part 1
Human Resources
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There were many human resources
available in America as well. Between
1860 and 1910 the population in America
almost tripled
This was because people were having
very large families and because of
immigration
Between 1870 and 1910 about 20 million
immigrants came to the United States
looking for a better life
Lassiez-Faire and Free
Enterprise
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In the late 1800’s
people began to
believe in what was
called “lassiez faire”
which means “let do”
For economics this
means that the
government would
not be involved in the
economy other than
to protect rights
Lassiez faire focuses
on supply and
demand
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Lassiez Faire
supporters believe
that competing
companies leads to
better profit, more
efficiency and more
money for everyone
It also focuses on
lower taxes
Also that government
debt should be limited
because money
borrowed by the
government takes
away from the
individual
Entrepreneurs
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American Entrepreneurs are
people who risk their monetary
gain to run a business
These people like building a
business and gaining their own
money
In the late 1800’s this idea helped
to fuel the many industries
especially in New England
Government and
Industrialization
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The problems
between the North
and South continued
into the late 1800’s
The North wanted
high tariffs on imports
Why?
They also wanted
federal subsidies for
companies building
railroads, canals, etc
to the West
The South opposed
internal improvements
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They wanted low
tariffs to promote
trade with other
countries and to
keep the cost of
imported goods
low
The Morrill Tariff
which helped to
heighten tariffs
Success!!!
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By the end of the
Civil War tariffs had
tripled
The government had
given out loans of
$65 million to
construct railroads
They also sold land
with minerals on it for
far less than their
actual value
This led to rapid
industrialization
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The USA became one
of the largest free
trade areas in the
world
The entire USA was
open to trade
The Constitution
forbade states from
banning trade.
There were also very
few restrictions on
immigrations allowing
for such a large
workforce
Immigration
The bad part….
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High tariffs do hurt lassiez-faire ideals
For one other countries raised their
tariffs against the United States
This hurt American companies who were
trying to sell goods overseas
In particular, this affected farmers
The good side was that the hurt towards
farmers allowed others to focus on
industry: people decided to leave farms
and go to factories.
New Inventions
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In 1874, Alexander
Graham Bell thought
of the idea of a
telephone.
He said this to his
assistant Thomas
Watson.
He worked on this
until 1876.
At that time he had
succeeded in
transmitting his voice.
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This invention
changed everything
for business and
personal
communications
How?
In 1877 the Bell
Telephone Company
began.
It eventually became
known as The
American Telephone
and Telegraphy
(AT&T)
The invention of the
telephone
More inventions….
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One of the most
important inventors of
the time was Thomas
Alva Edison
Edison had one of
the first modern
laboratories in Menlo
Park, New Jersey
In 1877 he invented
the phonograph
In 1879 he invented
the light bulb and the
electric generator
Continued…
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He continued to
invent other things:
the battery, the
Dictaphone, the
mimeograph, and the
motion picture
In 1882, Edison
Electric Illuminating
Electric Company
began to supply
electric power to the
people of NYC.
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In 1889 Edison’s
companies
merged and
became the
Edison General
Electric
Company, known
today as GE
Other Inventions and
Inventors
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Thaddeus Love: the
ice machine (basis
for the refrigerator)
Gustavus Swift: the
refrigerated railroad
car
Northrop automatic
loom: helped cloth be
made at a faster rate
Standard sizes made
the production of
clothing much easier
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Power driven sewing
machines and cloth
cutters allowed
clothing to be made
in factories
The same occurred
for shoes
All of this allowed
prices to drop…why
would that be?
Railroads
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By 1900 there would be
200,000 miles of
railroad track in the
United States
This began in 1862
when Lincoln signed
the Pacific Railway Act
that states there would
be construction of a
transcontinental railroad
by 2 corporations: the
Union and Central
Pacific railroad
companies
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Under Grenville Dodge
the Union began
pushing westward from
Omaha, Nebraska in
1865
Many people worked on
the railroads: Civil War
veterans, immigrants
from Ireland, miners,
farmers, cooks,
adventurers, and excons.
There were about
10,000 employees
Railroads
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Life was not easy on
the track. There was
hard work and little
rest
The Central Pacific
Railroad began with
Theodore Dehone
Judah
He sold stock to 4
Sacramento
merchants: Lelan
Stanford, Charley
Crocker, Mark
Hopkins and Collis P.
Huntington
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They became
called the “Big
Four”
They all became
rich
This company
hired about
10,000 workers
from China
Railroads
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The Transcontinental
Railroad part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 5
The railroad also
helped to open up
new markets
People could now
send goods across
the country
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After much of the
railroad was
completed it was up
to the companies to
then connect all the
railroads
Eventually 7 large
companies with
terminals in major
cities and many
different branches
controlled rail traffic
Railroads
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One of the most
famous consolidators
was Cornelius
Vanderbilt
He merged three
short New York
railroads to build the
New York Central
which ran from New
York to Buffalo
Eventually he also
had a rail to Chicago
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In 1871
Vanderbilt began
construction on
Grand Central
Station in New
York
There were some
problems that did
arise with
railroads
Problems…
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Before 1880 people
set their watches
based on the position
of the sun in the sky.
This caused
problems with train
scheduling and
passenger safety
Why?
Collisions could
occur because of
time differences
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In 1883 the country
was divided into time
zones: Pacific,
Mountain, Central
and Eastern
Refer to page 445 in
your book
Railroads were
successful at uniting
people in different
locations
The Land Grant System
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The federal government gave land
grants to railroad companies to
encourage construction
Railroads then sold the land to
settlers, real estate companies and
businesses as a way of making
money to build the railroads
During the 1850’s and 60’s the
government gave railroad
companies over 120 million acres
Robberbarons
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Many people
believed that the
great wealth of the
entrepreneurs of
railroads came from
tricking investors and
taxpayers, bribing the
government and
cheating on contracts
and debt
One of the most
renowned was Jay
Gould who used
insider trading to
benefit his stocks.
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Bribery did happen a
lot mostly because
railroad investors
knew they could
make more money by
taking government
land grants than by
actually operating the
railroad
Many investors
bribed members of
Congress and State
legislatures to vote
for more land grants
The Credit Mobilier
Scandal
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Credit Mobilier was a construction
company set up by stock holders
including Oakes Ames who was a
Congressmen
Credit Mobilier overcharged Union
Pacific for the work it did but Union
Pacific paid the inflated bills because the
same investors were in charge of both
the Credit Mobilier and the Union Pacific
company.
More…
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By the time the Union Pacific railroad was done
the investors had made millions
The railroad however was almost bankrupt
To convince Congress to give the Union Pacific
more grants he offered stock to more members of
Congress at a lower rate
During the election of 1872, a list of names that
had accepted this bribe were given to the New
York Sun
Many were investigated and found guilty
including James Garfield who would become the
President of the USA
The Great Northern
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The Credit Mobilier scandal made people
think that all railroad owners were
robberbarons (people who loot the
system and give nothing back)
This wasn’t true of James Hill
He built the routes from St. Paul,
Minnesota to Everett, Washington on
good land using no land grants
He wanted his route to pass by towns in
his region
More…
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He offered low rates to those who
wanted to move along his routes
He then looked to American products
that were in demand in China and hauled
those goods to Washington for shipment
to Asia (cotton, textiles, flour)
This allowed his railroad to haul things
east to west
The Great Northern became the most
successful railroad and the only one not
to go bankrupt.
Big Business
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By 1900 the USA was booming with big
businesses.
Big business was “dominating the
economy” and included “warehouses,
factories, offices and distribution
facilities”
This was mostly made possible by
corporations “an organization owned by
many people but treated by law as
though it were a single person”
Corporations and Beyond
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People who own
corporations are
called stockholders
They own a share in
the corporation.
The share is called
stock
With the money from
stock corporations
invested in
technology, hired
people, and got many
new machines
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This allowed for
economies of sale,
meaning that goods
were produced more
cheaply because
they could produce
good so much more
quickly
Corporations also
have two kinds of
costs: fixed costs and
operating costs
More….
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Fixed costs are costs
a company has to
pay even if that
company is not
operating
Operating costs are
costs that companies
pay only when a
company is actually
working (like wages)
For big businesses
fixed costs were high
so they very rarely
shut down which is
not the case for small
businesses
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This allowed big
businesses to
operate in poor
economic times by
cutting prices to
increase sales
because their goods
were so much
cheaper to make
Small businesses
that have high
operating costs find it
difficult to compete
with big businesses
Industry itself….
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Many people
believed that big
businesses were
being unethical
They felt that big
businesses were
using their wealth to
get rid of smaller
companies
Many leaders didn’t
like the falling prices
of goods because it
cut into their own
profit
Thus something had
to be done
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Pools were created
which were
agreements to
maintain prices at a
certain level
However, there were
legal issues because
they seemed to be
taking away from
competition.
Also, most of the time
pools didn’t last long
as one member
would slash prices to
try to steel the market
Carnegie and Steel
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Carnegie and Steel
Andrew Carnegie
was a Scotland
native who had
worked in a textile
factory and who
eventually became a
railroad supervisor
He knew that he
could make a lot of
money if he bought
shares in iron mills
and factories that
made sleeping car
and locomotives
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He invested in a
company that
built railroad
bridges and in his
early 30’s he was
already making
$50,000 per year
He eventually quit
the railroad to
focus on his own
life prospects.
Industry against Unions
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Industries were often
forced to recognize
union because the
people involved in
them were workers
that they needed
Owners of large
corporations often
got angry with
industrial unions
because they united
the workers in a
particular trade.
Companies did all
they could to stop
unions.
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They required
workers to take oaths
or sign contracts
promising to not join
a union
Detectives were hired
to identify union
workers/organizers
Workers who tried to
organize a union
were blacklisted:
placed on a list
where no one would
hire them
The rise of Industry
More…
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If workers formed a
union a company
would use a lockout,
they refused to pay
workers and locked
workers out of the
property
If there was a strike
the company would
hire strikebreakers to
do the work
necessary
It was very very ugly
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There were other
problems for workers
trying to form a union
because there were
no laws allowing
them to organize
Courts ruled that
strikes were
“conspiracies”
Often times union
organizers were
threatened to be
called Marxist, a
group that wanted to
overthrow the owners
More….
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In many cases when
unions tried to strike
or form the outcome
was violence and
bloodshed
In 1873 a panic and
recession started
which forced many
companies to cut
wages
In 1877, railroad
companies
announced more
wage cuts
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This began the first
nationwide labor
protest
Workers in West
Virginia walked off
their jobs
Eventually workers
across the country
walked off the job
80,000 workers were
involved in 11 states
Angry workers tore
up tracks, blocked
service and smashed
equipment
The end….
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The governors of some of the states had
to call the militia to stop the violence
In some cases guns were used to stop
some of the workers
President Hayes forced the army to open
the railroad between Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh
Troops were sent to Chicago where the
city was at a stand still from the strike
The troops stopped the violence but 100
people had been killed
The Knights of Labor
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The Great Railroad
Strike was deemed a
failure and pushed
others around the
nation to better
organize
The Knights of Labor
became the first
national industrial
organization
The Knights asked for
an 8 hour work day,
equal pay for women,
abolition of child labor,
and worker-owned
factories
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The Knights that
boycotts could work
better than strikes
and arbitration as
well, when a impartial
3rd party helps to
work out
disagreements
When the Knights
used strikes they
were successful
However, the
Haymarket Riot led to
their demise
The Haymarket Riots
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Haymarket Riots
The workers wanted an 8 hour work day
and decided to strike on May 1st to get
on. One person was shot in Chicago as
a result
May 3rd people gathered at Haymarket
square to protest the death and
policemen showed up
One man threw a bomb at the time
Police shot and so did strikers
At the end 7 police and 4 workers were
dead
Later 4 were executed.
The Pullman Strike
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Americans eventually
created the American
Railway Union
The Pullman Car
Company was based
in Illinois
It required workers to
live in town and to
buy goods from the
company stores.
A 1893 depression
struck and the
Pullman company
slashed wages
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This made is hard for
the workers to pay
rent and to pay for
the goods at the
company stores
In May the company
fired three employees
who complained a
strike went into affect
The ARU stopped
handing Pullman
Cars across the USA
The result
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Pullman attached mail cars to their
cars stating that if they refused
mail cars they were creating a
federal offense
President Grover Cleveland sent in
troops because it was his
responsibility to keep the mail
running
Thus, the strike collapsed
The American Federation of Labor
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The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was
organized by over 20 trade unions
The first leader was Samuel Gompers
He really helped labor unions to be accepted into
society
He didn’t want unions involved in politics
He focused on making small gains, like higher wages
and better working conditions
He pushed for three goals:
 Recognition of unions and collective bargaining
 Closed shops: companies would hire only union
members
 The eight hour work day
AFL
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By 1900 the AFL
had 500,000
members
However, that
was only 15% of
the work force
All unions
including the
railroad only had
about 18% of the
force
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At the beginning
of the new
century Unions
were still
unorganized and
weak.
Working Women
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By 1900 women
made up more than
18% of the workforce
1/3rd of the women
worked as domestic
servants
Another 1/3rd worked
as teachers, nurses,
sales clerks and
secretaries
The remaining 1/3rd
were Industrial
workers
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No matter what they
did, women were
paid less than men
It was assumed that
a women had a man
to support her, her
dad or husband, and
thus men needed
more money to
provide for their
families
Most unions including
the AFL excluded
women
A Change!!!
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In 1903 two women labor organizers
Mary O’Sullivan and Leonora O’Reilly
decided to make a union for women
The Women’s Trade Union League
(WTUL) was the first national association
dedicated to promoting women’s labor
issues.
The WTUL wanted an 8 hour day,
minimum wage, an end to evening work
for women and the end of child labor
Child Labor