Transcript Industrialization in America

Chapter 6
After the Civil War, US was
still an agricultural nation
 Wealth of natural resources
Oil- Black Gold- 1859- Edwin L.
Drake used steam engine to
drill for oil
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Petroleum refining for
kerosene huge business in
Cleveland
 Automobile engines drove
demand for gasoline
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Coal and Iron Ore Henry Bessemer, British Bessemer Process – inject
cool air into molten iron ore
removes carbon to create
steel
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More railroads, bridges,
buildings,
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Thomas Alva Edison create
research laboratory in Menlo
Park, New Jersey
Light bulb 1880 and entire system
of producing and distributing
electricity
Power ran machines – electric
street cars and light
Telegraph 1844- Samuel Morse
1866 transatlantic cable
Can locate factories any place not
just near rivers
Alexander Graham Bell -1876invent telephone
Work moved from homes to large
factories including clothing
More garment workers- Prices
drop
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Skyscrapers
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Invention of steel frame- support floors and walls
Invention of elevators
Transit
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Subways or street cars transport people
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Printing
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1890 higher literacy rate, paper mass produced=cheap,
printing on both sides of page, faster production brought
down newspapers prices= higher demand
Airplanes – Orville and Wilber Wright
 Glider with an engine- 1903 Kitty Hawk N.C. 12 seconds
and 120 ft. (2 yrs= flew 24 miles)
Photography- George Eastman
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developed convenient camera with flexible film
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1. How did Railroads unify the country
2. What were the reasons of the demand of
railroad reform?
Made travel reliable and westward
expansion possible
 Nation’s first “big business”
 Federal govt. provided huge
subsidies and land grants
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 80 companies receive 17 million acres of
public land
Transcontinental RailroadDuring Civil War, Congress
authorized land grants and loans for
a transcontinental railroad
 Central Pacific (From West) and
Union Pacific (from east) used
army veterans and Immigrants for
labor
 Railroads met at Promontory Utah
May 10, 1869 “Golden Spike”
 By 1900 four other transcontinental
railroads are completed
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Growth of railroads led to
growth in towns and
established new markets
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Promotes trade and
interdependence towns begin
to specialize in specific
products (Pittsburgh- Steel,
New York-Clothing,
Massachusetts-Textiles,
Chicago- Meatpacking
Time Zones
1869 Professor C.F. Dowd
proposed the earth be divided
into 24 time zones
 1884 international conference
set world wide time zone
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Farmers upset over railroad
corruption
Railroad companies sold land to other
businesses rather than individual settlers
 Railroad companies agree to fix prices
charge different customers different
rates.
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Grange farmers organization 1867
 demand government control over
railroad industry
 Sponsored state and local candidates and
pressed for laws to protect interests (Set
rates) (Granger Laws)
 Laissez Faire? Railroad companies fight
back
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Munn v. Illinois 1877 - Supreme Court
upheld granger laws and government
won right to regulate railroads for
benefit of farmers and consumers
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Establish right of government to regulate
private industry to serve public interest.
1887 U.S. Congress passes Interstate
Commerce Act to regulate railroad
rates
 Only Federal govt. can regulate
interstate trade
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Bessemer Process
creates new demand for
steel.
Great Lakes region
emerges as leading steel
region due to abundant
coal and iron resources
More jobs = Expanding
Middle Class
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What is Social Darwinism?
How did Big Business leaders use Vertical
Integration and Horizontal Integration to build
monopolies?
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Grew out of Charles Darwin’s belief of evolution- to
pass successful traits to a new generation
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Natural selection would weed out less suited individuals
Economist justified doctrine of laissez faire “leave
alone”
 Economy should not be regulated for success or
failure of business
 Individual responsibility of success or failure
Riches were a sign of success while poor must be lazy or
inferior people who deserved their lot in life
 Violates Munn v. Illinois 1877
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Companies form monopolies- complete control over
an industry production, wages and prices (Violate
Adam Smith’s Markets)
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To avoid monopolies Rockefeller sold trusts
 Friends sat on boards of other competing
companies -individual businesses but ran as one
large business
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Large quantities of natural resources and
cheap labor is the key to businesses
Andrew Carnegie enters steel business in
1873 in Pittsburgh
Search for new machines and techniques to
make better products more cheaply.
Attracted talented chemists and organizers
by offering stock in the company
Maintained Vertical integration- bought our
suppliers (coal fields)Transportation (ships
and railroads)
Maintain Horizontal integration- buying out
competitors
Controls most of the steel industry
1899 he manufactured more steel
than all the factories in Great Britain
Resources
Mines
Mines
Mines
Factories
factories
factories
factories
Transportation
Trains/ Ships
Trains/ Ships
Trains/ Ships
Markets
Stores
Stores
Stores
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Edwin Drake’s oil drill in Pennsylvania
John D. Rockefeller Standard Oil Company
of Ohio processed 90% of American oil
reaped huge profits by paying his employees
extremely low wages and driving
competition out of business
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sold oil at a lower price than the cost to produce it.
Then raised prices far above original levels
Did not pass profits to workers or prices for
consumers
Industrialists got the name Robber Barons
Philanthropists- Rockefeller gave away $500
million for good works such as research
Carnegie donated over $325 million
Rich had a moral duty to spread their wealth
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George Pullman
(Horizontal integration)
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Manufactured sleepers and
railroad cars
Also built town which
provided all basic needs
(Company Town)
 Clean brick homes, one
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window in every room
Doctors, shops, athletic fields
Under company control
Residents not allowed to loiter
on front porches or drink
alcohol
Ensure a stable workforce
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Industrial Revolution-Raised Standard of living but
Middle class consumers fear the power of monopolies
Sherman Antitrust Act 1890 - illegal to form a trust that
would interfere with free market trade between states or
countries
 Trust wasn’t easy to define trustees would own and
make decisions for the companies
 Large trusts would quickly divide into a single
corporation
Hard to prosecute
Effects of Industrialization
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Change- from self employed Farmer became the factory
worker
Standard of living increases
Workers life miserable
US looks overseas for new markets to sell goods
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Social Darwinism and Working Conditions
Steel mills demanded 7 day workweek
Most factory workers worked 12 or more hours per day 6
days per week
Employees were not entitled to vacation, sick leave,
unemployment compensation, or reimbursement for
injuries that occurred on the job.
Dirty, poor ventilated factories, workers performed
repetitive mind dulling tasks with dangerous equipment
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1882- average 675 laborers were killed per week in accidents
Wages were so low families could not survive unless
everyone held a job
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$.27 / day child 14 hour day,
women earned $267/ year
men- $498/ year
Carnegie made $23 Million no income tax
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Organize to be recognized- Tactics used
Strikes, Picketing, Boycotts, Slowdowns
Employers fight back
 Large supply of labor
 Fire striking workers
 Lock outs- close factory if labor organizes
 Blacklist -union leaders names
 Yellow Dog Contracts- force employers to sign
agreement not to join union
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National Labor Union formed 1866
 Skilled and unskilled workers
 Craft Union based on each industry
 Convinced congress to grant 8 hour work day for
government employees
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Great Strike of 1877
 1873 depression- railroads cut worker wages
 1877 –B.&O. R&R in Maryland workers stopped
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working
Next day W. Virginia workers stopped working
(500,000 workers join strike)
Federal troops restore services but strike spread to
other railroad lines
Pittsburgh militia refused to stop strike,
Philadelphia militia shot 26 people
Sympathizers attacked militia
support for strikers spread across the Midwest
Federal and local troops broke up strikes but
hundreds lost lives
Violence cause many people to not support
striking
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1869 Knights of Labor- “An injury to one is a concern
to all”
Great Strike indicated that workers would unit to
support others
Included all workers
Abolish Child Labor
 Support 8hr work day,
 Equal pay for equal work
 Saw strikes as a last resort,
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Haymarket Square Riot
May 4 1886, members held meeting in Haymarket Square
 Police attempt to break up- someone threw a bomb kill 7
police officers
 Americans again fear organized labor too radical and violent
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American Federation of Labor (AFL) Samuel Gompers
Most successful led by Samuel Gompers
Focused on Collective Bargaining or negotiations between
leaders of labor and management to reach written agreement on
wages, hours, and working conditions.
 Organized only skilled workers
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AFL used strikes as a major tactic
American Railway Union - Eugene V. Debs included both skilled and unskilled workers
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Unskilled workers easily replaced.
Many strikes turned violent,
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Unions still ineffective because of the stream of
Immigrants who would work for low wages= scabs