section 1- the rise of industry - psych with...
TRANSCRIPT
Section 1- The Rise of Industry
Main Idea: American industry grew rapidly after
the Civil War, bringing revolutionary changes to
American society.
After the Civil War, millions of Americans left
farms to work in mines & factories.
* By 1914, the nation’s gross national
product, or GNP, (value of all goods
& services produced by a country)
was eight times greater than when
the Civil War ended.
Why was American industrialization so
successful?
1. Abundance of natural resources.
* Water, timber, coal, copper, & petroleum
-- Settlement of the West created a large
market for manufactured goods.
-- RRs carried settlers west and
carried raw materials back east
for industry.
-- 1859 - Edwin Drake drilled
first oil well near Titusville, Pa.Edwin Drake
2. Large workforce
* 1860-1910,
population
more than
tripled.
Why?
-- Large families.
-- Immigration (over 20 million)
* Due to conditions in Europe & Asia;
they were looking for a better life.
* More demand for industrial products.
3. Free enterprise system
* Laissez-faire policy by U.S. gov’t.
-- Did not interfere w/ business.
-- Supply & demand regulated markets.
* Profit motive attracted many
entrepreneurs (people willing
to risk their $$, or capital, by
investing it in industry)
* European investors could
make big $$ by investing in
American industry.
4. Government helped, not hindered, business.
* Morrill Tariff - tariff on foreign imports;
made American goods cheaper, more
attractive to buyers.
* Land grants to railroad companies &
businesses; this
further spurred
settlement of
the west and
boosted the
economy.
New inventions also helped American industry.
* Telephone - Alexander Graham Bell - 1876
Bell and his Telephone
“'Mr. Watson -- come here
-- I want to see you.” :
Bell to his assistant.
*Thomas Alva Edison - phonograph, better light
bulb, electric generator, battery, motion picture,
power company for cities, etc…….
Thomas Edison
was the most
prolific inventor
in American
history…….
* Thaddeus Lowe - ice machine (the basis
for refrigeration).
* Gustavus Swift - refrigerated railroad car.
* George Pullman -
sleeping railroad car
* Northrup automatic
loom.
* Clothing industry -
standard sizes,
power sewing
machine.
• Christopher Sholes
Bessemer process
BESSEMER
CONVERTOR
customers for steel
skyscrapers
BROOKLYN BRIDGE
SPANS 1595 FEET IN NYC
Nothing…..NOTHING….contributed to the settling
of the West and the realization of “Manifest Destiny”
more than the RAILROAD!!!
Section 2 - The Railroads
Main Idea: After the Civil War, the rapid
construction of railroads accelerated the nation’s
industrialization and linked the country together.
Pacific Railway Act -1862; provided for construction
of a transcontinental railroad.
* Would connect country from
east to west.
* Mostly built w/ immigrant
labor (Irish & Asian)
The
Transcontinental
Railroad
Meeting point….
Promontory Point,
Utah
Cornelius Vanderbilt - One of the most famous &
successful RR magnates. He built NY City’s
famous Grand Central Station.
Cornelius
Vanderbilt
Dowd proposed dividing the earth into 24 time zones
PROFESSOR DOWD EXPLAINS
HIS TIME ZONES
Time zones were created to make RR travel safer
and more reliable.
Much of the financing
of RRs depended on
federal gov’t land
grants to RR
companies.
Companies would
then sell the land to
raise $$$ for
construction of the
RR.
• The spread of the railroads led to the growth
•1869: George Westinghouse patented air brakes
for trains
•1887: Granville Woods patented a telegraph
system for trains
•Gustavus Swift developed refrigerated cars for
transporting food
•By 1883, 3 transcontinental railroad lines existed
in the U.S.
today’s major cities
grew up thanks to the railroad
“MY KIND OF TOWN”
Some big-name RR magnates were called
“Robber Barons” for their practice of swindling
investors & bribing government officials.
Example of someone who
has been labeled a “Robber
Baron” - Jay Gould, who
manipulated stock values by
practicing “insider trading.”He used information he
received as a railroad owner
to manipulate stock prices to
his benefit.
“Robber Barons”
J.P
MORGAN
IN PHOTO
AND
CARTOON
“Philanthropy”
libraries,
schools
ROCKEFELLER CHAPEL –
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Credit Mobilier Scandal - RR construction
company - greatly inflated construction costs &
pocketed ridiculous profits! Cheated the
stockholders of the
RR company. BUT…
Not all RR entrepreneurs were
“Robber Barons”!
Ex: James J. Hill - took no
federal land grants, etc. He
was honest and smart in the
the way he ran his company.
James J. Hill
Great Northern Railroad
Section 3 - Big Business
Main Idea: After the Civil War, big business
assumed a more prominent role in American
life.
Big business began
to dominate the
American economy!
Why?….
Big businesses boomed because……
Favorable business climate. Ex: Corporations
were easy to form:
* An organization owned by many people;
stockholders own shares of stock,
each representing a percentage of the
business.
* Selling stock allows a business to raise
huge amounts of capital ($$ to invest
in the business).
* It is run like it is owned by a single
person.
Economies of scale – the cost of manufacturing
is decreased by producing goods quickly in large
quantities.
Big corporations could squeeze out smaller
businesses and force them to close.
Many corporations began to consolidate (merge
their businesses w/ others like them).
* Pools - agreements among companies to
maintain prices at a certain level. Did this
practice interfere w/ the law of supply &
demand, and keep costs to consumers high?
The Men Who Built America: Rockefeller,
Edison, Carnegie, Morgan and Vanderbilt
Andrew Carnegie - “Captain of the Steel Industry”
* Used the Bessemer Process - a
cheap way of making steel.
* Vertical integration:
-- Company owns all of the different businesses
on which it depends for its operation.
-- Ex: w/ Carnegie: Coal mines, limestone
quarries, iron ore fields. (He didn’t have to
pay profits to “middle-men” who owned
those businesses.)
Horizontal integration - Company
buys out his competitors! Reduces
competition…does this hurt the
consumer? How?
Ex: John D. Rockefeller’s
Standard Oil had control of 90%
of the oil business in the US.
Monopoly - When a single company achieves
control of an entire market for a particular product
or service.
Trust - new way of merging businesses that did
not violate the monopoly laws. Allows one
person to manage another person’s property.
Tactic to avoid state laws which had been passed
to stop horizontal integration and monopolies.
Increased American business competition
advertising and chain stores.
Department stores became popular:
* Woolworth’s
* Mail order/catalog stores:
-- Montgomery Ward
-- Sears & Roebuck
Section 4 - Unions
Working conditions were:
1. Monotonous & repetitive.
2. Unhealthy & dangerous:
-- Dusty; toxic fumes
-- Heavy machinery w/ few safety devices.
3. Huge gap between rich & working poor.
-- Avg. wage - 22 cents/hour
4. Avg. work week - 59 hours
Early Unions:
1. Craft workers - machinists, stonecutters,
printers, carpenters, etc.
2. Common laborers - few skills, lower wages.
• Samuel Gompers
American Federation of Labor (AFL)
American Federation of Labor
(AFL) -
* Leader - Samuel Gompers
* Preferred to negotiate
rather than strike.
* Goals:
-- To convince companies to
recognize unions.
-- Closed shops - companies
could only hire union
members.
-- 8 hr. workday.
Trade Unions - workers w/ specific skills.
How did companies try to prevent unions from
forming?
1. Made workers take oaths not to join
unions.
2. Blacklists - list of “union troublemakers”-
those on lists couldn’t get jobs.
3. Lockouts - locked workers out & refused
to pay them.
4. Strikebreakers - hired replacement
workers for those on strike.
Public opposition to unions grew…..
1. Courts often ruled against unions’ right to
strike.
2. Public often viewed unions as dangerous to
America:
* Marxism - Communist theory of Karl
Marx…that workers would have a
worldwide revolution & overthrow
gov’ts. Many Americans feared
that unions were a first step!!!
* More immigrants come to US
more nativism increased
dislike of unions.
socialism
• The International Workers of the World (IWW) or Wobblies
PROMOTIONAL
POSTER FOR THE IWW
3. Police & army
used to break
up unions’violence &
bloodshed!
Great Railroad
Strike of 1877 -Workers for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad struck to protest wage cutsOther rail workers across the country struck in sympathy Federal troops were called in to end the strike – over 100 people died
Knights of Labor - First national union. Their
goals were:
* 8 hr. workday
* Equal pay for women
* End to child labor
* Arbitration - a third party
negotiates a deal.
Terence Powderly
May 4, 1886
• A bomb exploded near the police line
Andrew Carnegie
• Detectives and strikers clashed – 3 detectives and 9 strikers died
Pullman Company
strike 1894
•Eugene Debs
•Pullman hired scabs and fired the strikers
By 1900 - women were 18% of national
workforce.
*1/3 - domestic workers
*1/3 - teachers, nurses, sales clerks,
secretaries
*1/3 - industrial workers…BUT…
Women were paid
less than men for the
same jobs!
• Employers often forbade union meetings
sign “Yellow Dog Contracts,”
the AFL had over 2 million members by 1914