• Industry expanded after the Civil War

• By the 1900’s the US was the world’s leading industrial nation

• By 1914 the GNP (Gross National Product) was 8x greater than post Civil-War

• Why was America such a great industrial power?Natural resources such as water, timber, coal,

iron, and copperTranscontinental railroad – took settlers and

miners to the West and brought resources to factories in the East

New resource- oil (needed for kerosene)First oil well drilled by Edwin Drake in PA in

1859

A large workforce – between 1860 and 1910 US population tripled

Immigration (about 20 million) and natural increase (large families)

• Free EnterpriseLaissez-faire – “hands-off” – government

should not interfere in economySupply and demandEntrepreneurs – people who risk their capital

in organizing and running a business

• Government’s RoleSubsidies to railroad, road and canal buildersMorrill Tariff What are tariffs?What are the pros and cons of tariffs?

• New Inventions - helped increase productivityAlexander Graham

Bell - telephone Thomas Edison – light

bulb, electric generator Ice machine,

refrigerated rail cars, sewing machine, mass-produced shoes, ready-made clothing

• Railroad construction expanded after Civil War

• 1862 Pacific Railway Act – construction of first transcontinental railroad (union of Union Pacific and Central Pacific) – land grants

• Union PacificGrenville Dodge Irish immigrants

• Central PacificTheodore JudahThe Big Four –

stockholdersChinese workers

• Railroads spurred growth and increased markets

• Railroad consolidation – small lines linked together

• Cornelius Vanderbilt – Grand Central Station

• The Time Zones

• National system benefits Lower shipping costs Helped unite

American people

• Robber Barons Wealthy railroad

entrepreneurs accused of bribes, cheating, swindling investors

Jay Gould – insider trading

• The Credit Mobilier ScandalConstruction company Investors worked for

railroad AND Credit Mobilier

Overcharged railroad – investors made millions but railroad almost bankrupt

Investors included many Congressmen

• The Great NorthernJames Hill - honestTook no land grantsWise business moves

– trade with AsiaOnly transcontinental

railroad NOT to go bankrupt

• By 1900 big business dominated the US economy

• Corporations Can own propertyPays taxesOwners - stockholders

• Economies of Scale – corporations make goods more cheaply because they produce so much so quickly using large factoriesFixed Costs – loans, mortgages, taxesOperating Costs – wages, shipping charges,

buying raw materialsCorporations could operate even in poor

economic times

• Steel Andrew CarnegieBessemer Process –

cheap production of steel

• Vertical Integration – company owns all of the businesses on which it depends for its operations

• Horizontal Integration – combining many companies making the same thing into one large corporation

Bob’s Oil & Gas Corporation

• Monopoly – a single company controls an entire market

• Monopolies feared – belief they could charge whatever they want

• Trusts – a way of merging businesses that did not violate laws against owning other companies

• Holding Companies – do not produce anything themselves but owns controlling stocks of companies that do

• Vast array of products caused rise of retailers who market and sell goods

• Advertising• Department stores• Chain stores• Catalog sales (Sears)

• Unions – workers organize to gain better working conditions Trade Unions – unions

limited to people with specific skills

Industrial Unions – united all craft workers and common laborers in a particular industry

Strike – workers refuse to work unless demands met

• Anti-union tacticsBlacklist –

“troublemaker” who would not be hired

Strikebreaker – replacement workers hired by management

Lockout – Companies lock workers out and refuse to pay them

• Marxism – class struggle between workers and owners

• Anarchism – society does not need government

• The Great Railroad Strike of 1877Wages cut due to recession of 1873Strike affected 2/3 of nation’s railwaysAngry strikers destroyed track and equipmentGun battles erupted between workers and

state militiasPresident Hayes used US troops to put down

strike

• The Knights of LaborFirst nationwide industrial unionWanted 8 hour workday, equal pay for

women, abolition of child laborSupported arbitration – an impartial third party

helps negotiate between workers and management

• Haymarket Riot Strikers and anarchists

met in Haymarket square for speeches

Someone threw bomb and police opened fire and workers fired back (11 dead)

Riot damaged reputation of Knights of Labor

• The Pullman Strike Workers required to live in

company town / buy from company stores

1873 recession caused wages to drop

Strike began when company fired complaining workers

Strike put down by US troops sent by President Cleveland

• Working WomenBy 1900 women made up more than 18% of

work forceWomen did “women’s jobs” such as domestic

servants (1/3), teachers, nurses, sales clerks, and secretaries (1/3), light industrial workers (1/3)

Women paid less than men Most unions excluded women