Chapter 6 – The Industrial Age
1877-1900
Causes
• Natural resources – especially from the West
• Work force/growing urban populations
• Money (capital) to invest
• Government support for big business
• Innovations/inventions
Oil
• 1859-Edwin L. Drake
• 1st to use steam engine to drill
• Better source of light
• Better lubricant
Bessemer Process - 1850
• Produced cheaper, stronger steel
• Steel now used to build railroads, farm tools, bridges, skyscrapers
Brooklyn Bridge
• 1883• Steel Cable Bridge• Called a wonder of the world at the time
Electricity
• Thomas Alva Edison invented light bulb
• 1789
• Develops dynamo-produces, distributes electricity
• Allows factories to move away from rivers
• phonograph
Movies
Telephone• Alexander Graham Bell – 1876
• Allows human voice to be transmitted over a distance
• Increased business transactions/worldwide
communications
Christopher Sholes
• Typewriter
• Changed the world of work
Telephone and typewriter created new jobs for women in offices
Elisha Gray
• Invented telephone same time as Bell
• Applied for a patent a few hours after Bell
Age of the Railroads
• More people moved to the plains
• towns, cities are born
Late 19th Century
• Railroads are the most important use of steel
• Government gave subsidies– Grants of land– Money– To help it grow
Transcontinental Railroad
• 1869 – opened up the dreams of available land, adventures, and a fresh start to many Americans
Dark Side
• Many immigrants employed by railroads
• Harsh life
• Bad working conditions
Social Darwinism
• Law of the jungle
• The strong survive, the weak fail
• No government interference– Most people liked this concept because it
appealed to their work ethic
George Pullman
• Built railroad sleeping cars
• Built town for his workers
• Tried to control their lives
Interstate Commerce
• Farmers begin demanding governmental control of railroad industry
• Angry over:– Misuse of land grants– High prices for hauling of goods
• Grange – fought abuses– Court rules states could regulate railroads to
benefit farmers and consumers
Interstate Commerce Act - 1887
• Federal government had right to supervise railroad activities
• Overturned victories won by Grangers
• Faced many difficulties
Age of the Robber Barons
• Men that do anything to achieve great wealth– Accused of exploiting workers– Forcing horrible working conditions– Unfair labor practices
• “Captains of Industry”
Steel Industry
• Andrew Carnegie builds steel empire using new machinery
• Made big use of the Bessemer Process
Philanthropist
• Donated some of his fortune to community help projects:– libraries all over the world– music halls– technology
Oil Industry
• John D. Rockefeller started Standard Oil Company
• Used a trust to gain control of other companies
• TRUST – Stockholders turn their stock over to trustees– Run the corporation
• Many companies joined together
• Horizontal Integration – merged companies making similar products into one
• Vertical integration – gain control of raw materials and distributors (transportation system)
Sherman Anti-Trust
• Illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states and other countries
• Hard to enforce – many large companies reorganized into smaller organizations
• Eventually the government stopped enforcing it
Labor Unions
• Workers were being exploited• 1882 – 675 workers were killed each week in
factories• Wages
– Child .27 per day– Women - $267 per year– Men - $498 per year
• No benefits• 6 day work week – 12-14 hours per day• Unions improved wages, hours, and conditions
over time
Labor Tactics
• Strikes– Work stoppage– Major tactic and successful
• Collective bargaining– Tactic used by unions to win workers rights,
speaks on behalf of all members
• Management Tactic– Use of “scabs” (replacement workers) to
break the strike
Early Unions
• National Labor Union – 1886– Persuaded congress to pass 8 hr. work day
for government jobs
• Knights of Labor – 1869– Popular but failed when strikes were not
honored
Samuel Gompers
• Started American Federation of Labor – 1886– By 1915 avg. work week went from 55hrs to
49 hrs– Avg. weeks wage rose from $17.50 to $24
Violent Strikes
• Great Strike of 1877 – railroad strike that stopped trains for a week, federal troops called in to halt strike
• Haymarket Affair – protest police brutality in breaking up strikes, police/dozen workers died in ensuing violence
• Homestead Strike – steel workers strike, more violence and death
• Pullman Strike – strike against Pullman’s control, more violence and death
Public turns against unions
• Most Americans opposed unions/supported big business– Resented hardships caused by strikes– Strikes caused violence– Would lead to anarchy
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