Name: The Rise of Industrial America, 1865-1900 Lecture Questions - What is industrialization? - What were the factors that allowed the U.S. to Industrialize? -
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What economic, lifestyle, and national changes did the railroads help to bring about? Describe the positive and negative elements of the federal government providing land grants to the railroads. Then, in your opinion, answer the following: was it appropriate for the federal government to provide such subsidies to the railroads? Why or why not? Compare the changes that industrialists Rockefeller and Carnegie brought about that revolutionized the way businesses attempted to control particular industries.
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How did conservative economic theories such as laissez-faire, Social Darwinism, and the Gospel of Wealth prevent government involvement in regulating industry?
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What impact did industrialization have upon the following groups: millionaires, the middle-class, and wage earners?
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Compare the tools that both management and labor used during times of industrial “warfare.” How is the Pullman Strike an example of why it was often difficult for labor unions to not only to exist but often win their grievances?
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Explain the factors that led to an increase in immigration to the U.S. Why were many Americans fearful of immigration? How did Nativists attempt to restrict immigration?
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Provide examples of how cities were changing due to urbanization.
The Rise of Industrial America, 1865-1900 What was industrialization? 1. Production by machine rather than by hand. 2. Involvement of an increasing proportion of the work force in manufacturing. 3. Production concentrated in large, intricately organized factories. 4. Accelerated technological innovation, emphasizing new inventions. 5. Expanded markets, no longer local and regional in scope. 6. Growth of a nationwide transportation network based on the railroad, along with a communications network based on the telegraph and telephone. 7. Increased capital accumulation for investment in expansion of production. 8. Growth of large enterprises and specialization in all forms of economic activity. 9. Steady increase in the size and predominance of cities. What were the factors contributing to industrialization in the U.S.? 1. Natural resources 2. Labor supply 3. Growing population 4. Capital 5. Technology 6. Pro-Business government 7. Entrepreneurs
Business & Industry Railroads Railroads possibly had the greatest impact on American economic life, daily life, and the promotion of the linking of the entire nation. Economic Changes Market for goods Mass production Mass consumption Economic specialization Growth of other industries Coal, Steel Lifestyle Changes Time zones Communication National Changes Expansion of the West National Market Federal Land Grants The federal government, recognizing that western railroads would lead the way to settlement, gave huge subsidies in the form of loans and land grants. Over 80 companies received more than 170 million acres of public land Positives Increase the value of government lands, carry the mail, and transport troops Negatives Hasty and poor construction Widespread corruption Credit Moblier Railroads ½ Protests
Transcontinental Railroads Promontory Point, Utah 1900 Federal subsidies Other Industrial Empires The Steel Industry Henry Bessemer, William Kelly Great Lakes Region Andrew Carnegie Vertical integration U.S. Steel Corporation The Oil Industry Edwin Drake John D. Rockefeller Standard Oil Trust Horizontal integration Trusts Industrial trusts Antitrust Movement Antitrust Act (1890)
Laissez-Faire Capitalism The idea of government regulation of business was alien to the prevailing economic, scientific, and religious beliefs of the late 19th century. Conservative Economic Theories Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations “invisible hand” Laissez-faire Monopolistic trusts Social Darwinism Charles Darwin Herbert Spencer Social Darwinists Social Darwinism William Graham Sumner Gospel of Wealth Protestant work ethic Gospel of Wealth
Technology and Innovations Vital to industrial progress were the inventions that led to greater productivity in the workplace and a larger variety of mass-produced goods in the home. Inventions Samuel F. B. Morse, telegraph Cyrus W. Field, transatlantic cable Alexander Graham Bell, telephone Typewriter, cash register, calculating machine, adding machine, camera, fountain pen Edison and Westinghouse Thomas Edison Menlo Park, New Jersey Phonograph, incandescent lamp, dynamo, mimeograph machine, motion picture camera George Westinghouse High-voltage alternating current Marketing Consumer Goods R.H. Macy Frank Woolworth Five and Ten Cent Store Sears, Roebuck Montgomery Ward Kellogg Post Advertising
Impact of Industrialization The growth of American industry raised the standard of living for most people, but it also created sharper economic and class divisions among the rich, the middle class, and the poor. The Concentration of Wealth 10% Millionaires Horatio Alger Myth Horatio Alger Stories Reality The Expanding Middle Class White-collar workers Middle management Professionals “Middle-class” Wage Earners 2/3 David Ricardo $380 Working Women 1/5 Clerical work Labor Discontent Child Labor
The Struggle of Organized Labor The late 19th century witnessed the most violent labor conflicts in the nation’s history. So common were violent labor conflicts that many feared the country was heading toward open class warfare between management and labor. Industrial Warfare Cheap labor Scabs Lockout, blacklists, private guards, state militia, court injunctions Political action, strikes, picketing, boycotts, slowdowns Great Railroad Strike of 1877 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad President Hayes Attempts to Organize National Unions National Labor Union Knights of Labor Haymarket bombing American Federation of Labor Samuel Gompers Strikebreaking in the 1890s Homestead Strike Pullman strike George Pullman American Railway Union, Eugene V. Debs President Cleveland Socialist Party 3%
A Nation of Immigrants From 1850 to 1900, the US population increased from 23.2 million to 76.2 million, with 16.2 million of those being immigrants. Growth of Immigration “Push” “Pull” Steamboats “Old” Immigrants and “New” Immigrants “Old” “New” Restricting Immigration 1870s Chinese Exclusion Act Ellis Island Nativists 15%
Urbanization Urbanization and industrialization developed simultaneously as two sides of the same coin. Cities provided both a central supply of labor for factories and also a principal market for factory made goods. By 1900, 40% of all Americans lived in towns or cities. Urbanization Changes in the Nature of Cities Streetcar cities vs. walking cities Electric trolleys, elevated railroads, and subways Income segregation Skyscrapers Steel skeleton & elevator Ethnic neighborhoods Slums, tenement apartments Dumbbell tenements Overcrowding, disease Ethnic neighborhoods Residential Suburbs Europe vs. US Suburbs Boss and Machine Politics Political machines Political boss Tammany Hall Graft Boss Tweed Awakening of Reform Settlement Houses
Jane Addams 400 Social Gospel Family strains
federal government providing land grants to the railroads. Then, in your opinion, answer the following: was it appropriate for the federal government to provide such subsidies to the railroads? Why or why not?
