1. Industrial America Steel is critical to industrialization – new method for steel production during this time: Bessemer Process – a day’s worth of production before now took 15 minutes. New inventions revolutionized American life: Thomas Edison – electric light bulb Alexander Graham Bell – telephone Railroads continued to grow: Transcontinental Railroad grew from the East and West. Immigrants did much of the work. In the West, many of these immigrants were Chinese. Goods and people could now move on a continental scale. Railroads carried the growing population into unsettled parts of the West.

2. Corporate America Entrepreneurs started businesses and sometimes they grew very large, into corporations that sold stocks to shareholders. During the Gilded Age, some called the corporate leaders “Captains of Industry” because they helped create modern industry. However, others called them “robber barons” because they created monopolies, or used other tactics to destroy competition and keep worker’s wages low. Monopoly: company having complete control over the supply of a product or service.

3. Corporate America Andrew Carnegie John D. Rockefeller Created a huge steel company Donated $350 million through philanthropy Created a huge oil company Standard Oil was broken up by the government

4. Corporate America Pros of Big BusinessCons of Big Business Higher efficiency → lower prices Hire many workers Produce large quantities of goods Lots of resources for innovation Unfair competitive advantage Exploit workers Sometimes pollute the environment Have unfair influence over government policies & regulations

5. American Workers Long hours & low wages Poor working conditions Boring, repetitive tasks Child labor common No job security, benefits or worker’s compensation This leads to the formation of unions, where groups of workers organize and strike to get better working conditions: Knights of Labor – union made up of skilled and unskilled workers. American Federation of Labor (AFL) – group of unions made up of skilled workers (carpenters, welders, etc.)

6. American Workers Sometimes, actions between industries and unions got tense and even violent: In 1886, labor union leaders were blamed for a bomb exploding in Haymarket Square in Chicago. In 1892, striking union members and Andrew Carnegies hired security forces waged war at the Homestead, PA plant.

7. Government Action Believers in laissez-faire thought the government should let businesses do whatever they wanted. However, competition is necessary to free market capitalism, so the government took action: Interstate Commerce Act (1887) – federal law prohibiting railroads from offering lower transportation costs to big businesses. Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) – Federal law meant to stop monopolies form using unfair practices that prevented fair competition.