The 2 nd Industrial Revolution A Crash Course

What is the 2 nd Industrial Revolution?

The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a period of rapid growth in manufacturing and industry in the late 1800s. The Second Industrial Revolution led to advances in transportation, communication, and energy sources.

Steel (iron made stronger by heat and other metals) was a very important part of the 2 nd Industrial Revolution. Steel use to take a day or more to produce. In the mid 1850s a man named Henry Bessemer invented the Bessemer Process, which is a way to manufacture steel quickly and cheaply by blasting hot air through melted iron to quickly remove impurities. Thanks to the Bessemer Process steel started being produced in 10 or 20 minutes!

How The Bessemer Process Worked

The impact of the Bessemer process led to the inventions and innovations of the Second Industrial Revolution. Cheap steel revolutionized our modern world and was used for the following: SkyscrapersRailroadsBridges Transportation vehicles ElevatorsWeaponsAssembly lines Kitchen Appliances Surgical instruments Farm implements Tools, Nails and Screws Tankers

What About Oil? Kerosene was developed from oil. Kerosene could be used for light, cooking, and heat. Gasoline was developed from oil. Gasoline could be used to power transportation vehicles. Oil became a very wanted commodity and as a result Edwin L. Drake found a way to pump crude oil from the ground.

What About Electricity? In addition to the kerosene providing light, electricity was also a critical source of light and power. Thomas Edison was an inventor who regarded himself as a pure scientist. Edison Electric is the power plant that Thomas Edison built to help provide electricity in central cities. George Westinghouse developed a power system that provided electricity across many miles.

The Results of Steel, Oil and Electricity…. Entrepreneurs started forming corporations where stockholders owned stock in the company. Businesses started booming! Andrew Carnegie revolutionized the steel industry through vertical integration, or ownership of businesses involved in each step of a manufacturing process.

The Results of Steel, Oil and Electricity Continued…. John D. Rockefeller was in the oil industry and he used vertical integration as well, but was better known for developing horizontal integration, or owning all businesses in a certain field. Rockefeller was also the one who formed a trust, a legal arrangement grouping together a number of companies under a single board of directors.

The Results of Steel, Oil and Electricity Continued…. Leland Stanford was also another important business leader. Stanford made a fortune selling equipment to miners. Stanford helped found the Central Pacific Railroad. Stanford also founded Stanford university.

The Results of Steel, Oil and Electricity Continued…. The boom of businesses caused some problems such as child labor, low wages, and poor working conditions. Business leaders tried to justify their business practices through Social Darwinism, a belief in Charles Darwin’s natural selection or “survival of the fittest”. People started questioning the methods that business leaders used to earn their fortunes.

The Results of Steel, Oil and Electricity Continued…. Critics also became concerned when a trust became a monopoly, or total ownership of a product or service. The Sherman Antitrust act made it illegal to create monoplies or trusts at restrained trade.

The Workingman Machines that were being operated by unskilled workers were was causing a job shortage of skilled workers. Factories began using specialization, or workers repeating a single step again and again. Specialization caused workers to become tired and bored, which led to more injuries on the job. Frederick W. Taylor, an efficiency engineer, published a popular book called The Principles of Scientific c Management.

The Workingman Continued…. In factories, managers influenced by Taylor paid less attention to working conditions. Injuries increased as conditions grew worse, workers looked for ways to bring about change. Workers formed labor unions to help them get better working conditions and better wages. The first labor union was the Knights of Labor (KOL) it was founded in the 1870s and allowed both skilled and unskilled workers to join. The KOL pushed business leaders to provide better working conditions, an 8 hour work day, and to end child labor.

The Workingman Continued…. Another early labor union was the American Federation of Labor (AFL) led by Samuel Gompers. The AFL worked to get better hours, working conditions, and better hours. The AFL focused on organizing individual nation unions, such as the mineworkers’ and steelworkers’ unions. Unlike the KOL, the AFL only allowed skilled workers to join.

The Workingman Continued…. Labor unions allowed for collective bargaining- all workers acting collectively, or together workers had a much greater chance of success in negotiating with management. Most employers hated collective bargaining. Labor unions started establishing labor strikes. Labor strikes often turned violent.

Notable Inventions of the 2 nd Industrial Revolution

Henry Bessemer and the Bessemer Process Thomas Edison and the lightbulb Alexander Graham Bell and the telephone Wilbur and Oliver Wright and the gas powered airplane Henry Ford and the Model T and the Assembly Line Elisha Otis and the Elevator