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 copper  Transcontinental 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 Enterprise  Laissez-faire – “hands-off” – government should not interfere in economy  Supply and demand  Entrepreneurs – people who risk their capital in organizing and running a business

Government’s Role  Subsidies to railroad, road and canal builders  Morrill Tariff  What are tariffs?  What are the pros and cons of tariffs?

New Inventions - helped increase productivity  Alexander 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 Pacific  Grenville Dodge  Irish immigrants Central Pacific  Theodore Judah  The Big Four – stockholders  Chinese 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 Scandal  Construction company  Investors worked for railroad AND Credit Mobilier  Overcharged railroad – investors made millions but railroad almost bankrupt  Investors included many Congressmen

The Great Northern  James Hill - honest  Took no land grants  Wise business moves – trade with Asia  Only transcontinental railroad NOT to go bankrupt

By 1900 big business dominated the US economy Corporations  Can own property  Pays taxes  Owners - stockholders

Economies of Scale – corporations make goods more cheaply because they produce so much so quickly using large factories  Fixed Costs – loans, mortgages, taxes  Operating Costs – wages, shipping charges, buying raw materials  Corporations could operate even in poor economic times

Steel  Andrew Carnegie  Bessemer 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 tactics  Blacklist – “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 1877  Wages cut due to recession of 1873  Strike affected 2/3 of nation’s railways  Angry strikers destroyed track and equipment  Gun battles erupted between workers and state militias  President Hayes used US troops to put down strike

The Knights of Labor  First nationwide industrial union  Wanted 8 hour workday, equal pay for women, abolition of child labor  Supported 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 Women  By 1900 women made up more than 18% of work force  Women 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