Workers Workers no longer had to spend years learning to do a job. –A few easy skills to run a machine. Skilled workers had a hard time finding work. Women and kids could learn these skills, and worked cheaper than men. As cities grew, a middle class grew. –Did not work in factories, but provided services. –Doctors, lawyers, bankers, grocers.

Business Methods Capitalism – Private citizens owned the factors of production and used them to make a profit. –Land, Labor, Capital ($). During the IR, factory owners controlled all three. Capitalists came up with neat ideas to help keep costs down and make lots of money.

Originally, all machines were handmade. –If a part broke, a new part had to be made. Owners adopted interchangable parts. –Parts would be mass produced and could be switched between machines. Henry Ford invented the assembly line. –Products moved down a conveyor belt. –Each worker did one job on the product. –Fast production. –Unskilled labor – paid very little.

Henry Ford

Brand new Ford Model T - $ “You can have any color you want, as long as it is black.”

Entrepreneur – Person who risks private wealth on a new business. All of the big factory owners were entrepreneurs. Andrew Carnegie – Pittsburg Steel

Bill Gates Donald Trump

Steve Jobs

Corporation – Business where people purchase part ownership in the form of shares, or stocks. Stock sales raised operating capital for the company. Most of the major businesses of the IR started as or became corporations. –J. P. Morgan’s U.S. Steel. –George Pullman’s Pullman Car Co. –Swift and Armour’s Meatpacking Co.

John Pierpoint Morgan

Armour Meatpacking

Monopoly – Where one company controls all factors of production in order to dominate a market. Erases competition, allows company complete control of a market.