Industrialization
What Were the Causes? 1.Natural Resources: water, timber, coal, iron and copper all in America’s backyard! -No need to pay more for imports -Railroads take miners west and resources east -and there’s this new thing…
OIL!!! 1859: Edwin Drake drills first well in Titusville, PA Lubricant, kerosene, and eventually gasoline
2. Large Workforce Large families and immigration added millions of workers/consumers between 1860 and 1910
3. Free Enterprise System Laissez-faire (let do) govt. should not interfere Low taxes, low govt. debt, and little regulation Supply and demand (not govt.) set wages/prices
Entrepreneurs- people who risk capital ($$$) in organizing and running a business.
4. Government Assistance Morrill Tariff (1861) keeps cost of imports high to protect U.S. industries (long favored by North) Land grants/loans to RRs and other businesses
Inventions improved transportation and communication networks, increased production and led to new corps. John DeereCyrus McCormick (steel plow)(mechanical reaper) 5. New Inventions
Christopher SholesAlexander Graham Bell (type writer) (telephone) 5. Newer Inventions
Thaddeus LoweGustavus Swift (ice machine)(refrigerated car) 5. Newer Inventions
Nikola Tesla Thomas Edison (Alternating Current) (Direct Current)
Corporation Organization owned by many but treated by law as a single person.
The switch from small to large—really large manufacturing
Industrial giants take over
Economies of Scale Corporations make goods cheaper because they make so much so quickly. Large companies have advantage. VS
Monopoly When one company controls an entire market. Could raise prices without competition.
Andrew Carnegie Gained a monopoly over the U.S. steel industry through vertical integration. Really rich. No, REALLY REALLY RICH
Vertical Integration
John D. Rockefeller Gained a monopoly over the U.S. oil refining industry through horizontal integration. Richest man in America.
Horizontal Integration
Trust New way of merging businesses that did not violate laws against monopolies. Trusts manage stocks of former competitors