1. U.S. History and Government
Industrialization
U.S. History and Government

2. Innovations and Industrialization
Edwin Drake figures out how to use a steam engine to drill for oil
Most oil was made into kerosene
Gasoline was a byproduct and often thrown away
Henry Bessemer and William Kelly both figure out how to take the carbon out of iron to make iron into steel (Bessemer process)
Steel could be used on the railroads, for barbed wire, and machinery

3. Popular Inventions Thomas Edison perfected the light bulb around 1880
At this time electricity is becoming safer and less expensive
Now factories didn’t have to be next to rivers

4. Popular Inventions Christopher Sholes invented the typewriter in 1867
Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Watson invented the telephone in 1876
These inventions dramatically changed the way people worked
Impact of mechanization?

5. Railroads 1869, the first transcontinental railroad was completed
Mostly immigrant laborers doing the work to help the nation prosper, Irish, Chinese, etc.
Railroad time
Before railroads, noon in Boston was 12 minutes off from NYC
Railroad expansion helped created a push for uniform time
Established 24 time zones (not adopted by Congress until 1918)

6. Abuses of Power
Railroad companies understood their significance and power
Took advantage of land grants
Fixed prices
Different rates for different customers
Cost more for short hauls than longer hauls
Munn v. Illinois
States could regulate railroads
Interstate Commerce Act
Restored interstate commerce power to the federal branch

7. Big Business Andrew Carnegie Steel mogul Rags to riches
Philanthropy “Gospel of Wealth”
Vertical integration
Own the entire process… (resources, manufacturing, distribution) for one product
Horizontal integration
Own all portions of one step of production
Carnegie actually did both

8. Natural Laws of Business?
Social Darwinism
Survival of fittest
Natural selection
Natural law, government should not intervene
Led to a policy of laissez faire
“Let do, let go, let pass”
Allow the market to rule
Resulted in unequal distribution of income
4,000 millionaires after the Civil War
Millions struggle in poverty

9. Consolidation The issue: a market calls for competition
Moguls of the day sought to dominate the market and eliminate competition…
John D. Rockefeller – oil tycoon
Made all his oil companies trusts (technically separate companies controlled by a larger company)
Eventually owned over 90% of the oil industry

10. Good or Evil?
People were critical of the super-rich, who owned large parts of whole industries and called them “Robber Barons” (insulting nickname for businessmen who dominate their industry)
At the same time, these rich industrialists also started…
Philanthropy - donating money to charity or sponsoring a charity

11. Charitable Robber Barons
Carnegie donated about 90% of his wealth to charity – his money still supports the arts today
Rockefeller helped fund the University of Chicago and Acadia National Park (in Maine)

12. Scorched Corporations
Sherman Antitrust Act
Made it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states
Prosecuting companies under Sherman Antitrust Act was difficult
Additionally, corporations furthered inequality between North and South – South remained agricultural, while other areas boomed

13. Conditions Worsen, Unions Grow
To combat the increased power of large business owners, labor began organizing
workers killed in a work accident each week
Women averaged $267 a year, men $498
Carnegie made about $23 million
American Federation of Labor
Led by Gompers - mostly skilled workers
Knights of Labor - Mother Jones, Terrance Powderly
American Railway Union - led by Debs
Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) - “Wobblies”

14. Strikes
One of the most powerful things a union could do was strike or to threaten to strike…
Great Strike of 1877
Workers of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) struck to protest a wage cut
Hayes sent in federal troops to end the strike
Homestead Strike
Against Carnegie steel
Owner hired “scabs” and hired security
9 workers died…

15. Haymarket Square Riots
May 1886: 3,000 people gathered at Chicago’s Haymarket Square to protest police brutality
Bomb tossed in the crowd
8 people were convicted
4 were hanged
1 committed suicide
Actually turned the public against the labor movement (see chart on page 453)

16. Pullman Strike of 1893 Pullman company laid off over 1/2 its employees
Pullman hired strikebreakers - turned violent, Cleveland sent in troops
Debs jailed
Many workers “blacklisted”

17. Women’s Labor Unions
Women also organized into unions (often barred from other unions)
Most famous incident was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911
146 women died
Public made aware of conditions

18. Response to Unions Employers began to fear unions
Forced workers to sign “yellow-dog contracts”
swore they would not join a union
Industrial leaders used the Sherman Anti-trust Act against labor