1. Chapter 24

2.  Explosion of new inventions  Abundance of natural resources  Availability of labor and demand for products

3.  1865-35,000 miles of track 1900-192,556 miles of track Land grants offered to railroad companies RR gave land value  Towns with RR grew into larger cities; those without became ghost towns

6.  Transcontinental Railroad Spans North American continent Construction began in 1862 Union Pacific built west from Omaha, Nebraska Central Pacific built east from Sacramento, California Irishmen laid as much as 10 miles of track per day

7.  Chinese workers employed by Central Pacific Railroad  CP RR had to be built over the Sierra Nevada Mountains  1869-TCR completed at Promontory Point, Utah Union Pacific-1086 miles, Central Pacific-689 miles Before 1900, 4 other TCR’s would be built

8.  Steel Rails  Westinghouse Air Brake-increased safety  Pullman Palace Car  Telegraphs and block signals  Eastern RR’s often financed successful western RR’s

10.  Connected nation’s regions together  Generated jobs, new markets and aided rapid industrialization  Stimulated mining and agriculture out West  Helped people to settle in the harsh Great Plains  4 national time zones created as result to coordinate shipping times-1883  Responsible for millionaire class

12.  Credit Mobilier Scandal  Jay Gould embezzled money in stocks from several RR companies  Stock-watering-RR’s grossly over-inflated worth of their stock and sold them at huge profits  RR owners abused the public, bribed judges and legislatures and elected their own to political office  Owners worked together to set prices

13.  Grange formed by farmers to combat corruption  Wabash case-Supreme Court ruling- stated that states could not regulate interstate commerce, ex: trains  Interstate Commerce Act-1887 Banned pooling to control prices RR’s had to publish rates Regulated shipping prices Bettered society

14.  Mass production was refined and perfected  Popular inventions: Cash register Stock ticker Typewriter Refrigerator car Electric light bulb Electric railway Telephone

15.  Andrew Carnegie Steel giant Used vertical integration- see transparency By 1900, produced ¼ of nation’s steel Used the Bessemer Process-transformed iron into steel by extracting carbon from iron

17.  John D. Rockefeller Oil tycoon Considered ruthless and merciless Created Standard Oil Company Used horizontal consolidation Produced superior oil at a cheaper price Both of these men known to form monopolies and trusts  Wanted to gain influence and reduce competition

18.  Many of the “new rich” worked from poverty to wealth  Felt some people in the world were destined to become rich and then help society with their wealth  Philanthropy  Many criticized the capitalists and called them “robber barons”

19.  Herbert Spencer  Applied Charles Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” theory to the business world  Businesses that adapted were more successful  See Greed video

20.  1890  Forbade any monopolistic activity  No distinction between good and bad trusts  Proved ineffective, could not be enforced  No punishment for offenders

21.  Labor Union-group of workers that “unite” to improve working conditions  Late 1800’s  Some for skilled and unskilled laborers  Wanted to combat low wages, dangerous working conditions, long hours, discrimination, etc.

22.  Collective Bargaining  Arbitration  Mediation  Strikes  Scabs-replacement workers  Work Slowdowns

23.  Founded by Samuel Gompers  Skilled laborers  Used collective bargaining

25.  Used both skilled and unskilled workers  Strikes were main methods used  Formed in 1866

26.  Founded by Eugene V. Debs  Promoted government control of factories and railroads=socialism  Skilled and unskilled workers

28.  South remained agrarian despite industrial advances  Standard of living rose  Immigrants swarmed to the U.S.  Women began work in factories and found new opportunities “Gibson Girl” image created by Charles Dana Gibson-became the romantic ideal of the age….”young, athletic, attractive, outdoorsy”

30.  Nation of farmers became a nation of wage-earners, fear of unemployment never far, and illness of bread winner was disastrous