Notes Industrial Nation, Urban America, & Gilded Age
An Industrial Nation-Gilded Age
I. The Second Industrial Revolution (period of explosive growth in American Manufacturing in the late 1800’s facilitated by natural resources, cheap labor, high tariffs, national transportation and new technology)
A. Gross national product (GNP)-#
B. New Forms of Energy
1. Dr. Silliman discovered how to refine crude oil into kerosene (1855)
a. Byproduct of refining is gasoline
b. New demand and exploration of oil
2. Edwin Drake-#
C. Electric light and power
1. Thomas Edison-#
2. Lewis Latimer-#
3. George Westinghouse- #
D. Advances in Communication
1. Telegraph (1844)
2. Alexander Graham Bell-#
E. Trans-Continental Railroad-RR that extended from coast to coast began in 1862 and finished on May 10, 1869.
1. Pacific Railroad Act#
2. Central Pacific built eastward (Leland Stanford)#
-Large Chinese labor force
3. Union Pacific built westward (Grenville Dodge)#
-Golden Spike-Leland Stanford, Promontory Point, Utah 5/10/1869
4. Developments of the RR
a. Standardization
b. Time Zones
c. Cornelius Vanderbilt-#
5. Benefits to business-faster, lower cost of production, national markets, model of business, stimulation of other industries
6. Credit Mobilier scandal-#
F. Steel – mixture of iron, heated and mixed with other metals to strengthen the material
-Bessemer Process-#
G. Automobiles and Planes
1. Nikolaus Otto-1st engine powered by gasoline 1876
2. Karl Benz-first practical motor car in 1885
3. 1893 Charles and James Duryea#
4. Ford Model-T 1908
5. Orville and Wilbur Wright (December 17, 1903) #
H. Economic impact
II. The Growth of Big Business
A. The Growth of Big Business
1. Laissez-faire * (free enterprise) #
2. Entrepreneurs #
3. Corporations #
4. Stockholders & Stock#
5. Economies of Scale#
B. New organizations of Businesses (consolidating)
a. Pools#
b. Monopoly-#
C. Business Leaders
1. Carnegie Steel-Founded Steel plants in Pittsburg and used
-vertical integration #
2. Rockefeller Standard Oil Trust-Ohio
a. Horizontal Integration-#
b. Trust-#
c. Holding company-#
d. Investment bankers-buy and sell stock in holding companies
D. Robber Barons or Captains of Industry
1. Robber Barons-implied built fortune by stealing from the public
2. Captains of Industry-served nation in positive way
3. Social Darwinism-#
4. Philanthropy-#
E. Government Response
III. Industrial Workers
A. The new workplace
1. Workers unskilled
2. Piecework-paid by the piece
3. Sweatshop-employees worked long hours at low wages and under poor working conditions
4. Division of Labor-dividing work in to one small task that is done over and over again to increase volume
5. Management focused on cutting cost saw workers as parts of a system
6. Factories ruled by clock, fined workers or fired for working too slow, being late or talking
7. Unsafe machinery & no workman’s compensation
8. Working Families-worked 6 days a week usually twelve hour days, some children as young an as 6-7 working
B. Labor Unions-organizations that formed among workers to improve working conditions
1. collective bargaining (union leaders would negotiate on the behalf of all for better pay)
2. The Knights of Labor- (1869) (Terrance Powderly) #
3. American Federation of Labor (AFL)-1886 (Samuel Gompers) #
C. Employers tried to break unions by firing, forbidding meetings, yellow dog contracts, refusing to collective barging, & blacklisting
D. Strikes against Entrepreneurs
1. Great Railroad Strike-#
2. Haymarket Riot-5/86 #
3. The Homestead Strike-1892 #
4. The Pullman Strike (1894)-#
Immigration
IV. Immigrant#
A. Why they came (Emigrate)
1. Push
-Pogrom-#
2. Pull
B. How they came
-Steerage-large open area beneath the ships deck
C. Arriving in America
1. 1865-1890-New Germany, Central Europe, Ireland, and England (old)
2. 1890-1920-Italians, Greeks, Slaves, and Russians (new)
D. European Immigrants
1. Ellis Island
2. Cities-Ethnic Groups#
-Restrictive Covenants-agreements among homeowners not to sell to certain groups
E. Asian Immigrants (San Francisco) Angel Island
1. Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882-#
2. Japanese immigrants and the Gentleman’s agreement 1907-#
F. Immigrants from Mexico
G. Nativism-# (2nd major wave)
-Anti-Catholicism#
Urban America
V. Challenge of the Cities
A. Expanding Cities
1. Elevators-1st in 1852
2. Skyscrappers-1885 Chicago 10 stories (Home Insurance building)
B. How Cities grew
C. Cities began to be divided by class
1. High Society-#
2. Middle Class-#
3. Working Class-#
D. Living Conditions
1. Tenements-#
E. Urban Problems
1. Crime & Pollution#
2. Jacob Riis-How the Other Half Lives#
F. City politics
1. Political Machines-#
2. Boss-#
3. graft-#
4. The Tweed Ring-(Tammany Hall)-#
Gilded Age-The golden wealth of the nation masked corruption and greed-Mark Twain & Charles Warner
I. Idea of Individualism
A. individualism-#
B. Social Darwinism
C. Realism-#
D. Popular culture-
1. Sports-baseball
2. Saloons
3. Amusement parks
4. Vaudeville and ragtime
II. Washington politics
- Spoils System-used since 1820’s rewarded political supporters’ government jobs (despite qualifications)
III. Presidents
A. Rutherford B. Hayes-(77-81) Compromise of 1877-Civil service jobs (government workers who are hired not elected) be based on merit instead of graft
B. James Garfield-elected in (81)- (halfbreed) # shot by Charles Guiteu (a frustrated federal job seeker)
C. Chester Arthur-(81-85) Garfield’s V.P. (Stalwart) #
-Pendleton Civil Service Act-(1883) #
D. Grover Cleveland-(85-89 & 93-97) 1st Democrat since the Civil War (President elected to two non-consecutive terms)
1. Mugwumps-#
2. Interstate Commerce Act-created ICC#
E. Benjamin Harrison-elected by Electoral College in 1888 on a protectionist platform,
1. McKinley Tariff –#
2. Sherman Antitrust Act#
F. William McKinley-elected in 1896, defeated William Bryan (Front Porch Campaign)(shot in 1901 by Leon Czolgosz, anarchist)