The Rise of Smokestack America

1. 16 The Rise of Smokestack America

2. The Rise of Smokestack America • The Texture of Industrial Progress • Industrial Work and the Laboring Class • Capital Versus Labor • Strive and Succeed • The Politics of the Gilded Age • Conclusion: The Complexity of Industrial Capitalism

3. Gap Between Rich and Poor

4. The Texture of Industrial Progress

5. Technological Innovations • Bessemer process: iron to steel • Exploited by Andrew Carnegie • Price of steel drops • New power sources • Electricity

6. The Homestead Steel Works

7. Railroads • Supported by state and federal governments • First transcontinental line, 1869 • Innovation in management • Division of responsibilities • Flow of information

8. Railroads (cont'd) • High costs, indebtedness, competition • Worker’s wages cut to increase competitiveness • Low rates, secret rebates

9. Other Industries • Vertical integration, such as Carnegie steel • “Backward” and “forward” integration • Including earlier and later stages • Horizontal integration, such as Rockefeller • Standard Oil refines 84% of oil

10. The Texture of Industrial Progress:Other Industries (cont'd) • Incorporation brings advantage • Raising capital easier • Identity makes a corporation durable • Limited liability decreases risk

11. American Industry and the World • Second phase of Industrial Revolution • Changes in organization • Mass production • German and American industry dominate • Increasing global connections • Worldwide depressions • 1873-1879 and 1893-1897 • Competition > Overproduction > Falling prices

12. American Industry and the World (cont'd) • 1893 collapse • Panic, bank failures • Coxey’s Army

13. Industrial Work and the Laboring Class

14. The New Immigration • New immigrants, 1880-1900 • Southern, eastern Europe • Many Italian Catholics and Jews • Mexicans • Chinese • Most came to work, but with few skills • Blamed for various problems

15. Migration to the United States, 1860–1910

16. Ethnic Diversity • Most immigrants begin at the bottom • Little experience • Day laborers • Blacks suffer from discrimination • Work experience • Workers often segregated by ethnicity • Long working day, 10 hours, six-day weeks • High rate of accidents

17. The Family Economy • Ideal versus reality • Men not always the sole breadwinner • Children often important • Women and work • Almost 20% of women paid workers by 1900 • Limited opportunities • Domestic service • Prostitution

18. The Family Economy (cont'd) • Black women more likely to be paid workers

19. Domestic Servants

20. Capital Versus Labor

21. Protests • On-the-job protests • Some skilled workers had a measure of control • Could control rate of production • Quitting • Strikes • 1877, railroad strike • Many more follow • Owners use state militias and federal forces

22. Protests (cont'd) • Homestead strike, 1892, versus Carnegie • Pinkertons • Federal troops

23. Labor Organization, 1865-1900 • National Labor Union, 1866 – short-lived • Knights of Labor • Originally secret • Open to all • Haymarket Riot, 1886, brings in 600,000

24. Labor Organization, 1865-1900 (cont'd) • American Federation of Labor, 1886 • Led by Samuel Gompers • Skilled trades • Almost 1 million by 1900

25. Strive and Succeed

26. Middle-Class Women • Property rights in marriage in some states • Clothing freer – Gibson girls • Many organizations to join • Education • Smaller families • Higher divorce rates

27. Male Mobility & the Success Ethic • Enlarged educational system • Land-grant colleges • Idea of “career” emerges • Professionalism, specialization

28. The Gospel of Wealth • Idea from article by Andrew Carnegie, 1889 • Reflecting Social Darwinism • Charles Darwin, Origin of Species, 1859 • Herbert Spencer applies these ideas to society • Businesses as competing beings

29. The Politics of the Gilded Age

30. The Politics of the Gilded Age • Parties not distinguished by ideology • Neither risks a difficult stand on national issues • Parties balanced • Gilded Age presidents not strong • Civil service reform • Garfield assassinated before taking office • Pendleton Act, 1883

31. National Issues • Currency – “hard” versus “soft” money • Farmers support silver • Tariffs • Bills to ensure blacks civil rights traded away

32. Political Advertisements of the 1880s

33. Political Advertisements of the 1880s, cont

34. The Election of 1896 • Populists strong • William Jennings Bryan • Push for silver • Democrats choose a silver candidate • 95% turnout • Bryan gets 47% of the votes • McKinley elected

35. The Presidential Election of 1896

36. The New Shape of Politics • Stalemate ended with election of 1896 • Lower voter turnout • Gold/silver debate disappears • Discovery of gold in the North • Industrial capacity at maximum

37. Conclusion:The Complexity of Industrial Capitalism

38. Conclusion: The Complexity of Industrial Capitalism • Transformations • Government-business alliance • Labor unions emerge as a force • New political parties • Cities become centers of change and conflict

39. Timeline