Industrial America

1. Industrial America From Farm to Factory

2. The Gilded Age • Term applied to this era by Mark Twain • Gilded: Covered thinly with gold paint • Twain view • American prosperity during this era was the gold layer • American social ills was what the gold layer was hiding

3. Advantages • America had certain advantages that propelled it to be the worlds leading industrial power • The gov’t supported the expansion of business • America had vast resources • A growing labor supply and expansion of markets • The emergence of new technology

4. The “Big Switch” • Nation goes from the farm to the city • Agrarian to Industry • Not good for the farmer • The worker • Becomes part of the cog rather than an individual

5. Black Gold • Edwin L. Drake • Used steam engine to drill for oil • Made process easier • Oil Boom • Importance • It lubricated the new machines of industry • Will later take on new importance as a fuel source

6. Bessemer Process • Henry Bessemer • 1856: Invents a process to turn Iron into Steel • Wanna know how? Ask a scientist • Invention will revolutionize America

7. Steel • Iron was the metal • Rust and breaks easily • Remove carbon from Iron = Steel • Stronger, rust resistant • Uses • Railroad is the biggest- rails, engines, cars • Barbed wire for farms • Structures- bridges, buildings

8. Revolutionaries • Inventions that make life easier • Thomas Alva Edison • Electricity- 1876 • Christopher Sholes • Typewriter- 1867 • Alexander Graham Bell • Telephone- 1876 • Coast to Coast in 1915

9. Railroad • Transcontinental • New Towns and Businesses • Between 1870-1880 the RR laid 40,000 miles of new track • Farmers • Land grants meant for farmers go to railroads • Different rates for different customers • Granger Laws • Fixed rates • Munn v. Illinois • Supreme Court upholds laws

10. Robber Barons • Andrew Carnegie • Steel • J.P. Morgan • Banking • John D. Rockefeller • Standard Oil • Cornelius Vanderbilt • Steam Ships • George M. Pullman • Rail Cars • Started the first American Company town

11. Vertical and Horizontal Integration • Vertical • Purchase companies at all levels of production • Horizontal • Purchase all competing companies in same industry • All this equals MONOPOLY

12. Scientific Management • Also named “Taylorism” • The author of the idea Frederick Winslow Taylor • Principle idea: Efficiency • Reduce time an labor costs • Each person has a specific job • Think assembly line

13. Social Darwinism • Father of the idea as applied to business is Herbert Spencer • Applies Darwin’s ideas to society • Free competition promotes human progress • Pits society against itself • Strongest rise to the top • Weak perish • Deserve to be poor

14. The Gospel of Wealth • Written by Andrew Carnegie in 1889 • Counteracts the ideas of Social Darwinism • Principle Idea: The wealthy have a responsibility to use philanthropy to help less fortunate • Hospitals • Colleges and schools • Libraries • Arts and entertainment

15. Horatio Alger • Sort of a mix of Social Darwinism and Gospel of Wealth • Very popular during the Gilded Age • Especially with the working classes • Theme of books: • Rising from humble means to wealth • Hard work • Determination • Never forget where you came from • Give back

16. Unions • NLU-National Labor Union-1866 • Won 8 hr. work day • Knights of Labor- 1868 • Opened to all- race or gender • 8 hour work day and equal pay for equal work • AFL- American Federation of Labor- 1886 • Craftsman Union • Collective bargaining- group negotiations • Used strikes as major tactic

17. Unions Con’t • Industrial Unions- ARU & IWW- • Led by Eugene V. Debs • Leading American Socialist • Wanted to do away with Capitalism • Gov’t owned and operated business • 1892- won strike for higher wages

18. Labor Unrest: Railroads • Great Strike of 1877- B&O Railroad • Began July 1877- Stopped rail traffic across country • Ended Aug. 2 1877- Federal troops called in • threatened interstate commerce • Like most strikes at RR it was caused by anarchists infiltrating unions

19. Labor Unrest: Haymarket Square Riot • Haymarket Affair- McCormick Harvester Plant- May 4, 1886 • Rioters gather in Haymarket Square after striker is killed by police • Police arrive- a bomb is thrown- police open fire • Public turns against labor movement • Leads to go’vt intervention in labor affairs

20. Labor Unrest: Homestead and Pullman • Homestead Strike 1892 and Pullman Strike 1894 • Strikers clash with Pinkerton Detectives and Scabs • Both start because of management order pay cuts to some, but not all employees

21. Labor Unrest: Molly Maguire's • Secret society of Irish-American Miners in Penn. • Used terrorist tactics to intimidate coal operators • Will later be crushed by the Pinkertons

22. Labor Unrest: Ludlow, Colorado • Ludlow Massacre • Colorado Fuel and Oil Co. • Owned by Rockefeller • Strike because of pay and conditions • Evicted from company town • Set up camp outside Ludlow • April 20, 1914 • Militia & company guards surround tent city and open fire • 11 women an children killed

23. Breaking the Union • Failure • failed strike would crush a Union • Government • Industries used Sherman Anti-Trust against Unions • strike would interfere with interstate commerce • Public Opinion • Strike led to hire prices for goods • Anarchist conditions