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6.3 Big Business and Labor

This article explores how the development of new business and technology shaped the United States. It discusses the influence of Andrew Carnegie and Social Darwinism, the rise of monopolies and labor unions, and the role of strikes in bringing about change.

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6.3 Big Business and Labor

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  1. 6.3 Big Business and Labor How did the U.S. depend upon the development of new business and technology?

  2. Carnegie and Social Darwinism • Andrew Carnegie attempted to control the entire steel industry • Through vertical integration he bought companies that supplied his raw materials such as iron and coal, and railroads needed to transport the steel • He used horizontal integration by buying out or merging with other steel companies

  3. Continued • His success helped polarize the theory of Social Darwinism • This theory, based on the ideas of biologist Charles Darwin, said that ‘natural selection’ enabled the best-suited people to survive and succeed • This idea supported the idea of competition, hard work, and responsibility

  4. Entrepreneurs • The goals of business owners were to form monopolies by buying out competitors or driving them out of business • John D. Rockefeller used the Standard Oil trust to almost completely control the industry; people referred to him as a robber baron because of his ruthless business practices • In 1890, the Sherman Anti-Trust Act made it illegal to form a trust

  5. Labor Unions • Workers responded to business consolidation by forming labor unions • Many workers worked long hours under dangerous conditions for low wages • Women, children, and workers in sweatshops worked under especially harsh conditions • The National Labor Union was an early labor union that persuaded Congress to legalize an eight-hour day for govt. workers in 1868

  6. Labor Unions • The development of labor unions was a major turning point in the development of industry • Samuel Gompers formed the American Federation of Labor (AFL) in 1886, which used strikes and collective bargaining, or negotiations, to win higher wages and shorter workweeks • Eugene V. Debs believed in industrial unionism, where single industries formed one union • The IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) formed with a radical, socialist concept; unions of all beliefs started developing

  7. Strikes: Violence and Change • Unions used strikes to improve conditions • The Railroad Strike of 1877 forced President Hayes to bring in federal troops to end it • The Haymarket Affair in 1886 killed several people when a bomb exploded at a demonstration supporting striking workers; labor leaders were charged with inciting a riot and four were hanged, although no one knows who set off the bomb • Violent strikes in 1892 and 1894 involving steel workers and rail workers against the Pullman Company killed several • Despite pressures of government action, unions continued to grow

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