Gilded Age Industrialism and Culture

1. Gilded Age Industrialism and Culture AP United States History

2. Captains of Industry OR Robber Barons? Using four business entrepreneurs as case studies for American innovation, industrial growth, and expansion of capitalism. Cornelius Vanderbilt Andrew Carnegie John D. Rockefeller J.P. Morgan

3. Captains of Industry OR Robber Barons:Cornelius Vanderbilt and Railroads Transportation Railroads Granger Movement

5. The Business of Railroads Rate Wars Pools Competing lines fixed prices and divided business for max profits Grange Lines Midwest farmers dependent on rail lines for shipping High freight rates impoverished farmers

6. Farmers vs Railroads Granger Movement Granger laws Cooperatives Munn v. Illinois (1877) States could regulate private companies if they served the public interest, I.e. grain elevators, railroads Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois (1886) States could not regulate interstate commerce Interstate Commerce Act (1886) Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) Farmers’ Alliance Ocala Platform (1890) Free silver Low interest loan systems Decreased tariffs Government regulation of communication and transportation Graduated income tax Favored direct election of Senators

7. Gilded Age Press and Literature Newspapers and Magazines Sensationalism and scandals Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World William Randolph Hearst’s The New York Journal Editorials and investigative journalism Fiction and Realism Mark Twain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today Jack London The Call of the Wild

8. Captains of Industry OR Robber Barons:Andrew Carnegie and Steel Steel Vertical Integration Urbanization and Cities Gospel of Wealth Labor Unions and Strikes

9. Vertical Integration Carnegie acquired all aspects of steel production Limited competition, maximized profits, lowered prices

10. Bessemer Process Oxidation of iron ore to remove impurities Steel is lighter, stronger, rust-resistant Carnegie and Steel Adopted and adapted Bessemer Process to steel plants Increased supply of quality steel dropped steel prices Abundance of steel significantly impacted American industrial growth and expansion

11. Steel Production

12. Steel and Urbanization Skyscrapers Infrastructure Grand Central Station Brooklyn Bridge Urban Innovation Mass Transit Elevated rails Cable cars Subways Elevators Central steam-heating systems NYC 1850 NYC c. 1900

13. Gilded Age Architecture Carson Mansion (1886) Victorian Chicago Stock Exchange Building (1894) Louis Sullivan “form follows function” Fireproof house Frank Lloyd Wright

14. Gilded Age Art Cross Streets of New York (1899) Everett Shin Ashcan School Breezing Up (A Fair Wind) (1876) Winslow Homer New York (1911) George Bellows

15. Gilded Age Urbanization 20% of Americans lived in cities by 1860 40% of Americans lived in cities by 1900

16. Urban Problems Overcrowding Tenement Living Pollution Crime Sanitation/Water Treatment Disease

17. Urban and Social Reform Social Gospel Post-millenialism Based on Matthew 6:10 “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” “What would Jesus do?” (1896) Josiah Strong Our Country: Its Possible Future and Present Crisis (1885) "The Anglo-Saxon is the representative of two great ideas, which are closely related. One of them is that of civil liberty. Nearly all of the civil liberty of the world is enjoyed by Anglo-Saxons: the English, the British colonists, and the people of the United States....The other great idea of which the Anglo-Saxon is the exponent is that of a pure spiritual Christianity.The Anglo-Saxon is the representative of two great ideas, which are closely related. One of them is that of civil liberty. Nearly all of the civil liberty of the world is enjoyed by Anglo-Saxons: the English, the British colonists, and the people of the United States....The other great idea of which the Anglo-Saxon is the exponent is that of a pure spiritual Christianity." New Denominations Christian Science Pentecostals Jehovah’s Witness Salvation Army

18. Urban and Social Reform Settlement House Established in poor urban neighborhoods Provided education, daycare, and health services Middle class volunteers Jane Addams and Hull House Based in Chicago

19. Urban and Social Reform Jacob Riis How the Other Half Lives (1889) Henry George Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy (1879) "Take now... some hard-headed business man, who has no theories, but knows how to make money. Say to him: "Here is a little village; in ten years it will be a great cityóin ten years the railroad will have taken the place of the stage coach, the electric light of the candle; it will abound with all the machinery and improvements that so enormously multiply the effective power of labor. Will in ten years, interest be any higher?" He will tell you, "No!" "Will the wages of the common labor be any higher...?" He will tell you, "No the wages of common labor will not be any higher..." "What, then, will be higher?" "Rent, the value of land. Go, get yourself a piece of ground, and hold possession." And if, under such circumstances, you take his advice, you need do nothing more. You may sit down and smoke your pipe; you may lie around like the lazzaroni of Naples or the leperos of Mexico; you may go up in a balloon or down a hole in the ground; and without doing one stroke of work, without adding one iota of wealth to the community, in ten years you will be rich! In the new city you may have a luxurious mansion, but among its public buildings will be an almshouse."

20. Gospel of Wealth Based on an article written by Andrew Carnegie Guardians of the nation’s wealth “All revenue generated beyond your own needs should be used for the good of the community.” “In bestowing charity, the main consideration should be to help those who will help themselves; to provide part of the means by which those who desire to improve may do so; to give those who desire to use the aids by which they may rise; to assist, but rarely or never to do all. Neither the individual nor the race is improved by alms-giving.”

21. Labor Wages and Conditions Time and Pay Average work week for industrial worker: 60 hours Average hourly rate for unskilled industrial worker: $0.10 Iron law of wages Conditions Poor ventilation and heavy equipment In 1882, average of 675 workers killed each week No benefits No vacation days, sick leave, health insurance, workers’ compensation, pensions Child Labor As young as 5 years old 12-14 hours for $.27 ($6.65)

22. Hours and Wages of Industrial Workers (1875-1891)

23. Unions vs. Management Industrialization, mass production, use of semiskilled workers = devalued labor Poor and dangerous working conditions, immigrants, and meager salaries = upset workforce Collective bargaining to appeal for better conditions, higher salaries, benefits Union Methods political action and efficacy, strikes, picketing, boycotts, slowdowns Industrialization, mass production, use of semiskilled workers = increased profits Poor and dangerous working conditions, immigrants, and meager salaries = increasing profits and satisfied management Developed image of unions and organized labor as un-American, socialist, anarchist Management Methods lockouts, scabs, blacklists, yellow-dog contracts, government/private force, court injunctions

24. Labor Unions Knights of Labor (1869) Terence V. Powderley Platform Open to blacks, women, most immigrants, Catholics, unskilled and semi-skilled workers Cooperatives and anti-trusts 8-hour workday, child labor laws Tactics Arbitration and strikes American Federation of Labor (AFL) (1886) Organization of national craft unions of skilled workers Samuel Gompers “Bread and Butter” Higher wages Shorter working hours Better working conditions Tactics Arbitration and strikes Political lobbying with Democratic Party

25. Great Railroad Strike of 1877 July 14-September 4, 1877 Causes Panic of 1873 Class conflict with wage cuts and unemployment Events Strikers forced rail stoppages Federal troops engaged strikers Riots and massacres Impact Would lead to better organization of workers and labor unions Legislation to limit unions and preparations for potential conflicts

26. Haymarket Riot of 1886 May Day (May 1st) Strike begins of harvesting workers May 3rd Police sent to protect strikers Fight broke out and one person killed and several injured May 4th Protest Anarchists planned demonstration against police brutality Police dispersed crowd of 2,000 Bombing A pipe bomb exploded and killed 7 police officers Police fired into crowd killing 4 Trial 8 innocent anarchists convicted of murder in a show trial 4 hanged, 1 committed suicide, 3 pardoned by governor

27. Homestead Strike June 30-July 6, 1892 Henry Frick Manager of Carnegie Steel Pursued wage cuts due to lower steel prices Attempted to weaken steel workers union Events Frick orders a lockout and hires scabs Use of Pinkertons to disperse strikers President Harrison ordered federal troops to break the strike Impact Weakened steel workers union Tarnished Carnegie’s reputation

28. Pullman Strike (1894) Pullman Palace Car Company Established “model town” for workers In response to Panic of 1893, wages cut but not rents and town costs Strike Eugene V. Debs Workers blocked transport of Pullman cars Pullman Co. linked them to mail cars President Grover Cleveland deployed federal troops and court injunctions to enforce postal service Opinion Most Americans opposed the strike Including AFL and Samuel Gompers In Re Debs (1895) Supreme Court ruled federal court injunctions to enforce interstate commerce constitutional

30. Captains of Industry OR Robber Barons:John D. Rockefeller and Oil Horizontal Integration Standard Oil Trusts and monopolies Sherman Anti-trust Act (1890) Gilded Age Society Social Darwinism

31. Horizontal Integration

33. Standard Oil Trust Tactics Lowered prices to drive out competitors (rate wars) Threatened companies to sell to Standard Oil (buyouts) Bribed railroads to buy Standard Oil fuel (rebates, kickbacks) Bribed Congress members Trusts and Monopolies Controls prices Limits competition

34. Antitrust Movement Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) Prohibits any “contract, combination, in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce” United States v. E.C. Knight Co. (1895) Sugar refining monopoly tested Sherman Antitrust Act Regulation applied to commerce and not manufacturing

35. Bosses of the Senate

36. “What a funny little government”

37. Scientific Management“Taylorism” Frederick W. Taylor Designed hierarchies and subdivisions of labor Managers plan, schedule, train, and supervise Workers perform assigned tasks best suited to skills Time management Effects Managerial class Efficiency Labor resentment

38. Henry Ford and Model T Assembly Line Mass production of products through sequential assembly Worker Treatment Paid decent wages Provided benefits Model T (1908) Low-cost product for affordable price

39. Gilded Age Socioeconomics Socioeconomic gap extensively widened By 1890s, 10% of Americans controlled 90% of the nation’s wealth Statistics Total national wealth in 1860: $16 billion Total national wealth in 1900: $88 billion National wealth per capita in 1860: $500 National wealth per capita in 1900: $1100 Expansion of middle class/white-collar workers 2/3 of population were wage earners

41. Gilded Age Women Upper-class and middle-class women College educated Increased independence Involved in social reforms Gibson Girl and New Woman 20% of American women worked as wage earners Most single women; 5% married Low-income families required women in workplace Female-based Jobs Typical home-associated industries: textiles, foods, domestic servants New types of jobs: secretaries, bookkeepers, typists, communication operators

42. Temperance and Reform Temperance Organizations National Prohibition Party (1869) Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) (1874) Antisaloon League (1893) Carrie Nation “Hatchetations” Reform Groups Planned parenthood Humane societies Anti-prostitution

43. Immigration Massive Influx 16.2 million immigrants (1850-1900) 8.8 million (1901-1910) Old Immigrants Northern and Western Europe New Immigrants Southern and Eastern Europe; Asia Catholics, Jews

45. Immigrant Issues Sociopolitical Enemies Nativists Josiah Strong - Our Country Legislation Immigration Acts of 1882, 1891 Forbid convicts, lunatics, idiots, diseased, disabled Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) Chinese immigration ban for 10 years Chinese prevented from becoming citizens Political Machines Employment, housing, social services for votes Ethnic Neighborhoods Little Italy Chinatown

46. Ellis Island “…Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore…” Emma Lazarus - The New Colossus, 1883

47. Social Darwinism Herbert Spencer “Survival of the fittest” Wealth a result of hard work and brilliance Poor and unfortunate were lazy Fueled and Influenced… Laissez-faire economics Racism Nativism Imperialism Eugenics Horatio Alger Myth

48. Captains of Industry OR Robber Barons:J.P. Morgan and Electricity Banking and Financing Corporations Science and Innovation Consumerism

49. Corporations American Telephone and Telegraph Co. (1885) J.P. Morgan Co. financed merger of Bell and communication companies General Electric (1892) J.P. Morgan merged Edison General Electric and Thomas-Houston Electric Company U.S. Steel (1901) J.P. Morgan bought Carnegie Steel and merged with other steel companies Becomes first billion dollar company in world

50. Corporate Mergers - 1895-1910