America in Transition

1. America in Transition

2. Natural Resources Fuel Industrialization • Black Gold • Pre-European arrival, Native Americans make fuel, medicine from oil • 1859, Edwin L. Drake successfully uses steam engine to drill for oil • Petroleum-refining industry first makes kerosene, then gasoline

3. Opportunities and Opportunists • Pullman • 1880, George M. Pullman builds railcar factory on Illinois prairie • Pullman provides for workers: housing, doctors, shops, sports field • Company tightly controls residents to ensure stable work force • CréditMobilier • Wish for control, profit leads some railroad magnates to corruption • Union Pacific stockholders form construction company, CréditMobilier • - overpay for laying track, pocket profits • Republican politicians implicated; reputation of party tarnished

4. Bessemer Process

5. New Uses for Steel • Steel used in railroads, barbed wire, farm machines • Changes construction: Brooklyn Bridge; steel-framed skyscrapers

6. Second Industrial Revolution • From 1865 to 1905 America entered a second industrial revolution marked by numerous discoveries and inventions. • The basis of the new industrial revolution came with the Bessemer Process which allowed as much steel to be produced in one day which used to take one week to produce. • Increased steel supply spurred the building of more railroads and multistory buildings.

7. The Power of Electricity • 1876, Thomas Alva Edison establishes first research laboratory • - 1880, patents incandescent light bulb • - creates system for electrical production, distribution • Electricity changes business; by 1890, runs numerous machines • Becomes available in homes; encourages invention of appliances • Allows manufacturers to locate plants anyplace; industry grows

8. CommunicationInnovations • In 1837 Samuel Morse developed the telegraph and the Morse Code – a system of dots and dashes representing letters and numbers. (SOS = … _ _ _ …) • By 1866 Western Union had more than 2,000 telegraph offices in the US. • In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and by 1900 more than a million telephones were in operation. • In 1867 Christopher Sholes developed the typewriter and sold his patent in 1873. • Typing pools were used by many businesses and gave women the opportunity to work in a skilled profession.

10. Transportation Innovations • The increased availability of steel lead to the rapid increase of railroad lines including the first transcontinental railroad in 1869. • In 1876 the first gasoline powered engine was invented by Nikolaus A Otto and in 1893 the Duryea Brothers built the first American car. • On December 17th, 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first piloted flight lasting 12 seconds and covering 120 feet.

11. The Wright Brothers – First in Flight Kitty Hawk, North Carolina

12. Railroads Span Time and Space Railroads Encourage Growth • Rails make local transit reliable, westward expansion possible • Government makes land grants, loans to railroads - to help settle West - to develop country • A National Network • 1859, railroads extend west of Missouri River • 1869, first transcontinental railroad completed, spans the nation

13. Railroads Span Time and Space • Railroads Encourage Growth • • Rails make local transit reliable, westward expansion possible • • Government makes land grants, loans to railroads • - to help settle West • - to develop country • A National Network • 1859, railroads extend west of Missouri River • 1869, first transcontinental railroad completed, spans the nation

14. Romance and Reality • Railroads offer land, adventure, fresh start to many • People of diverse backgrounds build railroad under harsh conditions: • - Central Pacific hires Chinese immigrants • - Union Pacific, Irish immigrants, Civil War vets • Accidents, disease disable and kill thousands every year • Railroad Time • 1869, C. F. Dowd proposes dividing earth’s surface into 24 time zones • 1883, U.S. railroads, towns adopt time zones • 1884, international conference sets world zones, uses railroad time • - Congress adopts in 1918

15. Troubles for American Farmers • New urban populations and increased foreign competition caused American farmers to produce more food. • As the supply of food increased, prices dropped drastically, some were forced to give up their farms. • Farmers united to form organizations like the National Grange to look out for their interests. • In 1887 the Interstate Commerce Act stopped railroads from offering lower cost or secret rebates to larger shippers. It also outlawed the practice of one carrier charging more for short hauls than for long ones.

17. Granger Laws • Grangers sponsor state, local political candidates • Press for laws to protect farmers’ interests • Munn v. Illinois—Supreme Court upholds states’ right to regulate RR • Sets principle that federal government can regulate private industry Interstate Commerce Act • 1886, Supreme Court: states cannot set rates on interstate commerce • Public outrage leads to Interstate Commerce Actof 1887 - federal government can supervise railroads - establishes Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) • Legal battle with railroads; difficult for ICC to take action

18. What message is the cartoonist trying to send? WW

19. Scroll over video and click play

20. Gold or Silver • A central political issue in the l890’s was whether to back the countries money supply with gold or silver. • Conservative Republicans wanted to back each dollar with GOLD keeping the supply of money and prices of goods down. • The Democrats and farmers wanted to back money with more abundant SILVER, increasing the money supply and raising prices. • Eventually GOLD would be set as the standard

21. GOLD BRICKS They are each worth about USD $375,000 (400oz × $937.10/oz, as of 30 July 2009).

22. Giants of American Industry • Andrew Carnegie dominated the steel industry by lowering production costs and buying businesses that supplied his factories. • By 1880, John D. Rockefeller controlled 90% of the oil refining business; he was able to buy businesses that supplied his oil refineries and then raised prices for his competitors. • Cornelius Vanderbilt bought large and small railroad lines and connected many urban centers with direct rail lines.

23. New Business Strategies • Carnegie searches for ways to make better products more cheaply • Hires talented staff; offers company stock; promotes competition • Uses vertical integration—buys out suppliers to control materials • Through horizontal integration merges with competing companies • Carnegie controls almost entire steel industry

24. Corporations • After the Civil War many businesses chose to sell stock in their company to earn extra capital for their business. • These corporations were able to raise large amounts of money to expand, while stockholders owned a share of a business without taking responsibility for its running • Several corporations could join together to form a trust resulting in a monopoly where the trust has total control of the quality and price of a product. • In 1890 Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act which outlawed all monopolies and trusts. The act failed to define what a monopoly was thus proved difficult to enforce.

25. The New Capitalist Spirit • Capitalism is an economic system in which private businesses run industry and competition sets prices and wages. • An entrepreneur is a person willing to risk capital (money) in a business venture. • American government practiced a laissez-faire economic policy, meaning that government does little to interfere with the economy. • Free-enterprise is when governments allow businesses to compete in a free market.

26. Communism and Social Darwinism • The system of Communism proposed that individual ownership of property should not be allowed, property and means of production are owned by the community and the community would provide for all people equally. • Social Darwinism held that if society is allowed to progress through natural competition, then the fittest would rise to power and the unfit would fail; any attempt to help the poor would slow progress.

31. The New Working Class • In the late 1800’s thousands of African Americans moved north in search of jobs, but even in the north black workers were given the dirtiest or most dangerous jobs. • The number of American female workers doubled between the years 1870-1890. • The number of laborers under the age of 16 also doubled in this time with 20% of children under the age of 16 working for a wage.

32. CHILD LABOR

33. Long Hours and Danger • Northern wages generally higher than Southern • Exploitation, unsafe conditions unite workers across regions • Most workers have 12 hour days, 6 day workweeks - perform repetitive, mind-dulling tasks - no vacation, sick leave, injury compensation • To survive, families need all member to work, including children • Sweatshops, tenement workshops often only jobs for women, children - require few skills; pay lowest wages

34. Labor Begins to Organize • In the late 1800’s , labor unions began to fight for shorter hours and better working conditions for the American worker. • The first union was the National Labor Union (1866). • By 1872, 32 national unions existed serving the special interests of bricklayers, typesetters, and shoemakers. • In 1894, the federal government declared Labor Day as a legal holiday in tribute to laborers.

35. Interpret this cartoon.

36. Labor Unions • In 1886 the Knights of Labor lead several railroad strikes known as the Great Upheaval. • During a protest in Chicago, seven police officers and one civilian were killed after a bomb exploded in Haymarket Square. • After 1886 skilled workers led by Samuel Gompers split from unskilled workers and formed the American Federation of Labor • Between 1881 and 1900 there were 23,000 strikes involving 6,610,000 workers and employers lost $450 million.

37. Old and New Immigrants • From 1800 to 1880, 10 million immigrants came to the United States; most were Protestants from Northwestern Europe and are often referred to as the Old Immigrants. • From 1891 to 1910, 12 million immigrants came to the US; 70% of “new immigrants” were from Southern or Eastern Europe. (remember SEE as a key) • Immigrants came to the US to escape poverty or persecution and many hoped to make enough money to return home and buy land

39. The Immigration Process • The journey to America was often difficult, immigrant passengers traveled in steerage (a cramped, poorly ventilated area below decks). • Millions of immigrants were processed through Ellis Island in New York or Angel Island in San Francisco. • Any immigrant with serious mental or physical health problems were deported. • All others answered questions about their skills, background and criminal history.

41. Approaching Ellis Island

42. Immigration Restrictions • In the late 1800’s an Anti-Chinese movement began in the labor unions of California. • The Workingmen’s Party excited crowds and some Chinese were attacked and killed. • In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act which denied citizenship to Chinese and stopped immigration of Chinese laborers. • In 1894 the Immigration Restriction League sought to impose literacy test on all immigrants but President Cleveland vetoed the bill.

44. New Urban Cities • Between 1865 and 1900 the percentage of Americans living in cities doubled. • Architects need to build skyscrapers to accommodate the new urban residents. • In 1852 Elisha Otis invented a mechanical elevator allowing more stories on buildings. • Cities began to build ‘up’ rather than ‘out’. • Urban transportation improved with the development of mass transit including trains, subways and trolley cars.

46. Upper Class Life • During the Second Industrial Revolution newly wealthy bankers, landowners and merchants formed the urban upper class. • This upper class usually liked to show offtheir money with expensive houses and lavish parties. • The rich also became concerned with social behavior and began to imitate British Victorian culture which had rules for etiquette in all manner of social situation.

47. Middle Class Life • New industries and a growing urban population created a huge demand for educated workers. • By the late 1800’s a growing middle class included accountants, clerks, engineers, managers, teachers and salespeople. • Most married middle class women worked as homemakers but innovations such as running water allowed women time for social clubs and to join the reform movement

48. Running water used in a ‘wringer type’ washing machine.

49. Life of the Poor • Life for those in poverty in the late 1800’s usually was marked by crowded living conditions, long hours and poor sanitation. • Most were forced to live in rundown, poorly built apartment buildings called tenements. • New York had some 40,000 tenements that housed over a million poor workers as many as 12 families per floor. • Tenements were known for poor sanitation, terrible smell and a lack of privacy and safety

50. A typical tenement building: crowded, unsanitary, and dangerous.