WARMUP #1
John D. Rockefeller was an American industrialist who made a fortune in the late
19th Century. He once made the following comments:
“I say that you ought to get rich, and it is your duty to get rich…Ninetyeight out of one hundred of the rich men of America are honest. That is
why they are rich. That is why they are trusted with money. That is why
they carry on great enterprises and find plenty of people to work with
them…I sympathize with the poor, but the number of poor who are to
be sympathized with is very small…let us remember there is not a poor
person in the United States who was not made poor by his own
shortcomings.”
What does Rockefeller seem to think about people who have money? What does
he think of people who do not have money? Explain in one or two sentences.
How do you think a manual laborer, factory worker or office clerk might react to
these statements? Respond to the thoughts expressed in each sentence of the
quotation. Write your answer in a clear paragraph.
American Industrialization
12-year old spinner, 1910
(photographed by Lewis Hine)
I. The Machine Age (1865-1900)
A.
Primary characteristics of American industrialization (Norton, People and a Nation,
1982)
1. production by machine rather than by hand
2. involvement of an increasing proportion of the work force in manufacturing
3. production concentrated in large, intricately organized factories
4. accelerated technological innovation, emphasizing new inventions &
applied science
5. expanded markets, no longer local and regional in scope
6. growth of a nationwide transportation network based on the
railroad, along with a communications network based on the telegraph &
telephone
7. increased capital accumulation for investment in expansion of
production
8. growth of large enterprises & specialization in all forms of economic activity
9. steady increase in the size & predominance of cities
“Robber Barons” OR
“Captains of Industry” ???
horizontal consolidation: complete control of an industry,
creating no competition (…& higher prices)
• monopoly •
vertical consolidation: complete control of production &
distribution, thus eliminating any middlemen
• trust •
positives: improve overall economy & provide jobs
• “captains of industry” •
negatives: control prices, hurting consumers
• “robber barons” •
---”steal from the poor…give to themselves”---
Who are these “Robber Barons”?
• John D. Rockefeller: Standard Oil Company
– $663.4 billion in 2007 dollars
• Andrew Carnegie: U.S. Steel
– $298.3 billion in 2007 dollars
• Cornelius Vanderbilt: railroads
– $178.4 billion in 2007 dollars
• J.P. Morgan: banking
– $44 billion in 2007 dollars
Rockefeller: “And to think, he wasn't even a rich man.“
Social Darwinism: “survival of the fittest” in society
B. Iron & steel: central to development of
American industry
Bessemer process: iron ore → steel
1. Andrew Carnegie: Scottish immigrant who built the steel industry with
a mill that integrated all stages of refinement process (from iron ore to
finished rails)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: “Steel City U.S.A.”
2. railroad growth fueled industrial development. Over 100,000 miles of
track were laid between 1877 & 1893, doubling the U.S. network
a) standardization of gauge (width of tracks set at 4 feet, 8 1/2 inches)
encouraged development
b) time zone adoption allowed coordination of systems (U.S. divided
into four zones)
c) adoption of steel rails, bearing heavier loads
d) massive grants of American land (131 million acres from federal
government, 49 million acres from states)
C. Oil & John D. Rockefeller
1. first oil derrick drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania in
1859
2. Rockefeller organized Standard Oil Co. & bought
out smaller refiners
3. organized trusts to combine companies, reduce
competition & increase profits
What about the Workers?
Work in the industrial factories was very difficult!
• Workers struggled with:
–low wages
–long hours
–dangerous working conditions
–unsanitary conditions
–lack of respect from management
II. Organization of American Labor
A. legalized by Commonwealth v. Hunt in 1842, labor unions
tended to be small & limited to skilled trades
labor unions = organizations of workers, created to meet their
needs vs. management
B. labor strife arose in the 1870s with frequent strikes
1. Haymarket Square Massacre, Chicago, 1886 occurred
when a bomb killed 7 & wounded 70
---anarchists’ bombing led to many deaths & union worries!
2. Homestead Strike in Pennsylvania, 1892 resulted in 7
deaths
3. Pullman Strike, 1894 in Chicago temporarily stopped
railroad traffic & required federal intervention
C. Labor organizations
1. Knights of Labor (1869): sought to create “one big union” of all
workers, skilled & unskilled. Opposed to strikes (Terrence
Powderly)
----effectively ends in 1886 after Haymarket Square
Massacre…replaced by the American Federation of Labor!
2. American Federation of Labor (AFL 1886): organized by Samuel
Gompers. Focused on higher wages, shorter hours & safer working
conditions (“skilled workers ONLY”)
3. Eugene Debs & American Railway Union (1892): Socialist
approach that viewed government & owners as enemies of
workers
4. International Workers of the World (IWW 1905): Socialist labor
union, modeled after Marxian ideas
Methods of the Labor Unions
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
strikes
mediation: conversations of negotiation
arbitration: binding 3rd party steps into negotiation
collective bargaining: predetermined agreement
Sherman Antitrust Act: government regulation of
monopolies & trusts…however ineffective, as too
vague & possessed loopholes!
Methods of Management
1) hiring of scabs: replacement workers for strikers
---usually immigrants, angering workers!
---nativism: hatred of foreigners & immigrants
The establishment of quotas to limit U.S. immigration:
Chinese Exclusion Act: limits the number of Chinese
immigrants to the U.S. (…extreme prejudice towards
Chinese, since the railroads)
Gentlemen’s Agreement: limits the number of Japanese
immigrants to the U.S.
2) injunctions: court orders to immediately stop strikes
3) yellow-dog contracts: workers sign contracts upon
employment not to join a labor union or risk getting fired
IV. Utopian Economic Plans
A. Henry George’s Progress and Poverty (1879):
inequality's source: rising land values. Single land tax
proposed to end monopolies & bring social progress
B. Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward (1888): extremes
of wealth & poverty need to be countered with socialist
state free of vicious competition
C. Henry Lloyd’s Wealth Against Commonwealth (1894):
aggression of trusts, particularly Rockefeller's, would lead
to economic slavery. Cooperation with the government
owning & operating the means of production would
produce equality
V. New Issues for Labor
A. as machines & new procedures (including Henry Ford’s assembly line) reduced
demand for labor, employers cut costs further by hiring large numbers of women
& children
1. by 1900, 20% of all manufacturing workers were women (up from 11%
in 1870)
2. by 1900, 13% of all textile workers were younger than 16
B. working conditions resulted in 25,000 deaths in industrial accidents per year
1. Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire (NYC) in 1913 resulted in 146 deaths
(lack of exits & safety regulations leads to incredible industrial tragedy)
2. 72,000 railroad workers killed between 1900 & 1917
C. Supreme Court cases
1. in Lochner v. New York (1905), Supreme Court ruled that 60-hour work
week limit was unconstitutional
2. in Muller v. Oregon (1908), Court reversed Lochner & limited women's
working hours to 10 per day
WARMUP #2
What do all of the following companies have in common?
Standard Oil Company
American Tobacco Company
Northern Securities Corporation
Bell Telephone Company
Armour Company
When were they started? How did they become strong? What was
their effect on American businesses at the time? What did each
business specialize in? (Some will be easy to identify!) Write your
answer in one clear paragraph.
The Rise of the American City
urbanization: the movement of people into the cities from
rural areas, causing sizable growth
"What shall we do with our great cities? What will our great cities do with us…? The question...does not
concern the city alone. The whole country is affected...by the condition of its great cities.” (Lyman Abbott,
1891)
"The greater part of our population must live in cities--cities much greater than the world has yet known. In
due time we shall be a nation of cities.“ (Josiah Strong, 1898)
New York City's first skyscraper: the Tower Building (1889)
I. Sources of Urbanization
A. as steam replaced water power for mills, industries concentrated
geographically (iron makers in Pittsburgh, meat-packing in Chicago,
shoes in Haverhill, Massachusetts etc.)
B. large-scale production instantly created small cities of workers:
company towns dominated by one industry
A. people lived near where they worked…so densely populated
around the factories → cities
C. gateways for immigrants (New York City, Boston & San Francisco)
provided abundant cheap labor
A. Ellis Island = immigrant entry point on East Coast
A. Statue of Liberty = symbol of hope for immigrants…especially
these “new immigrants” from Eastern & Southern Europe
B. Angel Island = immigrant entry point on West Coast
II. Problems of the City
A.
Mass transit
1. until 1890, the horsecar (using railroad tracks) accounted for 70% of city traffic.
Limitations:
a. slow
b. limited pulling power
c. left piles of manure
2. cable cars (first used in San Francisco in 1873) & electric trolley cars (Richmond,
1887) with overhead power lines replaced horses in many cities
Issues within the City
Solutions to the Issues
overcrowding
skyscrapers, tenements (decrepit housing areas), ghettoes
(concentrated areas of immigrants)
fires
fire hydrants, firefighters
crime
organized police forces
sanitation
sewer systems, organized trash collection
transportation
cable cars, trolleys, subways (NYC)
III. Corruption in the City
“The Gilded Age”
A. police forces (separate from the military & controlled by local
officials) established to maintain law & order
1. poorly defined duties
2. ineffective in controlling theft, prostitution & gambling
3. symbiotic relationships developed between police &
institutions, such as saloons, they were supposed to oversee
4. reform came slowly, as independent police commissions were
established to control bribery & graft
B. Political bosses emerged,
controlling city machines (political machines)
1. ward captains turned out voters on Election Day
2. jobs handed out as political favors, as were tax breaks &
licenses (…offered jobs to immigrants, in return for votes)
3. while some political machines provided welfare services,
opportunities for corruption were great
1. Boss Tweed in New York’s Tammany Hall controlled
60,000 jobs. He was arrested, bribed his way out of jail,
escaped, re-caught & finally died in jail (Thomas Nast:
political cartoons)
2. Big Jim Pendergast held absolute power in Kansas City,
controlling gambling & liquor licenses
IV. Battling the City’s Problems
A. reformers sought to counter poverty & other urban
problems by focusing on moral uplift (Jacob Riis: How The
Other Half Lives focusing on the immigrant poor)
1. YMCAs & YWCAs formed to provide housing &
recreation opportunities
2. Salvation Army effective in providing emergency aid,
housing & street kitchens
3. Comstock laws sought to close down gambling,
pornography, prostitution & Sunday liquor sales
B. Social Gospel sought to apply teachings of Jesus’ to the
problems of urban society. Blame for problems did not
rest with the poor, but with society (…opposite of Social
Darwinism)
C. Settlement Houses
Hull House (Chicago) founded by Jane Addams to offer
literacy classes, craft classes, job training & a sense of
dignity to urban dwellers, particularly immigrants
WARMUP #3
Draw a line from each event from American labor history on the left to its
date on the right:
1. Homestead Steel strike, Pittsburgh
(a) 1869
2. Pullman strike, Chicago
(b) 1886
3. Founding of the Knights of Labor
(c) 1877
4. Founding of the American Federation of Labor (AFL)
(d) 1892
5. Founding of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) (e) 1894
6. Pittsburgh Rail strike
(f) 1905
Gilded Age Politics (1869-1900)
“the majestic man who was hurling defiance in the teeth of the money power“
(William Jennings Bryan)
I. Corruption of Grant Administration
(1869-1877)
A. Gould-Fisk gold scheme: Gould & Fisk, two government-friendly financiers,
attempted to use government influence to corner the gold market. Convincing
President Ulysses S. Grant to hold U.S. gold from the market, they then proceeded
to buy all the gold available
B. Credit-Mobilier Scandal: the builders of the Union Pacific Railroad used a
construction company they owned to build the railline. Congress became involved
when it was learned that several Congressmen were major stockholders in the
company
II. Civil Service Reform
A. President James Garfield's assassination by a disappointed office-seeker in 1881
convinced Congress to reform the system of awarding government jobs (…NO more
spoils system or patronage)
B. Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883) created system of competitive examinations
for some government positions, thus reducing the influence of the patronage
system (merit examinations to qualify for government jobs)
C. Democratic President Grover Cleveland added 12,000 jobs to the classified list,
thus expanding the merit system
III. Growth of Populism
A. frustrated with the laissez faire attitude of the federal government
and the cycle of falling prices, scarce money & debt, farmers in the
west organized the Populist Party in 1892. Goals:
1) tariff reduction
2) graduated income tax → 16th Amendment
3) public ownership of railroads → Interstate Commerce Act
4) popular election of senators → 17th Amendment
5) currency reform
*bimetallism = paper currency backed by gold & silver*
a) since silver was removed as a currency in 1873, farmers had
pushed for the unlimited coinage of silver in a 16:1 ratio
b) Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890) allowed the government
to purchase silver & thus increase the nation's money supply
c) Panic of 1893 severely reduced farmers' purchasing power
B. as the depression worsened in the 1890s, Populists
gained strength. Coxey's Army (thousands of
protestors) marched to Washington to demand
government jobs paid for with paper currency
C. in the Election of 1896, the Populists joined the
Democrats in supporting William Jennings Bryan, a
strong supporter of silver interests which he argued
eloquently in his "Cross of Gold" speech
D. Bryan was defeated by Republican William
McKinley, a conservative supporter of business &
high tariffs (Eastern factory workers feared inflation)
WARMUP #4
America is often called “the country of immigrants.” Some came to the United
States for political & religious freedom. Others seeking “the American dream” of
prosperity. Life in America could be confusing for new immigrants. This passage
describes the experience of a young woman from Russia.
“A committee of our friends…put their heads together and concocted
American names for us all. Those of our real names that had no pleasing
American equivalents they ruthlessly discarded…My mother, possessing a
name that was not easily translatable, was punished with the undignified
nickname of Annie. Fetchke, Joseph, and Deborah issued as Frieda,
Joseph, and Dora, respectively.”
---Mary Antin, The Promised Land, 1912--Officials at Ellis Island (New York City) changed the names of many immigrants.
Why? Do you think this was appropriate? Explain your answer in one clear
paragraph.
Imagine that the government has officially changed your name. How would you
feel? Write one or two paragraphs describing how this would affect you.