INDUSTRIALIZATION &
THE GILDED AGE
RISE OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY
FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM
-Individuals are free to produce and sell what they wish
-People go into business to make a profit
-Prices are set by supply and demand
-Inefficient companies are unable to compete
CONTRIBUTION OF GOVERNMENT
-Protection of property and contracts
-Passing of protective tariffs
-System of patents leading to new inventions
EMERGENCE OF MODERN INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY
EXPANSION OF RAILROADS
Transcontinental Railroad and other new railroad lines improve
travel/trade.
GROWTH OF POPULATION
DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL MARKET
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
-BESSEMER PROCESS used in steel production
-Electricity gives rise to new industries
-Oil industry develops
DEVELOPMENT OF CORPORATION AS BUSINESS ORGANIZATION
GREAT ENTREPRENEURS (BUSINESS MEN)
“ROBBER BARONS” OR “CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY”?
ROBBER BARONS: Businessmen sometimes used ruthless tactics to
destroy competition and to keep workers wages low.
ANDREW CARNEGIE
-Fostered the Gospel of Wealth.
-Steel production
-Philanthropist who gave money to libraries and schools
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
-Standard Oil Company
-Controlled the refining of oil
-Forced to dissolve when his company developed monopoly of oil
industry
-Like Carnegie, Rockefeller was a great philanthropist
RISE OF ORGANIZED LABOR
PROBLEMS FACED BY WORKERS:
-Long hours, low wages
-Poor working conditions, repetitive tasks
-Child labor
-Lack of job security
RISE OF LABOR UNIONS:
-KNIGHTS OF LABOR (Terrence Powderly)
-AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR (Samuel Gompers)
GOVERNMENT ATTITUDE TOWARD UNIONS:
-Anti-union bias
-Saw unions as driving up cost of goods
-Haymarket Affair of 1886 (association with violence)
URBANIZATION
MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE FROM COUNTRYSIDE TO CITIES
BRINGS MANY PROBLEMS:
-Crowded tenements (one room apartments with little daylight/
inadequate plumbing)
-Pollution, sewage contamination of water
-Inability to provide essential public services
Political corruption:
-”political machines” run by “bosses” that helped immigrants but took
advantage of them
IMMIGRATION
WHY THEY CAME…
-PUSH FACTORS: oppression, poverty, wars, ethnic persecution
-PULL FACTORS: belief in American freedom, economic opportunity
and cultural ties
NEW IMMIGRANTS
-From Southern and Eastern Europe, mostly Catholic and Jewish
-Less educated, spoke no English
PROCESS OF AMERICANIZATION:
-Immigrants learned to speak, act and behave like Americans; often the
children of the immigrants did this, not the adults…
SETTLEMENT OF THE FAR WEST
DISCOVERY OF GOLD AND SILVER
-KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH: Gold found in Yukon, near Alaska (1896)
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD (1869)
-made travel and trade with West Coast easier
HOMESTEAD ACT (1862)
-made federal land available to settlers
RANCHERS
-Cattle drives took cattle across the open range
FARMS
-Dug water wells, made sod houses, used barbed wire and steel plows
NATIVE AMERICAN POLICY
INDIAN WARS
-Federal troops defeated Sioux and other tribes on the Great Plains and
forced them onto RESERVATIONS
DAWES ACT (1887)
-Sought to “Americanize” Native Americans.
-Abolished tribes and allotted tribal lands to individuals
AMERICAN INDIAN CITIZENSHIP ACT (1924)
-Granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S.
AGRARIAN MOVEMENT
PROBLEMS OF FARMERS:1870-1900
-Increased farm production led to more crops per acre, but falling food
prices
-Farmers had to ship goods to market and were at the mercy of the
railroad rates
-Farmers were constantly in debt
GRANGE MOVEMENT (1876)
-Original goal was to reduce rural isolation
-Turned into a group demanding economic and political reforms
-Helped get Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 passed which regulated
railroad rates
POPULIST PARTY: 1891-1896
NATIONAL THIRD PARTY REPRESENTING LABORERS,
FARMERS AND INDUSTRIAL WORKERS (ALSO KNOWN AS THE
PEOPLE’S PARTY)
POPULIST PLATFORM (1892)
-Supported William Jennings Bryan for President
-What they wanted:
Unlimited coinage of silver (free silver)
Direct election of Senators
Term limits for President/Secret Ballots
Immigration Restriction
Graduated income Tax
THIRD PARTIES IN AMERICAN POLITICS
-Help educate voters on special issues
-Provide an outlet for minority grievances
-Pressure major parties to adopt their ideas