CH 17 & 19 COMBINED STUDY GUIDE
CHAPTER 17: INDUSTRIAL SUPREMACY
I. INTRODUCTION Although some economists place the industrial "take-off" of America in the years before the
Civil War, it was in the three decades following that great conflict that the United States became the world's leading
industrial power. A fortunate combination of sufficient raw materials, adequate labor, enviable technological
accomplishments, effective business leadership, nationwide markets, and supportive state and national governments
boosted America past its international rivals. The industrial transformation had a profound impact on the lives of the
millions of workers who made the production revolution possible. Some who were distrustful of industrial power
turned toward socialism; others tried to organize workers into powerful unions. But in these early years of industrial
conflict, the forces of business usually triumphed.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Discussion / Essay Questions
The so-called robber barons both praised unfettered free enterprise and tried to eliminate competition. How can
these apparently conflicting positions be reconciled?
What philosophies of the late nineteenth century allowed industrial tycoons to rationalize their methods and
powers?
Analyze the criticisms made of "laissez-faire" capitalism by some Americans of the late nineteenth century. Of the
alternative visions suggested for America's economic future (laissez-faire, capitalism, socialism), which was the
"best" and why?
In what ways was the experience of industrialization a mixed blessing for the American worker? Describe the
changes of the late nineteenth century in the nature of the workforce and conditions of the workplace.
Describe the various attempts made during the late nineteenth century to create a national labor organization.
Analyze the successes and failures of these individual organizations, as well as the overall weaknesses of the
American labor movement at this time.
Explain and evaluate the philosophy of the middle class. Analyze how this “Gospel of Success” ─ philosophy
based on the effort of the individual ─ came to be the dominant ideology of the American middle class just as the
American economy came to be dominated by large, powerful corporate entities.
8. To what extent and for what reasons did the policies of the federal government from 1865 to 1900
violate the principles of laissez faire, which advocated minimal governmental intervention in the
economy?
A. SOURCES OF INDUSTRIAL GROWTH
1. Explain the importance of the steel and iron production.
2. Evaluate the changes to research and development
3. Discuss the impact of the automobile.
entrepreneurs
"scientific management"
Henry Ford
mass production
government subsidies
moving assembly line
"limited liability"
"middle manager"
"holding companies"
pool arrangements (cartels)
horizontal integration
vertical integration
Frederick Winslow Taylor "
"Taylorism
commercialization of knowledge
[transatlantic telegraph cable 1866
commercial telephones 1870
adding machine 1891
typewriter 1866
streetlight 1870s
cash register 1879]
gas-driven automobile 1903
Charles Lindbergh
Spirit of St. Louis 1927
Andrew Carnegie--Carnegie Steel 1873
Thomas Edison-- Edison Electric Company Menlo Park 1900
J. Pieppont Morgan--US Steel Corp
1901
John D. Rockefeller--Standard Oil Co
1870
B. CAPITALISM AND ITS CRITICS
"self-made man"
"The public be damned."
"Survival of the fittest."
Mark Twain The Gilded Age 1873
Socialist Labor Party 1870s
William Graham Sumner Folkways 1907
Herbert Spencer
Social Darwinism
"invisible hand"
"conspicuous consumption"
"unearned increment"
"single tax"
monopoly
Andrew Carnegie The Gospel of Wealth 1901
Horatio Alger
Henry George Progress and Poverty 1879
Patterns of Popular Culture: The Novels of Horatio Alger
C. INDUSTRIAL WORKERS IN THE NEW ECONOMY
1. Discuss the sources of labor
2. Evaluate the wages and working conditions for laborers.
3. Why did the unions have little success by the end of the nineteenth century?
injunction
Panic of 1873
Labor Contract Law x1885
collective bargaining
Terrance V. Powderly
Ancient Order of Hibernians
"anarchism"
Knights of Labor
1869
Molly Maguires
Samuel Gompers 1886
Great RR Strike
1877
AFL
Haymarket Square 1886
Eugene V. Debs
Pullman Strike
1894
Homestead Strike 1892
Pinkerton Detective Agency
CHAPTER 19: FROM STALEMATE to CRISIS
I. INTRODUCTION Close elections and shifting control of the White House and Congress characterized American
politics from 1876 to 1900. Regional, ethno-cultural, and economic factors helped determine party affiliation, and
elections often turned on considerations of a candidate’s personality. However, there were real issues too. Tariff,
currency, and civil-service questions were argued in almost every national campaign, and dominated key elections.
Discontented farmers in the People's Party briefly challenged the Republicans and Democrats, nevertheless, the twoparty system remained intact. The election of 1896, the great battle between the gold standard and the silver standard,
firmly established the Republican Party as the majority party in the United States. Agrarian and mining interests were
unable to convince voters that currency inflation, through the free coinage of silver, would lead the nation out of the
depression of the 1890s. By melding into the Democrats, the Populists ended any chance they might have had to become a
major force in American politics. By the end of the nineteenth century, the business forces of American industry had
triumphed. These forces had secured both a gold-based currency and a rigorously protective tariff. Efforts to regulate
railroads and trusts had been entertained by Congress in a half-hearted manner and their feeble efforts were further
weakened by court decisions.
A. THE POLITICS OF EQUILIBRIUM (p522--527)
Rutherford B. Hayes
electorate
James A. Garfield
factions
Chester A. Arthur
civil service
Thomas Nast-protective tariffs
Harper's Weekly.
Grangers
"commerce clause"
B THE AGRARIAN REVOLT
Populism
“Greenbacks” and Legal Tender Cases (1871)
cooperatives
Panic of 1893
temperance
Munn v Illinois (1896)
constituency
Bland-Allison Act 1878
Civil War Pension System
Pendleton Act 1883
Sherman Antitrust Act 1890
Dependent Pension Act 1890
United States v. E. C. Knight Co. (1895)
McKinley Tariff 1890
Panic of 1893
Wilson-Gorman Tariff 1894
Wabash Case (1886)
Interstate Commerce Act 1887-Interstate Commerce Commission
Farmers’ Alliances and “Colored Alliances”
Ocala Demands 1890
Omaha Platform of 1892
Populist (People’s) Party 1892
marginalize
“free silver”
“southern demagogue”
C. THE CRISIS OF THE 1890s
Contraction of credit
Jacob Coxey
Bankruptcy
Coxey’s Army (1894)
Inflation
“Crime of 73”—Coinage Act of 1873
Bimetallism
Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890
Panic of 1893
Repeal of Sherman Silver Purchase Act 1893
POPULISM
D. "A CROSS OF GOLD"
William Jennings Bryan
"...you shall not crucify mankind
upon a cross of gold."
""Cross of Gold speech " 1896
“whistlestop campaign”
William McKinley
“The Great Commoner"
Dingley Tariff 1897
Gold Standard (Currency) Act 1900
E. CONCLUSION
III. ADDITIONAL READINGS
Omaha Morning World-Herald: Populist Party Platform (1892)
Lease:
The Money Question (1892)
McDonald-Valesh:
The Strength and Weakness of the People's Movement (1892)
p98
p101
p102
Morion;
U of Illinois:
Bryan:
p104
p105
p106
What Farm Problem? (1896)
Republican Party Platform of 1896
from The "Cross of Gold" Speech (1896)
Constructed Response Questions
1)
Compare and contrast the three different stages of the agrarian revolt that developed between the 1860s and
1890s. Describe how the movement became more and more political.
2)
Discuss the causes and the effects of the Panic of 1893.
3)
Compare and contrast the political philosophies and the campaign styles of the two major candidates for
president in 1896.
4)
Describe and analyze the rapid rise and fall of the Populist Party. Discuss the Party’s platform in the context of
the 1890s.