The Growing U.S.
in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s
Industrial Revolution & the Gilded Age
Industrial Advantages of the U.S.
1.
2.
3.
Growing labor supply (immigrants &
children)
An abundance of natural resources
(iron, oil, electricity)
Free enterprise – business that is free
from govt. involvement
2nd Industrial Revolution
Laissez-faire capitalism – little govt.
regulation of the economy
 Entrepreneurs – people who organize
their own business
 Labor was mostly immigrants (paid
cheap) or poor children
 Because of this, the U.S. became the
industrial leader in the world during the
1890’s
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Monopolies
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Total control of a business or product (just like the
game)
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consolidating corporations to control the market for a product
attempting to destroy the competition
controlling the majority of the production & distribution of a
product
robber barons – polarization of wealth; businessman
who dominated their respective industries
Andrew Carnegie – STEEL
John D. Rockefeller – OIL
Sherman Antitrust Act – outlawed
monopolies. But it was difficult to enforce
Andrew Carnegie
John D. Rockefeller
Economic Ideologies
*Capitalism – private business own & operate
most industries; competition determines cost
of goods as well as workers’ pay
 Government favored business in most
disputes with its labor force
 Social Darwinism – societies evolve over
time by adapting to their environment; govt.
regulation threatened the natural economic
order (survival of the fittest)
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Growth of Cities
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Increase in immigrants
 Port of entry = Ellis Island, NY & Angel
Island, CA
 Most were Roman Catholic
 Led to racial & ethnic problems (ex. Wops,
Pollocks)
 Movement from rural to urban life (more
people living in the city)
 Jobs available in the cities
 Led to overcrowding & lack of city services
– sanitation problems
Immigrants at Ellis Island
Settlement Houses
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Neighborhood centers in poor areas staffed
by professionals and volunteers who offered
education, recreation, and social activities
Jane Addams – founded the most famous
settlement house, called Hull House in
Chicago.
Hull House focused on the needs of families
and immigrants. Teaching citizenship and
English.
Hull House
Jane Addams - activist
Discrimination & Civil Rights
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Chinese Exclusion Act
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U.S. fed. law restricting Chinese for 10 years & any
Chinese American could not obtain U.S. citizenship;
reaction to open immigration
Plessy vs. Ferguson
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Plessy (1/8th black) was thrown off railway car &
arrested for violating Separate Car Act of Louisiana
U.S. Supreme Court case upholding racial
segregation; “separate but equal”
practiced until 1954
Fighting for Civil Rights
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Booker T. Washington
 1st Civil Rights leader (original MLK); author
 believed in cooperation w/ whites instead of confrontation
 his work greatly helped lay the foundation for the 1960’s
Civil Rights Movement
 W.E.B. DuBois
 publisher & author of equality writings; encouraged Harlem
Renaissance; director of NAACP
 “blacks should challenge and question whites, seek higher
education, & assimilate into American culture”; they should
know when to act “white” and/or “black”
 Marcus Garvey
 founder of Universal Negro Improvement Association
(uniting all of Africa)
 Africans redeem Africa from European foreigners & return
home
The New Workplace
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Machines replaced skilled workers
 mass production – large amounts of products
being made
 Immigrants taking jobs
 Labor Unions grew
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They increase workers’ power (power in numbers)
Used as a bargaining tool against employer to get
what workers want (collective bargaining)
Taft-Hartley Act – fed. law passed that monitors
activities & powers of labor unions
Labor Unions
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Knights of Labor
- Open to
everyone – men,
women, skilled &
unskilled workers;
one big union
•American
Federation of
Labor –they
Individualized
Unions
(ex. Mineworkers,
Steelworkers); open
to only skilled workers
Labor Union Rallies & Strikes
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The Bisbee Deportation – in AZ; the Industrial
Workers of the World demanded change in the
copper mines, the Bisbee mining corp. refused;
violence erupted – 2 men were killed, others
beaten - the IWW members were deported to NM;
the Bisbee company was never found guilty for
their injustice
The Haymarket Riot – 1000s of union members
in Chicago went on strike; 2 strikers were killed by
police; workers protested; turned violent – 8
officers killed; officers killed several people;
another example of unfair labor laws
Labor Dispute & Strikes
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Homestead Strike
 Pennsylvania (1892); between Amalgamated Assoc. of
Iron & Steel Workers (AA) – the whole town & Carnegie
Steel Co.
 AA wanted to prevent management from forcing workers
to agree not to become a member of a union… got
violent
 Union VICTORY!!!
 Pullman Strike
 nationwide conflict between unions & RRs (1894);
violence erupted in Illinois with Pullman Palace Car
Company & American Railway Union
 President Cleveland ordered fed. troops to Chicago to
end strike (he was not reelected); RRs won!
Populist Party (The People’s Party)
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Supported free coinage of silver, labor reform,
immigration restrictions, & govt. ownership of
RR & the telegraph/telephone system
 Most populists were farmers and industrial
workers (the common people) that were losing
jobs and $$$ to immigrants & big business
 William Jennings Bryan – a democrat &
populist presidential candidate in 1896. He
lost. This election marked the end of the
populist movement.
Progressive Reforms
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all laws were designed to give the people greater
control over their state legislatures &
state officials
Amendments:
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16th – income tax
17th – direct election of senators
18th – prohibition
19th – women’s right to vote
Election reforms:
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Recall – if enough voters sign a petition, the people can
remove the official
Initiative – voters’ ability to propose new laws by petition
Referendum – voters approve or disapprove laws already
being practiced
Corruption
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Machine Bosses bought voter support with
jobs & favors
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Tammany Hall, a.k.a Tweed Ring
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reached out to immigrants by finding jobs attaining
citizenship, housing, etc.  in return, expected their
vote
used illegal tactics to maintain control (bought
votes)
demanded bribes & pay offs for jobs
most notorious political machine
stole millions of tax dollars
Spoils System
muckrakers
Progressivism – reformers who wanted to address city
life & corruption in order to achieve order & stability
 Journalists who practiced progressivism named,
“muckrakers” – bc they raked up the muck of society &
exposed corrution & illegal business practices
 Ida Tarbell – wrote about unfair business practices of
the Standard Oil Co.; book: History of Standard Oil
Company
 Jacob Riis – wrote about slum life & business
corruption; book: How the Other Half Lives
 Upton Sinclair – wrote about unsanitary working
conditions; book: The Jungle
 Frank Norris – discussed how railroads were a
monopoly
 Lincoln Steffens – exposed corruption in city govt.
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Theodore Roosevelt –
Progressive President
“Trustbuster” – broke
up trusts (a group of
companies under a
single board of director
that make a lot of $$$,
there’s no competition)
 Land conservation –
doubled the number of
national and state parks
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President Taft (R)
passed Sherman Anti-Trust Act; supported 16th
(income tax) & 17th (direct election of
Senators) amendment; created Federal
Children’s Bureau
 Republicans split between Progressive ideas
& Conservative ideas (over conservation of
environment issues)… progressives formed
Progressive party
 Election of 1912: Roosevelt (P) vs. Wilson
(D)… Wilson won!
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