The 2nd Industrial
Revolution
When?
• Late 1800s
• Late 1700s = 1st Industrial Revolution
The 2nd Industrial Revolution
forever changed the United States:
•Urbanization
•Expansion
•Inventions
•Prosperity
•Poverty
•Worker
Unions
The Tycoons
a.k.a Captains of Industry
a.k.a Robber Barons
John D. Rockefeller
(Oil industry)
Standard Oil Company
Gave over $550 million
to charity!!
Andrew Carnegie
• (Steel industry)
• Donated to
education and built
public libraries
Cornelius Vanderbilt
(Railroad Industry)
Known as a “Rail
Baron”
Donated millions to
education system in
America
George Pullman
(Railroad Industry)
Invented the “Pullman
Car”
They benefited from laissez-faire
economics
Laissez-faire The government gets
=
involved as little as
possible
The Gospel of
Wealth
Vs
.
Social
Darwinism
The Gospel of Wealth
•An essay written by Andrew Carnegie in 1889
•Main point:
The rich shouldn’t waste their wealth
They should use it to help society
Social Darwinism
•Based on Darwin’s theory of
“Natural Selection”
 Only the strongest survive
•Main Point:
The same should be true with
society:
•Survival of the “fittest”
•Inventions of the
1800s
- Barbed wire
- Telegraph
- Telephone
- Light bulb
- Typewriter
- Railroad
- Oil well
- Horseless carriage
- Airplane
• Worker abuse
– Child Labor
– Unsafe conditions
– Long hours
– Low pay
Companies weren’t being held accountable