Unit 2: The Changing Political
Landscape
Chapter 6
Essential Question:
How did the Industrial Revolution
lead to big business, monopolies,
and trusts?
6-1: The Expansion of Industry
Industrial Revolution
The US had many advantages when it came
to industrialization
– Factors of Production
• Land- the US has lots of open land
ready for development
• Natural Resources- the US had wood,
oil, and iron, everything a nation
needed to become an industrial
power
• Government Support of Businessthe government had a “hands off”
approach to business and was willing
to provide the wealth necessary for
business to develop
• Cheap Labor- with a large
population, the US could provide
cheap labor (immigrants) and plenty
of markets to sell goods
• Rail Roads- contributed to the most
growth between cities
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6-3: Big Business and Labor
IndustrialistRefers to a businessman, investor, or
entrepreneur who has reached a
prominent place in society. The goal was to
gain complete control over an industry.
Robber Baron– Industrialist manipulated the US
economy for their own profit.
– They used questionable business
practices to become powerful or
wealthy.
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Big Business and Labor
The Robber Barons:
Andrew Carnegie• Began his career by owning
railroads
• Left the RR industry to go into
steel production
• Carnegie Steel soon
dominated the steel industry
through “shady” business
practices
– Vertical Integration
– Horizontal Integration
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Big Business and Labor
The Robber Barons
(continued)
• Vertical Integration
– Process in which a company buys
out its suppliers to have total
control over quality and cost of a
product.
• Horizontal Integration
– Process in which a company buys
out, or merges with its
competitors to gain control over
its competitors.
– These allow the “parent company”
to dominate the market and set its
own prices, free from competition
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Big Business and Labor
The Robber Barons (continued)
• J.P. Morgan controlled the
largest holding company,
J.P. Morgan Bank
• At its peak, J.P. Morgan
Bank controlled 80% of the
nations production
companies
• Companies would buy or
sell stock to holding
companies that would then
“merge” the companies
into one large monopolistic
company
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Big Business and Labor
The Robber Barons (continued)
– John D. Rockefeller
• Began his career by owning the
Standard Oil Company (today it
is called Chevron/ ExxonMobile)
• Through the use of trusts,
Rockefeller was able to control
90% of the US oil market
• He would sell oil for far less than
it cost to produce it so his
competitors were forced to shut
down, then he would raise the
prices well above normal and
reap HUGE profits
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Big Business and Labor
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act
– In 1890, Congress passed a law that made it
illegal to form a trust that interfered with
free trade between states or with other
countries
– The act was difficult to enforce
• The law did not make it clear what
constituted a trust
• Companies like Standard Oil could
simply reorganize every time Congress
sought to prosecute and avoid the
prosecution by forcing Congress to start
their cases all over again
• Also, many of the owners of big business
invested money into the political
campaigns of politicians that were loyal
to them, thus weakening the power of
Congress to prosecute
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Big Business and Labor
Industrialization ignores the
South
– Northeastern cities became
the most industrialized
– The South did not change
much. It was still trying to
recover from the Civil War
– The South remained mostly
agricultural
– Farmers were at the mercy of
the RR’s who charged high
rates to transport goods
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Unit 2: The Changing Political
Landscape
Chapter 7
Essential Question:
Why might people leave the
familiarity of their homeland and
move to a new country?
7-1: The New Immigrants
Through the Golden Door
– Millions of immigrants entered the US
in the late 19th and early 20th century,
lured by the promise of a better life
Why they came
– Escape difficult conditions
• Famine (starvation)
• Land shortages
• Persecution (religious or political)
– “Birds of Passage”
• Came temporarily with plans to
make money then return home
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The New Immigrants
European Immigrants
– Between 1880 and 1930 approximately 20
million Europeans arrived in the US
• Prior to 1890(before 19th century), most
immigrants came from countries in
western and northern Europe (England,
France, Ireland, and Germany)
• After 1890(late 19th century), increasing
numbers arrived from eastern and
southern Europe (Italy, Russia, and
Austria-Hungary)
– Why they came
• Opportunity- with US industrialization,
jobs were plentiful
• Escape religious persecution- many
countries led pogroms (government led
acts of hatred) against Jewish
communities
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The New Immigrants
The arrival
– Ellis Island
• Immigrants coming from Europe
arrived at Ellis Island, New York
– Most immigrants had to wait 1
day before being processed
and allowed entry to the US
(less than 2% were denied
entry)
– Angel Island
• Immigrants arriving from Asian
(mostly China) passed through
Angel Island in San Francisco
– Unlike Ellis Island, the
processing at AI was a slow,
uncomfortable process
─ Racism played a role in the
denial of many Asian
immigrants
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The New Immigrants
Nativist
Favored the interests of nativeborn people over foreign-born
people.
Reason for Nativism
• Religious persecution- many
people were opposed to
Catholic and Jewish beliefs
• Economics- immigrants provided
a cheap source of labor which
worried labor groups
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7-2: The Challenges of Urbanization
Urbanization (the rapid growth of cities)
– Immigrants settled in the city because
the cities offered inexpensive places
to live .
– Big cities provided access to steady
work in the mills and factories.
– Immigrants also settled in the city
because people from their country
were also there.
The Americanization Movement
– In an effort to help newly arrived
immigrants assimilate (become part
of American Society) the government
and volunteers created schools and
community centers that taught
immigrants skills that would help
them learn the ways of native-born
Americans
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Politics in the Gilded Age
Immigrants and the Political
Machine(a group that controlled
the political party in a city)
– Political bosses used their
influence to help immigrants
find jobs, housing, and
achieve citizenship
– In return the immigrants
would vote the way the boss
told them
– The use of immigrant voters
enhanced the power of the
bosses and their
organizations
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Politics in the Gilded Age
Political Boss System
– a political system that
represented a source of support
and jobs. The bosses and their
organizations embodied
political corruption.
Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall
– William Tweed (aka Boss
Tweed) led New York's most
powerful political machine
– He was convicted of stealing
over $10 million through bogus
construction projects
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Unit 3: The US Emerges as a World
Power
Chapter 9
Essential Question:
What conditions might cause
the need for reforms such as
those of the Progressives?
9-1: The Origins of Progressivism
4 Goals of the Progressive Movement
1. Provide social welfare
• Provide help for the poor
through the creation of schools,
charities, and churches
2. Promote moral improvement
• Many Progressives believed that
poverty was caused by a lack of
morals
– The Prohibition Movement
sought to ban alcohol (18th
amendment will pass in
1919)
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The Origins of Progressivism
3. Create Economic Reform
• The gap between the rich
and poor widened during
the Industrial Revolution
• Some Americans began to
see capitalism as a cause of
the social and moral decay
and turned to more
socialist ideas
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The Origins of Progressivism
4. Foster (improve) Efficiency
• Improvements in industry
caused a dramatic change
in the way people lived and
worked
• Assembly lines increased
production
• Work hours were shortened
• Schools began to be run like
factories
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9-2: Women in Public Life
Women’s lives improve
• The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory
fire in New York City, was one of
the largest industrial disasters in
the history of the city of New
York, causing the death of 146
garment workers. The fire led to
legislation requiring improved
factory safety standards
• In 1920, Congress passed the 19th
Amendment granting women the
right to vote
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9-3: Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal
Teddy Roosevelt (A rough-riding
president)
• Roosevelt’s views of government
– Roosevelt believed that the federal
government must provide for the
national welfare
– The president has the legal right to
do whatever is necessary to carryout the will of the people
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Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal
The Square Deal (Roosevelt’s
many Domestic Reforms)
– Roosevelt would see that the
common people were given a
fair (square) deal, he protected
them from big business
Roosevelt as a Bad Trust-buster
– Taking on corporations
• Previous attempts at using
the Sherman Antitrust Act to
limit the power of
monopoly’s had failed
• Roosevelt would only breakup the trusts that harmed
the common people
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Teddy Roosevelt’s Square Deal
Roosevelt on Health
– The meat packing industry
• Upton Sinclair, wrote book
detailing the unsanitary
practices of the meat industry
• Roosevelt, after reading
Sinclair’s The Jungle, appointed
a commission to investigate
Sinclair’s claims
• After witnessing firsthand the
terrible conditions in America’s
meat packing industry,
Roosevelt pressured Congress
into passing the Meat
Inspection Act of 1906
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