Industrial Revolution
Lecture Notes
The Bessemer Process
• Henry Bessemer (Eng.), and William Kelly
(U.S.) developed new process for making
steel
– cheaper and easier
– allowed for mass production
Carnegie and the Corporation
Vertical integrationconsolidation of all
functions related to
a particular
industry
Horizontal
consolidationmerger of
competitors in the
same industry
Railroad Innovations
• Railroads were
greatly expanded,
and the industry was
consolidated
– time zones, standard
track gauge
• Credit Mobilier
scandal (1867)
tarnished Republican
Party, President
Grant’s
administration
The Grange and the Railroads
• Giant companies controlled most rail mileage
– workers were poorly paid, shipping rates remained
high
• “Grangers” worked to elect sympathetic
candidates, pushed for protective laws
• Interstate Commerce Act (1877) created a
commission to regulate railroads, but remained
ineffective until 1906
• Panic of 1893 hit railroads hard, led to corporate
consolidation (Vanderbilt, J.P. Morgan)
The Triumph of Technology
• New inventions stimulated
industrial output and created
new demand for consumer
goods
– sewing machine (Singer – 1860s)
– telephone (Alexander Graham Bell
– 1876)
– light bulb (Thomas Edison – 1879)
• Edison’s research lab provided a
blueprint for corporate
innovation
– phonograph, motion-picture
camera, power plant
Social Darwinism
• Social Darwinism stated that the human race only
evolves through competition – wealth reflects fitness;
poverty, weakness.
– Riches were a sign of “God’s favor”
• Gospel of Wealth:
– Theory popular among industrialists that aiding the
poor was of doubtful benefit
Andrew Carnegie: The Gospel of
Wealth
1. According to Carnegie, what are
the benefits of having an upper
class? Has it always existed?
2. What are the three modes in
which surplus wealth can be
“disposed of”?
3. What is the responsibility of a
“Man of Wealth”?
Cost & Benefits of Economic
Growth
Benefits
Costs
• The U.S. became the
world’s industrial
superpower
• Consumer demand was
encouraged by both
innovative products
and extensive
advertising
• Small companies were
often bankrupted by
predatory corporations
• Industrial growth led to
exploitation of unskilled
labor, environmental
destruction
Migrants and Immigrants
• Over 10 million European
immigrants came to America
from 1860 to 1890
– Ellis Island, New York
• Many also came from Mexico
and Asia
– Angel Island, San Francisco
• Motivated by both “push
factors” and “pull factors”
“Push Factors” and “Pull Factors”
“Push Factors”
• Overpopulation
• Crop failure
• Famine
• Religious Persecution
• Violence
• Economic depression
• Unemployment
“Pull Factors”
• Promise of good wages
• Broad range of jobs
• Abundance of cheap land
• Many rural Americans were
also drawn to cities for
similar reasons
Adjusting to an Urban Society
• Immigrants often settled near
others from the same country
or town
– “chain migration”
• Maintained cultural traditions,
many became American
traditions
– encouraged to “Americanize”
• Those who spoke English and
practiced a skilled trade had
relatively few problems
– others experience “culture
shock”
The Rise of Nativism
• Many believed in the idea of America as a
cultural “melting pot”
– others disliked immigrants, formed antiimmigrant groups
• Anti-Asian sentiment led to government
action
– Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) led to
prohibition of Chinese immigration until 1943
– Gentlemen’s Agreement limited immigration
from Japan during early 1900s
Slums and Ghettos
• American cities were plagued
by poverty, crime, and disease
– immigrants housed in
overcrowded tenement
buildings
– unsafe water, poor sanitation
conditions, frequent fire,
rampant crime
• Jacob Riis documented life in
slums in How the Other Half
Lives (1890)
“The Gilded Age”
• Term taken from the title of
a Mark Twain novel,
referenced false sense of
prosperity in America
• Time of new technology,
growth of industry, growing
divide between the rich
and poor
Bosses and Machine Politics
• “Political machines” controlled
many city governments
– provided aid to the poor in
exchange for votes
– characterized by corruption,
graft, and kickbacks
• Tammany Hall machine stole
millions from New York City
– “Boss” William Marcy Tweed
– exposed by political cartoons of
Thomas Nast
Civil Service Reform
• Many criticized the spoils system
– Promotions based on power rather
than skill
• Pendleton Civil Service Act (1883)
– required examinations for officeseekers
– prohibited federal employees from
soliciting or receiving contributions
from government workers
– new emphasis on merit and skill
Expanding Public Education
• Public schools embraced a “factory model”
– stressed efficiency, standards, punctuality
– “Americanization” of immigrants
• Many states adopted compulsory attendance
laws
– lower class families relied on children working
– Catholics formed separate schools
– upper class parents preferred private schools
• Colleges and universities grew in number, but
remained out of reach for lower class
Education Influences Culture
• Art school known as “realism”
captured nature and scenes of
physical strength
– Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins
• New strands of American literature
emerged
– Regionalism (Mark Twain)
– Realism
– Naturalism
Winslow Homer
Thomas Eakins
Higher Education for African
Americans
– Educational opportunities remained
limited for African Americans
• African American leaders differed in
their views on segregation and
inequality
– Booker T. Washington stressed
compromise, and the learning of
vocations
– W.E.B. DuBois challenged discrimination
Legal Discrimination: Jim Crow Laws
• Laws enforced
discrimination and
segregation in the
South
• Du Jure segregation:
legal segregation
• De Facto segregation:
segregation by custom
Legal Discrimination: Literacy Test
• Could you pass this test in
10 minutes?
• Voting restrictions limited
the impact of the 15th
Amendment
– Poll taxes, literacy tests,
grandfather clause,
threats of violence (Ku
Klux Klan
Plessy v. Ferguson 1896
• Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson
upheld the legality of segregation
– “separate but equal”
American Leisure
• Expanded “free time” led to
growth in leisure activities
– amusement parks (Coney Island,
NYC)
– bicycling
– spectator sports (baseball, boxing)
– vaudeville shows (P.T. Barnum)
– “ragtime” music
The Origins of Reform
• Social conditions revealed a
need for reform
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economic depression
labor violence
ineffective government
economic inequity
harsh working conditions
• Triangle Shirtwaist Fire (1911)
Reforming Local Government
• City problems and natural disasters led to changes in
municipal government
– City councils, city managers
• Reform mayors tackled urban issues
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unemployment
schooling
transit
parks
public ownership of utilities
State Level Reform
• Reform governors led passage of laws
regulating railroads, mines, etc.
– Robert La Follette (Wisconsin)
• Progressives pushed for laws to end
child labor, limit working hours
– Illinois prohibited child labor in 1893
– “Oregon” cases led to limits on workdays
Reforming Elections
• States adopted electoral reforms
– Initiative
– Referendum
– Recall
• 17th Amendment (1913)
– direct election of senators
Roosevelt’s Path to the White House
• Teddy Roosevelt became
president when McKinley
was assassinated in 1901
– youngest American
president (42)
• Rejected conservative
approach of “Gilded Age”
presidents
– “Square Deal”:
conservation, consumer
protection, control of
corporations
Taft in the White House
• TR handpicked William
Howard Taft as his successor
– defeated William Jennings
Bryan in 1908
• Roosevelt hoped that Taft
would carry out his policies
– supported conservation,
income tax, antitrust policies
– TR criticized Taft when he
appeared “disloyal”
The Election of 1912
• Roosevelt, frustrated with Taft,
challenged him for the Republican
nomination
– Taft won the nomination
• TR formed the Progressive (“Bull
Moose”) Party
• Democrats nominated Woodrow
Wilson
• Roosevelt and Taft split the
Republican vote
– Wilson won easily in the electoral
college
Campaign Issues in 1912
• You will be responsible for exploring one of the
main campaign issues during the 1912 election.
Be prepared to jigsaw your research next class!
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Women’s Suffrage
Race Relations
Labor
Tariffs
Regulation of Trusts
Conservation
Direct Democracy
Progressivism Under Wilson
• 16th Amendment led to first
income tax (1913)
• Federal Reserve Act (1913)
– reorganized the nation’s
banking system
– adopt policies to prevent
financial panics
Racism and Progressivism
• “Progressives” had a mixed record on
race relations
– few outspoken critics of racial injustice
– President Wilson did little to address
issues of race
• Racism was problematic in the North as
well
– “Great Migration”
• Southern violence remained a major
problem
– Revival of the Ku Klux Klan aided by
success of The Birth of a Nation (1915)
Progressivism and the Constitution
• Sixteenth Amendment (1913)
– granted Congress authority to tax income
• Seventeenth Amendment (1913)
– direct election of senators
• Eighteenth Amendment (1919)
– prohibition of alcohol
• Nineteenth Amendment (1920)
– granted women the right to vote