Industrialization
Chapter 9
I. Technology Revolution
 Daily Life in 1865:
-no indoor electricity – used candles or oil
lamps
-no refrigeration – ice from frozen ponds
stored in icehouses – expensive
-slow communication
I. Technology Revolution
 Daily Life in 1900:
-1790-1860: only 36,000 patents issued
(license to make, use, or sell an
invention)
-1860-1890: 500,000 patents issued
-by 1900, the standard of living in the U.S.
was the highest in the world
I. Technology Revolution
 Railroads Improve Transportation:
-before the Civil War: most tracks were
short and didn’t connect major cities
-there was also no standard width, or
gauge, of tracks – very expensive to
move goods
I. Technology Revolution
-1st Transcontinental Railroad: completed
in 1869
-coast to coast
-Central Pacific built eastward
-Union Pacific built westward
-met at Promontory Point, UT
-Impact:
Opened up the West
I. Technology Revolution
-problems: noisy, dirty, uncomfortable
-improvements: steel rails replaced iron
rails (more durable), standard gauges,
improved safety (ex: better brakes)
-another problem was scheduling: early
1800s each town set their own clock –
national time zones were created in 1883
by the railroad industry
I. Technology Revolution
 Advances in Communication:
-telegraph – perfected by Samuel Morse –
used the Morse Code to send electrical
messages
-Western Union Telegraph Company –
formed after the C.W. – laid 100,000s of
telegraph cable (1870: 100,000 miles
1900: 900,000 miles)
I. Technology Revolution
-telephone – invented by Alexander
Graham Bell in 1876 – teacher of the
deaf in Boston – from Scotland
I. Technology Revolution
 Electric Power:
-Thomas Edison – made electricity more
widely available
-also invented the phonograph
-set up shop in Menlo Park, NJ
-greatest inventor of the day
-developed light bulb in 1880
I. Technology Revolution
-George Westinghouse – developed a new
current that could be transmitted cheaper
in 1885
-Electricity’s Impact: made refrigeration
possible, created new jobs (ex: electric
sewing machine allowed clothes to be
mass produced) – rural areas did not
benefit at first
I. Technology Revolution
 The Bessemer Process:
-1850s – Henry Bessemer made it easier
and cheaper to mass produce steel – led
to a new age of building – ex:
skyscrapers, bridges, etc.
II. The Growth of Big
Business:
 It took a lot of money to build factories
and develop these new inventions
– business leaders often combined
their funds to form large companies
II. The Growth of Big
Business:
 2 views of the business leaders of this
era: Were they…
1) “Robber Barons” – implies that business
leaders built their fortunes by “stealing”
from the public – eliminate competition =
higher prices
II. The Growth of Big
Business:
2) “Captains of Industry” – implies that
business leaders served their country in
a positive way by increasing the quality
and quantity of goods and creating new
jobs
II. The Growth of Big
Business:
 Andrew Carnegie:
-born in Scotland – settled in Pittsburgh
-made $50,000 a year in 1865
-created the Carnegie Steel Company in
1889
-created a monopoly, or complete
dominance of an industry by one
company, on the steel industry
II. The Growth of Big
Business:
-believed in the “gospel of wealth” – people
should be free to make as much money
as they can as long as they give some of
it away
-gave away $350 million by the time of his
death in 1919
II. The Growth of Big
Business:
 Social Darwinism – the idea that strong
businesses survive and the weak die –
the rich used this to justify their wealth
 Edwin L. (E.L.) Drake – developed and
used the first oil well – Titusville, PA –
nicknamed “Drake’s Folly” (people
thought he was crazy)
II. The Growth of Big
Business:
 John D. Rockefeller:
-formed the Standard Oil Company in 1863
-created a monopoly on the oil industry by
underselling (cut throat) his competition
-created a trust, or group of several
companies managed by one board, in
1882 (40 companies)
II. The Growth of Big
Business:
-net worth in 1910: $310 billion in today’s
money (2x’s as much as Bill Gates,
Warren Buffett, and Sam Walton
combined)
*Sherman Anti-Trust Act: 1890 – outlawed
any combination of companies that
created a monopoly – not enforced
III. Industrialization and
Workers
 1860-1900: 14 million immigrated to the
U.S. for new opportunities (i.e. jobs)
 Late 1800s: 8-9 million moved to the
cities looking for jobs
 Every family member worked because
wages were low – children at ages 12 or
13 worked – no unemployment insurance
III. Industrialization and
Workers
 Factory workers often worked 12 hrs. a
day, 6 or 7 days a week
-they were paid by production not by the
hour (piecework) – i.e. those that worked
the fastest made the most money
 Women were excluded from the highpaying jobs and had no chance to
advance
Industrialization and
Workers
 1882: average of 675 workers killed a
week
 No vacation, sick leave, unemployment
 20% of boys and 10% of girls under the
age of 15 worked – including some as
young as 5
 1899 wages: women - $267 a year, men
- $498 – Carnegie - $25 million
IV. The Great Strikes
 Labor unions emerged during the late
1800s – wanted higher wages, fewer
hours, and better working conditions
 Knights of Labor – formed in 1869 – led
by Terrence Powderly – united all skilled
and non-skilled workers – little success
IV. The Great Strikes
 American Federation of Labor – formed
in 1886 – led by Samuel Gompers –
organized only skilled workers
 Industrial Workers of the World –
nicknamed “Wobblies” – group in
Chicago who opposed the AFL – focused
on non-skilled workers
IV. The Great Strikes
 Reaction of Employers:
-hated unions – tried to stop their influence
by:
1) firing union organizers
2) forbidding union meetings
3) forcing new workers to agree not
to join a union
4) refusing to recognize unions
IV. The Great Strikes
 Railroad Strike of 1877 – 1st major strike
in the U.S. – railroad companies cut
wages and violence erupted across the
country – federal troops put down the
strike
 1881-1900: 24,000 strikes in the U.S.
IV. The Great Strikes
 Haymarket Riot – 1886
- workers wanted an 8 hr. work day
- fight broke out between the strikers and
scabs at the Chicago McCormick Reaper
factory
- bomb thrown by someone in Haymarket
Square killed 7 police officers
- riot followed with dozens killed on both
sides
IV. The Great Strikes
 Homestead Strike – 1892 – wages cut by
Carnegie Steel – strike began in
Homestead, PA – several killed
 Pullman Strike – 1894 – the last of the
great strikes
-sleeping car maker George Pullman cut
wages by 25% and laid off several
workers
IV. The Great Strikes
-120,000 railroad workers eventually joined
the strike
-federal gov’t ended the strike because the
mail had to get through
-increased federal involvement in labor
strikes