INDUSTRIALIZATION &
THE GILDED AGE
RISE OF AMERICAN INDUSTRY
FREE ENTERPRISE SYSTEM
-Individuals are free to produce and sell what they wish
-People go into business to make a profit
-Prices are set by supply and demand
-Inefficient companies are unable to compete
CONTRIBUTION OF GOVERNMENT
-Protection of property and contracts
-Passing of protective tariffs
-System of patents leading to new inventions
EMERGENCE OF MODERN INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY
EXPANSION OF RAILROADS
Transcontinental Railroad and other new railroad lines improve
travel/trade.
GROWTH OF POPULATION
DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL MARKET
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES
-BESSEMER PROCESS used in steel production
-Electricity gives rise to new industries
-Oil industry develops
DEVELOPMENT OF CORPORATION AS BUSINESS ORGANIZATION
U.S. International Trade Organizations
also include…
• General Agreement of
Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
• World Trade
Organization (WTO)
GREAT ENTREPRENEURS (BUSINESS MEN)
“ROBBER BARONS” OR “CAPTAINS OF INDUSTRY”?
ROBBER BARONS: Businessmen sometimes used ruthless tactics to
destroy competition and to keep workers wages low.
ANDREW CARNEGIE
-Fostered the Gospel of Wealth.
-Steel production
-Philanthropist who gave money to libraries and schools
JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER
-Standard Oil Company
-Controlled the refining of oil
-Forced to dissolve when his company developed monopoly of oil
industry
-Like Carnegie, was a great philanthropist
RISE OF ORGANIZED LABOR
PROBLEMS FACED BY WORKERS:
-Long hours, low wages
-Poor working conditions, repetitive tasks
-Child labor
-Lack of job security
RISE OF LABOR UNIONS:
-KNIGHTS OF LABOR (Terrence Powderly)
-AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR (Samuel Gompers)
GOVERNMENT ATTITUDE TOWARD UNIONS:
-Anti-union bias
-Saw unions as driving up cost of goods
-Haymarket Affair of 1886 (association with violence)
UBANIZATION
MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE FROM COUNTRYSIDE TO CITIES
BRINGS MANY PROBLEMS:
-Crowded tenements (one room apartments with little daylight/
inadequate plumbing)
-Pollution, sewage contamination of water
-Inability to provide essential public services
Political corruption:
-”political machines” run by “bosses” that helped immigrants but took
advantage of them
IMMIGRATION
WHY THEY CAME…
-PUSH FACTORS: oppression, poverty, wars, ethnic persecution
-PULL FACTORS: belief in American freedom, economic opportunity
and cultural ties
NEW IMMIGRANTS
-From Southern and Eastern Europe, mostly Catholic and Jewish
-Less educated, spoke no English
PROCESS OF AMERICANIZATION:
-Immigrants learned to speak, act and behave like Americans; often the
children of the immigrants did this, not the adults…
SETTLEMENT OF THE FAR WEST
DISCOVERY OF GOLD AND SILVER
-KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH: Gold found in Yukon, near Alaska (1896)
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD (1869)
-made travel and trade with West Coast easier
HOMESTEAD ACT (1862)
-made federal land available to settlers
RANCHERS
-Cattle drives took cattle across the open range
FARMS
-Dug water wells, made sod houses, used barbed wire and steel plows
NATIVE AMERICAN POLICY
INDIAN WARS
-Federal troops defeated Sioux and other tribes on the Great Plains and
forced them onto RESERVATIONS
DAWES ACT (1887)
-Sought to “Americanize” Native Americans.
-Abolished tribes and allotted tribal lands to individuals
AMERICAN INDIAN CITIZENSHIP ACT (1924)
-Granted U.S. citizenship to all Native Americans born in the U.S.
AGRARIAN MOVEMENT
PROBLEMS OF FARMERS:1870-1900
-Increased farm production led to more crops per acre, but falling food
prices
-Farmers had to ship goods to market and were at the mercy of the
railroad rates
-Farmers were constantly in debt
GRANGE MOVEMENT (1876)
-Original goal was to reduce rural isolation
-Turned into a group demanding economic and political reforms
-Helped get Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 passed which regulated
railroad rates
POPULIST PARTY: 1891-1896
NATIONAL THIRD PARTY REPRESENTING LABORERS,
FARMERS AND INDUSTRIAL WORKERS (ALSO KNOWN AS THE
PEOPLE’S PARTY)
POPULIST PLATFORM (1892)
-Supported William Jennings Bryan for President (1896, 1900, 1908)
-What they wanted:
Unlimited coinage of silver (free silver)
Direct election of Senators
Term limits for President/Secret Ballots
Immigration Restriction
Graduated income Tax
THIRD PARTIES IN AMERICAN POLITICS
-Help educate voters on special issues
-Provide an outlet for minority grievances
-Pressure major parties to adopt their ideas
• Which goal was shared by both Knights of
Labor and The American Federation of Labor?
a. To help large corporations to increase their
production
b. To introduce new and innovative techniques
to factories
c. To promote immigration of skilled workers
from Asia and Europe
d. To organize workers to demand better
conditions from employers
The Interstate Commerce Act of 1887 and the
Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 were efforts by
the federal government to:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Regulate aspects of business
Expand the positive features of the trusts
Favor big businesses over small companies
Move toward government ownership of key
industries
"You shall not press down upon the brow of labor
this crown of thorns; you shall not crucify mankind
upon a cross of gold.“
The above quote illustrates the
agenda of what specific group
during the 1890s?
a.
b.
c.
d.
The Republican Party
The Coal Miners Union
The Populist party
The Gold Bugs