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Invention, Industry, Immigration, and Progressive Change
Ambrose Bierce defined corporations as “ingenious devices for
obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.”
Corporations allow shareholders to own a portion of a company,
profit from it when it makes money. (You can also lose your
money if the corporation is mismanaged.) What corporations
do very effectively is limit risk – by allowing you to own part of
a company without putting your entire life savings at risk –
and limit liability. Smithfield Foods is pumping filth and
pollution into the James River? Cruelty to the little piggy? Not
my problem! Even if you are a shareholder, you’re not to blame
– at least not legally.
 Thomas Edison, known as the
“Wizard of Menlo Park,” held
thousands of patents by the end of
his career as an inventor. Among
the most important were the light
bulb, the battery cell, the motion
picture machine, and the electric
generator. Not all of the ideas
were his own, but his patents gave
him lucrative opportunities in
business.
 Alexander Graham Bell was the
inventor of the telephone. “Mr.
Watson, come here, I want you!”
was the first line every conveyed
by telephone. Bell would go on to
become the founder of the
American Telephone and Telegraph
Company, or AT&T. By the turn of
the century, telephone
communication was common.

The First Flight took place in Kitty
Hawk, North Carolina on December
17th, 1903. The Wright Brothers were
bicycle mechanics by trade, but put
all of their efforts into the airplane
during the off season. Their
invention would change the nature of
travel in America, and even the
nature of warfare. By World War I –
in 1914 – the airplane was used to
gain strategic advantages on the
battlefield.
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The automobile was not invented in
the United States, it was a product of
Europe. And even in the United
States, there were several men who
began producing automobiles before
Henry Ford came along – The Duryea
Brothers and Ransom Olds, for
example. Henry Ford’s genius was
the invention of the assembly line as
a way to mass produce his Model-T
Ford.
Henry Ford’s Model-T Ford was mass
produced using the assembly line. He joked
that it came in “any color you like, as long
as it’s black.”
 Henry Bessemer was an
Englishman who invented a
process to purify iron ore into
steel. By blasting the molten iron
ore with pure oxygen, the
Bessemer Process purified the
iron, allowing it to form steel, a
metal strong enough to build
railroads and bridges, as well as
the I-beams used in the
construction of skyscrapers.
 Andrew Carnegie was the man who
dominated the steel industry in the
United States between the Civil War and
the turn of the Century in 1900.
Carnegie got started as a businessman
during the Civil War, and controlled
over 80 percent of the Steel Industry by
the 1890s. He used “vertical
integration” to cut the cost of his steel,
and sold his company in 1901 for over
$400 Million. He spent the rest of his
life giving his money away to charitable
causes.
 John Pierpont Morgan was the leader
of the banking and financial
institutions of the United States during
the late 1800s and early 1900s. He
was so influential that when banks
slumped in the early part of the1900s,
he bailed them out personally! No
TARP or Stimulus Package required!
Morgan was involved in numerous
anti-competitive trusts. Several of his
companies were sued for violation of
the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.
 John D. Rockefeller was the leader of
the Standard Oil Trust, which
controlled the oil refineries of the
United States during the late 19th
Century. His company refined
kerosene until the invention of the
light bulb, and began refining motor
oil and gasoline once the automobile
became more popular. Eventually, the
Standard Oil Trust was sued for
violating the Sherman Anti-Trust Act,
broken apart, and destroyed.
 Cornelius Vanderbilt controlled
most of the railroads in the United
States east of the Mississippi River
during the 19th Century. He had
consolidated all of the railroads in
New York, and made his fortune by
controlling trade by rails in the
states. He was involved in
numerous trusts and pools, and
accumulated hundreds of millions
of dollars.
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Laissez-Faire economic policies are those that leave
free markets alone! The government does not
regulate businesses at all – and in the case of the
US government, it promoted some companies with
tax breaks and land.
From the French expression meaning
“hands off,” the term laissez-faire refers
to economic policies in which the
government choices not to regulate our
capitalist economy. By allowing free
markets to do as they will, the
government endorsed the free market.
In the late 19th Century, though, the
government did more than that! The
government actively promoted certain
companies, especially railroads, by
granting tax exemptions and land to the
companies that built the rails.
One of the most important characteristics of the United States which encouraged the development of our
economy was the abundance of natural resources:
Coal
Mining
Water
Timber
Iron Ore
Oil
 During the last half of the 19th
Century, millions of
immigrants flooded into the
United States. Most came to
the United States poor and
looking for work. A reliable
source of cheap labor was
good for big business.
Big business grew rapidly because
there was a reliable source of cheap
labor: immigrants.
The expression “The
Gilded Age” was coined
by Mark Twain and
describes the character
of the late 1800s. On
the surface, there were
many wealthy
industrialists doing
quite well; however, just
beneath the surface
there were many more
poor people, struggling
and suffering.
All labor unions were unified
in hoping to correct these
major problems for workers:
 Low Pay
 Child Labor
 Dangerous Working
Conditions
 Long Hours
 No Job Security
 No Benefits
Labor Unions like the Knights of Labor, the American
Federation of Labor, the American Railway Union, and
the Industrial Workers of the World all favored the 8hour day and sought safer working conditions for
employees.
The goals of labor unions were
many, but the most important
were:
 The 8 Hour Day
 Safer Working Conditions
 High Pay
 Ending Child Labor
 Worker’s Compensation
 Greater Job Security
As America’s first national labor
union, the Knights of Labor
played an important role in
setting the goals of working
people. They accepted all
members – black or white, men
or women, skilled or unskilled –
and their major goals were the
eight hour day and higher pay.
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In 1886, an anarchist lobbed a bomb
into a crowd of striking workers from
the McCormick Harvesting Company.
They were participating in a strike
led by the Knights of Labor. The
bomb killed several police officers
and ruined the reputation of the
Knights of Labor. They would forever
be associated with violence and
radicalism. Eventually the union lost
all influence.
Violence at the Haymarket Square Riot
caused the Knights of Labor to lose their
influence. Americans associated the group
with the violence and radicalism which took
place at Haymarket Square in Chicago, IL.
Established by Samuel Gompers in 1886, the
American Federation of Labor was a union
which attempted to take the place of the
Knights of Labor. They only accepted skilled
workers into the union, and they sought two
major goals. First, they wanted an 8-hour
working day. Secondly, they wanted for
workers at companies to engage in collective
bargaining. This way, they could negotiate
for high wages more effectively. Samuel
Gompers disliked calling strikes as a general
rule, but the AFL would be involved in some
of the most bitter labor strikes in history.
When Andrew Carnegie attempted to
slash the wages of all of his employees in
1892, the workers walked out on strike.
When the Homestead Plant attempted to
bring in strikebreakers to replace the
workers, violence erupted. After several
bloody clashes, the Pennsylvania State
militia began shooting the striking
workers. The union lost the strike, and
many of the men were blacklisted –
never to be hired again by major
industries, which feared labor agitators.
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One of the most important labor
unions in American history was the
American Railway Union, led by the
Socialist activist Eugene V. Debs. The
American Railway Union organized all
of the men who loaded, unloaded,
and operated trains all across the
United States. During the Pullman
Strike, they refused to work on trains
which carried Pullman cars –
causing a huge blockage of the
nation’s railways in 1894.
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In 1894, a small strike of employees at
Pullman Palace Car Company – a company
town – blew up into a much larger affair.
When George Pullman slashed wages, but
left the price of rent and consumer goods
available at the company store at the same
rates, workers walked out. Then, to
support the small company’s workers,
Eugene V. Debs – leader of the American
Railway Union, ordered a sympathy strike.
His men refused to load or unload any
trains with Pullman cars attached.
Eventually, President Grover Cleveland used
the Army to force the men back to work.
The strike ended in failure.
Eugene V. Debs ordered his men to support
the striking workers of the Pullman Palace
Car Company. After several weeks when the
US Postal Service could not deliver the mail,
President Grover Cleveland sent in the US
Army and ordered the men back to work.
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At one point, this labor union was
one of the largest in the United
States. After the horrifying Triangle
Shirtwaist Fire of 1911, the union
work towards laws enforcing fire
codes and better safety conditions for
working people. Although a few of
the women who led the union leaned
towards radicalism, most were simply
seeking better pay and a safe
workplace.
Over 140 young immigrant women were burned
alive – or jumped to a gruesome death – during
the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911. After the fire,
the International Ladies Garment Worker Union
fought for better safety conditions and fire codes
inspected by city officials.
Progressives of the 19th Century wanted more
democracy, or reforms that would give
Americans more control over who was
elected to office and what they were allowed
to do.
 Progressives believe in economic
opportunity – supporting the causes of
labor union for higher pay and supporting
Anti-Trust laws to protect consumers.
 Progressives wanted to eliminate social
injustices for women, the poor, immigrants
and African-Americans. They were less
successful with these goals.
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Cleaning up local governments was a
goal of some progressives, including
Thomas Nast, the cartoonist who
criticized political machines like the
Tammany Ring in New York City.
 Progressives encouraged commission
systems and city managers instead of
the old corrupt political machines
governments were so corrupt during the late
which succeeded in electing mayors Local
th Century and early 20th, that many Progressives
19
and councilmen who took bribes and
sought to end the traditional system of mayors and
kickbacks.
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city councilmen. The “Commission System” and the
hiring of city managers were two possible solutions.
Most Progressives supported reforms that
would give voters on the state level
greater power to control their localities.
Robert La Follette of Wisconsin was one
of the most important leaders, seeking:
 Referendums
 Initiatives
 Recall Elections
 The Primary System
 Secret Ballots
 The 17th Amendment
Muckrakers opposed child labor
because they felt that children who
were forced to work were underpaid
and robbed of their youths.
 Union opposed child labor because
they were underpaid.
 Progressives like Florence Kelley
opposed child labor because she felt
that all children were entitled to
education. She and individuals like
Horace Mann encouraged compulsory
education bills, requiring the
children attend school!
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Woman’s groups like the National
American Woman’s Suffrage
Association demanded the right to
vote.
 Following in the footsteps of leaders
like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan
B. Anthony, women like Mary
Chapman Catt succeeded in the
ratification of the 19th Amendment,
which gave women the right to vote
in national elections in 1919.
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By passing the Sherman
Anti-Trust Act in 1890
and the Clayton AntiTrust Act in 1914,
Progressive Reformers
attempted to create a
fairer economic system
– one that considered
the needs of laborers
and consumers as much
as it did the barons of
industry.
 Progressive Presidents like
Theodore Roosevelt and William
Howard Taft used the Sherman
Anti-Trust Act to sue companies
engaged in anti-competitive and
unfair practices like monopolies,
trusts, and pools. The law was
used to destroy the Meat Trust,
railroad pools like the Northern
Securities Trust, and eventually
the Standard Oil Company.
Theodore Roosevelt was committed to a Square Deal for
all – meaning that he was committed to these goals:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Conservation of Natural Resources – so that
future generations would benefit from the
resources of the nation and the environment
would be preserved.
Control of Corporations – so that no anticompetitive practices were allowed to stand,
which would hurt consumers and small
businesses.
Consumer Protection – like the Meat Inspection
Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act.
Fair Play for Workers – Roosevelt was the first
President to side with working people during a
labor dispute – the Anthracite Coal Strike of
1902.
 In his four years in office from
1909 – 1913, William Howard Taft
sued more companies for
violations of the Sherman AntiTrust Act that Theodore Roosevelt
had in seven years!
 In 1912, the two men could not
resolve their differences, however,
and ran against one another – and
Woodrow Wilson – for the
Presidency. Both men lost…
Woodrow Wilson believed that the
government should destroy trusts, but not
favor any one business over another. He
advocated for the Clayton Anti-Trust Act
which was much stricter than the
Sherman Anti-Trust Act had been. He
helped to create the Federal Trade
Commission and the Federal Reserve in
order to place controls on the banking
industry. In addition, he lowered
“protective” tariffs, to lower prices for
consumers.
 New Freedom? It was less Freedom for
big business and monopolies!
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The Clayton Anti-Trust Act was passed in
1914 to strengthen the Sherman Anti-Trust
Act.
 The Clayton Anti-Trust law made so
unions could not be prosecuted by antitrust lawsuits – the Sherman Anti-Trust
Act had been misapplied at times.
Woodrow Wilson also attempted to
regulate the Banking and Financial Industry
during this period.
 The Federal Reserve Act placed
controls on the banking and financial
industries