American Stories
THIRD EDITION
By: Brands •
Chapter
18
The Industrial Society
1850‒1901
The Industrial Society, 1850‒1901
18.1
Industrial Development
What enabled the United States to build
an industrial economy?
18.2
An Industrial Empire
What were the main characteristics of
the new steel and oil industries?
The Industrial Society, 1850‒1901
18.3
The Sellers
Why were the new methods of
advertising so important?
18.4
The Wage Earners
Who were the wage earners in the new
economy?
The Industrial Society, 1850‒1901
18.5
Culture of Work
How did wage earners organize in this
period, and what demands did they
make?
Video Series:
Key Topics in U.S. History
1.
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The Transcontinental Railroad
The Gilded Men
The Making of a Consumer Culture
Knights of Labor
Home
A Machine Culture
• Centennial Exposition held in
Philadelphia
• Focused on industrial era innovations
• U.S. fast becoming industrialized culture
• Developments in manufacturing,
transportation, communications, changed
society
• Laborers in steel, oil, railroads played
leading role
Home
Home
Industrial Development
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An Empire on Rails
Advantages of the Railroad
Building the Empire
Linking the Nation via Trunk Lines
Rails Across the Continent
Problems of Growth
Home
Industrial Development
• Conditions for rapid industrial growth
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Abundance of cheap natural resources
Large pools of labor
Expanded markets
Investment capital
Technological progress
Government support
• Industry developed quickly
• Entrepreneurs flourished
• Concentrated in Northeast
Industrial Development
An Empire on Rails
• Revolution in transportation and
communication
• U.S. industrial economy based on
expansion of the railroads
• Steamships
• Telegraph and telephone
Industrial Development
Advantages of the Railroad
• Railroads transformed American life
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Ended rural isolation
National market
Led to organization of modern corporation
Stimulated other industries
Railroads captured imagination of the
American people
Industrial Development
Building the Empire
• Railroad construction boom 1865‒1916
• U.S. laid more than 200,000 miles of track
costing billions of dollars
• Expensive endeavor
• Cost repaid over time
• Waste and corruption in railroad
industry
• Built too fast and wastefully
• Build into Indian lands
Industrial Development
Linking the Nation via Trunk Lines
• No integrated rail system before Civil
War
• Designed to protect local interests
• Civil War - value of long-distance lines seen
• Construction and consolidation begins
• Large companies took over small
companies
• Standardization
Industrial Development
Linking the Nation via Trunk Lines
(continued)
• Four trunk lines
• East linked with Great Lakes and West
• Baltimore and Ohio (B&O), Erie RR, New
York Central RR, Pennsylvania RR
• Southern railroad system integrated in
1880s
• War damage caused delay
• Rail transportation improved
• Safe, fast, reliable
• Standard time
Industrial Development
Rails Across the Continent
• 1862 - Congress authorized the
transcontinental railroad
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Delay from sectional tensions ended
Union Pacific worked westward
Central Pacific worked eastward
May 10, 1869 - Tracks met in Utah
By 1900 - four more lines to Pacific
Industrial Development
Problems of Growth
• Overbuilding caused problems
• Intense competition among railroads
• Efforts to share failed
• Consolidation did not solve problems
• Bankers gained control of railroads
• J. Pierpoint Morgan
• Multiple reforms
Industrial Development
Industrial Development
Discussion Question
• What enabled the United States to build
an industrial economy?
Industrial Development
An Industrial Empire
• Carnegie and Steel
• Rockefeller and Oil
• The Business of Invention
Home
An Industrial Empire
• Innovation drove new industrial empire
• Bessemer process of refining steel
permitted mass production
• Use of steel changed agriculture,
manufacturing, transportation, architecture
An Industrial Empire
Carnegie and Steel
• Steel business complex
• Required large capital investment,
abundant raw materials, research
departments, and sophisticated techniques
• Rose in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Alabama
• Businesses grew larger
An Industrial Empire
Carnegie and Steel (continued)
• Andrew Carnegie entered steel business
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Rags to riches
Entered steel industry in 1872
Homestead plant
By 1901 – employed 20,000
• Produced more steel than Great Britain
• Sold out to J. P. Morgan
• United States Steel Company
An Industrial Empire
Rockefeller and Oil
• Petroleum became profitable
• Little use for gasoline
• Kerosene for lighting
• Other petroleum uses
• 1859 - First oil well drilled
• Edwin L. Drake near Titusville, Pennsylvania
An Industrial Empire
Rockefeller and Oil (continued)
• Standard Oil Company
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1863 - John D. Rockefeller
Moved to consolidate to end competition
Vertical integration
New business organization: the trust
Standard Oil Trust
An Industrial Empire
The Business of Invention
• Age of invention in America
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Number of patents soared
Communications transformed
Business and industry innovations
Photography
Diet changes
• Telephone and electricity
• Alexander Graham Bell
• Thomas Alva Edison
An Industrial Empire
An Industrial Empire
Discussion Question
• What were the main characteristics of
the new steel and oil industries?
An Industrial Empire
The Sellers
• Marketing developed to sell products
• Advertising pervaded American life
• Department store – a national institution
• Mail-order catalogs – reached rural
customers
• Brand names – homogeneity of goods
• Common language of consumption
• America became a community of
consumers
Home
Discussion Question
• Why were the new methods of
advertising so important?
The Sellers
The Wage Earners
• Working Men, Working Women, Working
Children
Home
The Wage Earners
• Labor of millions of men and women
built the new industrial society
• Improvements for workers in late 1800s
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Real wages rose
Better working conditions
Workers’ influence grew
Expanding health and educational services
The Wage Earners
Working Men, Working Women,
Working Children
• Before 1900, life for wage earners hard
• Chronically low wages
• Average wages: $400–500 per year, needed
$600 for decent living
• Some jobs varied from average
• Breadwinner might be woman or child
• Immigrants and minorities
• Chinese Exclusion Act
• Dangerous working conditions
• Safety standards low
The Wage Earners
The Wage Earners
Discussion Question
• Who were the wage earners in the new
economy?
The Wage Earners
Culture of Work
• Labor Unions
• Labor Unrest
Home
Culture of Work
• Adjustments in work habits
• Farm workers adjusted to factory’s
disciplines
• Impersonal work conditions
• Economic and social mobility
• Rags-to-riches stories - Horatio Alger
• Workers did rise in status
• Gave workers hope
Culture of Work
Labor Unions
• Low numbers in labor unions
• Seen as “foreign” and radical
• Workforce fragmented
• Knights of Labor - 1869
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Founded as secret fraternal order
Open policy
Pitted workers against monopoly
Platform
Tide turned against Knights
Culture of Work
Labor Unions (continued)
• American Federation of Labor (AFL)
• Founded by Samuel Gompers - 1886
• Practical improvements for wages and
working conditions
• Limited membership
Culture of Work
Labor Unrest
• Workers helped each other
• Assisted new workers in acclimating
• Social and fraternal organizations
• Employers - strict laws of the market
• Wanted a docile workforce
• Strikes broke out
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1880–1900 - 23,000 strikes
Great Railroad Strike
Chicago Haymarket incident
Homestead Strike
Culture of Work
Culture of Work
Culture of Work
Discussion Question
• How did wage earners organize in this
period, and what demands did they
make?
Culture of Work
Conclusion: Industrialization’s
Benefits and Costs
• Benefits of rapid industrialization
• Rise in national power and wealth
• Improved standard of living
• Human cost of industrialization
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Exploitation
Social unrest
Growing disparity between rich and poor
Increased power of giant corporations
How Did Labor Unrest Manifest Itself as
Industrialization Spread?
• Where was labor unrest most
pronounced?
• How did factors such as urbanization
and wage levels affect labor activity?
• How did the spread of Knights of Labor
assemblies relate to the geographic
distribution of different U.S. industries?