A New Modern America
AP United States History
Period VI Industrialization and Gilded Age
1865-1900
The Final Frontier
 Remember
the early stuff
 The last settlement of the west
 Mining frontier
 Cattle frontier
 Farming frontier
 Turner’s frontier thesis
Native American Policy
 Earlier
policies
 The removal
 Reservation policy
 Indian wars
 Assimilationists
 Dawes Severalty Act (1887)
 Aftermath of US Policy
The New South
 Post
war
 Economic progress
 Poverty
 Agriculture
 Segregation
 New industries
Origins Of The Second Industrial Revolution
Origins of the SIR
Ideal Conditions
The United States had ideal conditions
for RAPID industrial growth.
1. Abundance of cheap
natural resources,
including coal, iron
ore, copper, lead, oil,
and timber.
Coal Mining
http://www.humanillnesses.com/original/images/hdc_0001_0003_0_img0203.jpg
Origins of the SIR
Ideal Conditions
The United States had ideal conditions
for RAPID industrial growth.
2. Abundance of cheap
labor, both nativeborn and immigrant.
Italian Immigrants
http://nhs.needham.k12.ma.us/cur/kane98/kane_p3_immig/Italian/Original
Origins of the SIR
Ideal Conditions
The United States had ideal conditions
for RAPID industrial growth.
3. Largest domestic
market in the
world.
Created by the
growing population
and an efficient
transportation system.
Park Row, New York City
Late 19th Century
http://www.nyu.edu/classes/finearts/nyc/cityhall/image/cpvny_newsrow1.JPG
Origins of the SIR
Ideal Conditions
The United States had ideal conditions
for RAPID industrial growth.
The White House
http://www.frbsf.org/currency/iconography/whitehouse.jpg
4. Government support
without regulation.
Protected private property,
subsidized railroads with
grants and loans, supported
manufacturers with tariffs,
and refrained from
regulation and heavy
taxation.
Origins of the SIR
Ideal Conditions
The United States had ideal conditions
for RAPID industrial growth.
5. Efficient transportation
network.
Based on the expansion of
railroads.
Anheuser Busch Railyards, St.
Louis, MO
http://www.usgennet.org/usa/mo/county/stlouis/kempland/ab-railyard2.jpg
Origins of the SIR
Ideal Conditions
The United States had ideal conditions
for RAPID industrial growth.
6. Capital was plentiful.
Domestic funding and
European investment.
Morgan Dollar
In Circulation 1878-1904
http://morgandollarseries.com/format/o.jpg
Origins of the SIR
Ideal Conditions
The United States had ideal conditions
for RAPID industrial growth.
7. Development of laborsaving technologies.
Over 440,000 new patents
were granted between 1860
to 1890.
Hollerith Tabulating Machine
http://www.officemuseum.com/IMagesWWW/1890_Census_Hollerith_Elect
ric_Tabulating_Machines_Sci_Amer.jpg
Origins of the SIR
Ideal Conditions
http://www.artasauthority.com/images/Rockefeller.JPG
John D. Rockefeller Cartoon
The United States had ideal conditions
for RAPID industrial growth.
8. Talented entrepreneurs
provide leadership and
management skills.
Impact of the Railroads
Increased Number of Railroads and Efficiency

Ended rural and regional isolation.



Created a national market.
Trips that usually took weeks or months now take
a matter of days.
Allowed regions to become more economically
specialized.



Did not have to be self-sufficient and produce
everything.
Could put more human and capital resources into
producing what is abundant.
Bring in what the region does not have via the
railroad.
Impact of the Railroads
Increased Number of Railroads and Efficiency

Lowered costs of
production and railroads
became faster.



Trade increases as a
result.
Made mass production
and consumption of goods
possible.
Led to more organization
and became the model
for large business
structure.
Turn-of-the-Century
Engine with Cars
http://www.railroad.net/articles/railfanning/worktrains/media/MW_19.jpg
Impact of the Railroads
Increased Number of Railroads and Efficiency

Stimulated other
industries.


Meatpacking Plant
http://memoria-inventada.weblog.com.pt/arquivo/060420_meatPacking_hmed_7p.hmedium.jpg

Lower costs lead to lower
prices for consumers
which lead to increases in
demand.
Meat-packing, steel,
slaughterhouses, farming,
textiles, etc., all grow.
Captured the
imagination of the
American people.
Impact of the Railroads
Transcontinental Lines

May 10, 1869.


Union Pacific and
Central Pacific lines
connect at Promontory
Point, Utah, and
create the first
transcontinental
railroad.
Connected East to
West and North to
South, making the
country grow closer.
First Transcontinental Railroad,
“Driving the Golden Spike”
http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/transcontinental-railroad-2.jpg
Impact of the Railroads
Changes Made By Railroads

Standard gauges.



Air brakes.


Westinghouse Corporate Logo
http://www.gadgetell.com/images/2007/01/westinghouse.gif

Before standardization, each
company had its own track size.
New gauges allow for faster
delivery of goods.
Created by George
Westinghouse, made it safer for
trains to travel with more cars
and more weight.
Towns built near rail lines.
National system of time zones
is developed.
Impact of the Railroads
Problems with Railroads

Too many railroads leads to
too much competition.



Drives many competitors out of
business.
Monopolies begin to form as the
small guys are forced out.
Panic of 1893.


Effectively gave control of most
railroad lines to bankers, most
notably J.P. Morgan.
Decide to eliminate competition
through buyouts and cutting
prices.
John Pierpont Morgan
http://www.starway.org/Titanic/pictures/JPMorgan.jpg
Other Forms of Transportation
The “Horseless” Carriage

Prototype in 1770 built by
French artillery officer NicolasJoseph Cugnot.



Early Prototype
of Ford’s Car
http://oldcarandtruckpictures.com/ModelTFord/1896_Ford_Quadricycle_
W-Henry_Ford_Clara_Ford_and_Henry_FordJR.jpg

Used steam power, was not fast,
sturdy, or safe.
First combustible engine using
gasoline—1876.
First motor car in 1893, built by
Charles and J. Frank Duryea.
Only the wealthy could afford
the early cars, so they did not
catch on.

Henry Ford would develop the
assembly line, making it cheaper to
produce and sale cars.
Other Forms of Transportation
The Airplane
 Orville and Wilbur Wright.
 December 17, 1903 at Kittyhawk, NC.
 12 second, 120 foot flight.
Wright Bros. At Kittyhawk, NC
http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Wright-Brothers-Flight-at-Kitty-Hawk-Giclee-Print-C12043022.jpeg
Communication Revolution
Telegraphs & Telephones

Telegraph





Samuel Morse, patented 1837.
Sent messages via dot-and-dash
code over electric wires.
Would grow alongside the
railroads.
Drew American closer together.
Telephone



Alexander Graham Bell, 1876.
Organized America's longest
running monopoly: American
Telephone and Telegraph
(AT&T).
Operators, mostly women,
manually connected calls early
on.
AG Bell w/ First Telephone
http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=70619&rendTypeId=4
Communication Revolution
Typewriter

Christopher Sholes, 1867.



Turn-of-the Century
Secretarial Typing Pool
Sold to E. Remington &
Sons, 1873.
Keyboard design has
remained relatively the
same to the present day.
Typing pools formed at big
businesses.

http://www.officemuseum.com/Office_with_letter_copying_press_and_bath.jpg

Handled the typing and
copying duties for the
business.
Majority of the workers are
women.
Impact of Electricity
Thomas Edison, the Wizard of Menlo Park

One of the greatest
inventors ever.
 Over 1,000 patents.




Thomas Edison
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/american_originals_iv/images/thomas_
edison/thomas_edison.jpg
Phonograph, 1877.
Light bulb, 1879.
Improved telephone
strength and sound quality.
1882, built the first power
plant in New York City.
Impact of Electricity
George Westinghouse & Nikola Tesla

Transformer with alternating current (AC).

Allowed electricity to travel longer distances.
Nikola Tesla
http://www.salrestivo.org/NikolaTesla.jpg
George Westinghouse
http://www.explorepahistory.com/images/tn_ExplorePAHistory-a0b9u7-a_349.JPG
Rise of Big Business:
Theories of Capitalism
Rise of Capitalism
Capitalism Defined
 Private
businesses run most industries.
 Gain economic wealth through taking
advantage of technological advances.

Profits drive business.
 Law


High price, increased production.
Low price, reduced production.
 Law


of Supply (Business Owners).
of Demand (Buyers).
High price, decreased demand.
Low price, increased demand.
Conservative Economic Theories
Laissez Faire Economic Theory
 Adam
Smith, The
Wealth of Nations,
1776.
 The
economy is
regulated by the
“invisible hand” of
supply and demand.
 Government does not
have to be involved.
Adam Smith
http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/s/fotos/smith_adam.jpg
 “Hands
off” policy of
the government.
Conservative Economic Theories
Laissez Faire Economic Theory

Allow businesses to do
what needs to be done
with little government
intervention.


Industrialists would appeal
to laissez-faire to keep out
intervention, even when
they were accepting
government subsidies and
protected by tariffs.
Government regulation
will reduce prosperity and
self-reliance.
The Wealth of Nations
http://www.ibiblio.org/ml/covers/WealthNations.jpg
Conservative Economic Theories
Social Darwinism

Based on Darwin's theory of
evolution, would be
developed by Herbert
Spencer.


Darwinian Theory
http://www.flyfishingdevon.co.uk/salmon/year3/psy339evaluationevolutionary-psychology/darwin-ape.jpg
Natural selection and survival
of the fittest should be applied
to the economy.
Concentration of wealth in the
hands of the “fit” was a
benefit to the human race as a
whole.
Conservative Economic Theories
Social Darwinism

Professor William G.
Sumner of Yale.


Help for the poor was
misguided because it
interfered with the
laws of nature.
Would only weaken
the evolution of the
species by preserving
the unfit.
Social Darwinism
http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=24413&rendTypeId=4
Conservative Economic Theories
The Gospel of Wealth: God Gave Me My Riches

The use of religion to justify
the wealth of successful
industrialists.
 The Protestant work ethic.



Rev. Russell Conwell, lecture
Acres of Diamonds.

John D. Rockefeller
http://www.chelationtherapyonline.com/anatomy/images/JDRd.jpg
Hard work and material
success were signs of God's
favor.
John D. Rockefeller: “God
gave me my riches.”
Everyone had a duty to
become rich.
Conservative Economic Theories
The Gospel of Wealth: God Gave Me My Riches
...To Use for the Common Good

Andrew Carnegie, Wealth.


Andrew Carnegie,
King of Steel
http://cache.eb.com/eb/image?id=70619&rendTypeId=4
Argued that the wealthy had a
God-given responsibility to
carry out projects of civic
philanthropy for the benefit of
society.
Carnegie spent over $350
million to build libraries,
universities, and other public
institutions.
Rise of Capitalism
Rags to Riches

Many leading businessmen and
industrialists grew up poor and
struggling.


Horatio Alger.




Horatio Alger,
adrift in new york
http://infodome.sdsu.edu/about/depts/spcollections/exhibits/0104/images/
drift_b.jpg
The “American Dream.”
1869, Luck and Pluck novel series.
Told stories of poor children who
bettered their lives through hard
work, wise investments, and selfreliance.
Used Andrew Carnegie as his model.
Inspired generations of young
children.
Rise of Capitalism
Rags to Riches

The reality of Horatio
Alger.


Opportunities existed, but
rags-to-riches was unusual.
Typical businessman was a
WASP male who came from
an upper-middle class
background whose father
was in business or banking.
Polish Immigrant Family
http://www.sbschools.org/schools/bc/mediacenter/immigration/images/immigrant.gif
Rise of Capitalism
New Ways of Doing Business
Monopolies
 A company gains near
exclusive control of an
industry.
 Little or no competition.
 Controlled the price and
quality of a product.
Mr. Monopoly
http://blogs.usatoday.com/photos/uncategorized/blogmonopoly.jpg
Rise of Capitalism
New Ways of Doing Business
Mergers
 Horizontal Merger



Combining two or more companies
competing in the same industry.
Example: If Coke & Pepsi would
merge.
Vertical Merger


Combining companies that are
involved in different stages of
production of a certain product.
Example: Steel.

Carnegie bought iron and limestone
mines in Minnesota, coal fields in
Pennsylvania and West Virginia,
railroad lines from Cleveland and Erie
to Pittsburgh, and barge companies on
the Three Rivers and Great Lakes. .
Merger Cartoon
http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/dbr/lowres/
dbrn449l.jpg
Rise of Capitalism
New Ways of Doing Business
Advertising
 Targeted what people wanted or needed through
catchy slogans, bright posters, and catalogs.
Early Coca-Cola Ad
http://www.antiquetrader.com/mark/content/binary/CocaCola1.jpg
Rise of Capitalism
New Ways of Doing Business

Department Stores &
Catalog Shopping
Catalog shopping allowed people
from across the country to order
goods and services from other
parts of the country.


Department stores.



Sears catalog was the most popular.
One-stop shopping and services are
offered for dry goods.
Wanamaker’s, Macy’s, JC Penney,
Sears, Kauffmann’s, etc.
Woolworth’s Five and Dime
Stores.


The original Wal-Mart or K-Mart.
Offered cheaper goods to the public.
Bloomingdale’s First Store
http://www.kipnotes.com/bloomies1ststore.jpg
Rise of Big Business:
The Robber Barons
John D. Rockefeller
Oil Refining


Formed the Standard Oil
Trust.
Destroyed competition
through “horizontal
integration” and price
slashes.



Rockefeller’s Oil Trust
http://aftermathnews.files.wordpress.com/2007/07/rockefeller_octopus.jpg

H. I.—Mergers within the
same industry to gain control.
Lower prices leads to more
control of the market.
By 1880, controlled 90% of
the nation’s oil refining
capacity.
Supported the arts,
medicine, and education.
Andrew Carnegie
Steel, Coal, Iron




Started poor, but invested
wisely.
Built up enough capital to invest
in steel.
Used the Bessemer process to
produce strong steel more
cheaply.
Used “vertical integration” to
gain control.


Purchase companies involved in the
production of materials for certain
projects.
The Gospel of Wealth.

The rich were morally obligated to
use wealth for fellow citizens.
Andrew Carnegie
http://www.libraryhistorybuff.org/images/pic-carnegie-cartoon-72.jpg
John Pierpont Morgan
Banking, Railroads, Steel


Son of a rich banker.
Bailed the U.S. out of
financial problems.
 Used his profits from
banking to buy into other
industries.

John Pierpont Morgan
Bailing out the US Gov’t.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/photos/uncategorized/blogmonopoly.jpg

Bought Carnegie Steel in
1903 for $500 million.
Used companies to drive
out competition.
 Very, very ruthless.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Railroads

Started as a shipping
company.
 Bought small railroads
during the Civil War.
 Provided more efficient
service by purchasing
smaller lines and combining
them.
Cornelius Vanderbilt
http://i.a.cnn.net/money/galleries/2007/fortune/0702/gallery.richestameric
ans.fortune/images/vanderbilt.jpg
George Westinghouse
Railroad Brakes, Electricity

Produced air brakes for rail
cars.
 Made it safer for trains to
haul more cars and travel
more quickly.
 Dominated the air brake
market with his patents.
George Westinghouse
http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/images/timeline_images/1868_you
ng_george.jpg
George Pullman
Railroad Cars

Built sleeping and dining
cars.
 Created his own town for
his workers, wanting to
provide them with their
basic needs and encourage
an educated, healthy, and
peaceful working
population.
George Pullman
http://www25.uua.org/uuhs/duub/images/georgepullman1.jpg
The Impact






Concentration of wealth – 1890’s, the top 10% controlled 90%
of the nation’s wealth; created a new class of millionaires
(European royalty)
Horatio Alger Myth – sold more than a million copies; every
story showed a young man of modest means becoming rich and
successful through honesty, hard work , and a little luck
Expanding middle class – increased need for white collar jobs;
middle management was needed ; increased the need for other
middle class services
Wage earners: 1900, 2/3 of Americans worked for wages;
determined by the law of supply and demand large pool of
immigrants kept wages low; David Ricardo’ “iron law of wages” ;
real wages rose steadily late 19th C; 1890, 11 million families
averaged $380 in annual income
Working Women – 1 out of 5 in 1900; young and single; most
jobs restricted to those seen as extensions of domestic duties; as
demand for clerical workers increased, women moved into
formerly male jobs; professions that became feminized lost status
and received lower wages
Labor discontent - unstable and mobile, changed jobs every 3
years; absenteeism and quitting was higher than unions
Second Industrial Rev
Second Wave of Immigration
Ellis Island
http://www.history.com/minisites/ellisisland/images/ellis_island_image.jpg
Old Immigration vs. New Immigration
Characteristics of the Old Immigration

Northern European


English, Scots-Irish,
German, Dutch,
Scandinavian, Jewish.
Predominantly
Protestant.
 Many had a small
amount of education
and could speak
English well.
 A large number were
skilled workers.
Fighting Irish Logo
http://www.sheridanbeachrental.com/images/Irishman.jpg
Old Immigration vs. New Immigration
Background of the New Immigration





Irish, Italian, Greek,
Eastern European (Polish,
Czechs, Slovaks, Russians,
Serbs).
Practiced either Roman
Catholicism or Orthodox
Catholicism.
Little or no education.
Large majority could not
speak, read, or write
English.
Unskilled workers who
would work cheaply.
Children of Irish Immigrants
http://italophiles.com/images/children.jpg
Old Immigration vs. New Immigration
Reasons for the New Immigration

Escape religious
persecution.
 Find economic
opportunities.
 Escape political
persecution.
Lady Liberty Welcoming Immigrants
http://admin.emanuelnyc.org/media/documents/doc_42.jpg
Old Immigration vs. New Immigration The New European
Immigration
Where Did They Come In and Where Did They
Go?

Entered through
Ellis Island.
 Settled in major
cities in the East
and Midwest.

New York, Boston,
Chicago,
Pittsburgh,
Cleveland, Detroit.
Immigrants Arriving at Ellis Island
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/ellis-island/statue-liberty.jpg
Old Immigration vs. New Immigration The New European
Immigration
Staying together



Ethnic Neighborhood in
East Pittsburgh
http://mckeesport.dementia.org/blog/images/050503murphy25.jpg

Created ethnic neighborhoods
with others from the same
country.
Old World values of land,
village, and parish turn into
home, neighborhood, parish, and
political nationalism in America.
Social and geographic mobility
seemed irrelevant and were
suspicious of higher
education.

Move and you break up the
neighborhood and the family.
Old Immigration vs. New Immigration The New Asian
Immigration
Background






Entered Hawaii or Angel
Island in San Francisco.
Came to find economic
opportunities.
Settled in Hawaii, California,
and Oregon.
Worked on railroads and
farms.
Ethnic neighborhoods created
(Chinatown).
Faced official discrimination
through enforced
Congressional and local laws.
Processing at Angel Island
http://www.angelisland.org/images/1brides.gif
Old Immigration vs. New Immigration The New Asian
Immigration
Chinese and Japanese
Chinese



Came during the 1840’s and 1850’s as
railroad laborers.
Culture was totally alien to most Americans.
Some are educated but could not speak well.
Japanese


First settlement near Sacramento, CA in 1869,
worked mainly as farm laborers.
First generation to come over known as Issei.

Chinese Immigrants in
San Francisco’s Chinatown
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/pnp/agc/7a08000/7a08800/7a08884r.jpg

Second generation, born in the U.S., known as
Nisei.
Third generation, born in the U.S., known as
Sansei.
Old Immigration vs. New Immigration The New Mexican
Immigration



Porfiro Diaz,
Mexican President
http://www.xcalak.info/images/facts/porfirodiaz_l.jpg
Came to America to find
economic opportunities
and escape civil war.
Settled in the Southwest
and California.
Worked on farms,
ranches, mines, and
railroads.
New Immigration
Ethnic
Neighborhoods
Benevolent
Societies
Ethnic
Businesses
Immigrant Life
Institutions that Helped
Immigrants to Adapt to
American culture
Churches
Synagogues
Temples
New Immigration
Immigrant Life


Urged to join the American
mainstream, but still held
on to traditional ways.
Benevolent societies.



Emblem of the Polish
National Alliance
http://www.pna-znp.org/content/images/pnalogocolor.jpg
Help immigrants in sickness,
unemployment, and death.
Attempted to provide
education, health care, and
jobs.
Jobs were low-paying,
unskilled, and “dirty
work.”
Nativist Reaction
Nativism Defined

Many old immigrants became
“Nativists.”


Believed that American society would
be destroyed by the new immigrants.
Catholicism and “Popery” would take
over the Presidency.

Goal was to keep foreigners out by any
means necessary.
 Prejudice based on race, religion, or
ethnic background.
 Economic fluctuations increased the
number of Nativist Americans societies,
as well as the severity of attacks on
immigrants.

Daniel Day-Lewis as Bill the Butcher,
Nativist Leader in Gangs of New York
http://www.ghostinthemachine.net/butcher.jpg
Immigrant workers would work for
lower wages, driving “established”
Americans out of jobs.
Nativist Reaction
Efforts to Resist Immigration

Labor unions


American Protective Association


Feared that employers would use
immigrants to depress wages and
break strikes.
A Nativist society that was openly
prejudiced against Roman
Catholics.
Social Darwinists

Viewed the new immigrants as
biologically and genetically
inferior to English and Germanic
stocks.
APA Officer Badge
http://www.policeguide.com/usprotective350.jpg
Nativist Reaction



Non Official Responses
KKK takes an anti-Catholic,
anti-Irish, anti-Italian stance
on top of its anti-African and
anti-women stances.
Ethnic riots and brutality run
rampant.
Were not trusted by the
American public.


Alien cultures and ideas.
Immigration Restriction
League.


Used political influence to
impose a literacy test on
immigrants.
Initially defeated by President
Grover Cleveland for being unAmerican.
KKK Anti-Immigration Pamphlet
http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m206/gds303/Menace.gif
Nativist Reaction
Official Responses

Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882.


Placed a ban on all new
immigrants coming from China.
Gentlemen’s Agreement with
Japan, 1907.

Agreement between the Japanese
government and President
Theodore Roosevelt that banned
all new immigrants coming from
Japan.

Literacy tests, 1917.
 National Origins Act of 1924
(Quota Act).

US Washer Company Using the
Chinese Exclusion Act on Ads
http://www.nychumanities.com/chinesewasher.jpg
Assigned each country an annual
quota for immigrants.
Second Industrial Rev
The Rise of Organized Labor
East St. Louis Labor Strike, 1886
http://www.printsoldandrare.com/labor/100lab.jpg
The Changing Status of Labor




A hallmark of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries is the
expanding output of American
industry.
Mechanization reduced the
prices of manufactured goods,
but wages fell and workers did
repetitive tasks for long hours
under strict supervision.
The artisanal ideal of
independence eroded with the
growth of mass-production.
Compensation through "store
pay" and "scrip wages,"
redeemable only at the store
owned by the employer,
proliferated.
Child Labor



Industrialization, the tumultuous economy, and the influx of poor
immigrants made cheap child labor an institution in all kinds of
industries and occupations.
Up to 25% of children were employed in manufacturing by 1910.
As the Progressive Era dawned, reformers began addressing this
issue.
Rise of Organized Labor
Why Organize Labor?
Socioeconomic Conditions

10% of the population controlled 75% of the wealth.
 Big business was taking advantage of workers.





No unity.
Cheap immigrant labor could fill jobs.
Easy to replace.
Were assigned one step in the manufacturing process, which became
monotonous.
Government did not care about the worker.

Worried about lining their own pockets.

No real sense of accomplishment for workers.
 Early forms of protest in absence of labor unions.

Absenteeism, quitting, and lower production levels.
Rise of Organized Labor

Immigrants



Why Organize Labor?
New Working Classes
Came cheap, needing jobs to
survive.
Eastern and Southern
Europeans, Asians,
Mexicans. Goal was to keep
foreigners out by any means
necessary.
African-Americans


Recently freed slaves need
jobs.
Do not want to stay in the
South, so they move to
Northern industrial centers.

Detroit, Cleveland,
Chicago, Pittsburgh,
Indianapolis, New York,
Boston.

Women



Families needed money to
survive, so both parents
have to work.
Women worked cheap.
Children



Families need money to
survive.
Many children went to work
instead of school, starting at
age 6.
Performed the lowest tasks
(and sometimes most
dangerous).
Labor Unions
Why Organize Labor?
Working Conditions

Long days (10-14 hours) and
weeks (6 days).
 Low pay.
 Fatigue and exhaustion leads to
poor health, depression, and
alcohol abuse.
 Dangers on the job.



Many workers are maimed or
killed.
Employers did not feel any
responsibility to the family for
death or injury.
No effort on the part of
management to make the
workplace safe.

Safety meant spending money
and decreasing profits.
Coal Miners in a Tight Spot
http://www.kshs.org/publicat/khq/1971/graphics/71_4_osage_co_coal_mining.jpg
Labor Unions
The Knights of Labor, 1869

Attracted unskilled labor.
 Terrence V. Powderly, 1879.


Expands union by opening
membership to women and AfricanAmericans.
Powderly's ideals



Worker cooperatives “to make each
man his own employer.”
Abolition of child labor.
Abolition of trusts and monopolies.

1877 through 1884, targeted the
railroad.
 Would rather settle disputes through
arbitration instead of strikes.
Emblem of the Knights of Labor
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/9/94/200px-KOLlarge.jpeg
Labor Unions
AFLCIO

American Federation of Labor
(AFL), 1886.


Congress of Industrial
Organizations (CIO), 1938


Seal of the AFL-CIO
http://mcmahon.homestead.com/aflcio.jpg
Organized skilled labor.
Split from the AFL and
organized unskilled labor.
Rejoined the AFL to form the
AFL-CIO in the mid-1950s.
Labor Unions
Samuel Gompers
Father of American Labor Movement
Focused
labor on
three main goals:



Samuel Gompers
http://www.nndb.com/people/313/000089046/samuel-gompers-1-sized.jpg
Higher Wages
Shorter Work Day/Week
Safer Working Conditions
The American Federation of Labor





Gompers was President of
the AFL (except one year)
from 1886 to 1924.
The American Federation of
Labor was founded in 1886
by Samuel Gompers as an
alliance of craft unions
comprised of mostly skilled
workers.
The AFL focused on
concrete, labor-related goals
like increased wages and the
right to collective
bargaining.
Unlike the Knights of Labor,
the AFL did not seek to
overturn the industrial wage
and hour system in favor of
a new social order.
The organization became the
voice of "mainstream"
American labor.
The AFL remained the most
powerful labor organization
until 1955, when it merged
with the CIO.
Labor Unions
Key Labor Terms



Collective Bargaining
The process in which union and
company representatives meet to
negotiate a new labor contract.
Strike
An organized work stoppage
intended to force an employer to
address union demands.
Damages both sides.


Management—Loss of profits
and product.
Workers—Loss of wages.
Power of Strikers Emblem
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/9/94/200px-KOLlarge.jpeg
Labor Unions
Key Labor Terms


Mediation
A settlement technique in which a
neutral mediator meets with each
side to find an acceptable solution.
Decision is non-binding.
Arbitration
 A settlement technique in which a
third party reviews the case and
makes a decision.
 The decision is legally binding for
both parties.
Role of Arbitrator
http://www.amquix.info/images/executioner.gif
Strikes in the Late
th
19
Century
Industrial Warfare Against Labor
 Management held most of the power.
 Strikers could be replaced by scabs
Strikebreaker Cartoon
http://pages.sbcglobal.net/cwa9510/images/scabs/thescab.jpg
(strikebreakers).
Strikes in the Late
th
19
Century
Industrial Warfare Against Labor
Lockouts
 Closing the factory to break the labor
movement before it could get organized.
Blacklists
 The names of prounion workers circulated
among employers.
Yellow-Dog Contracts
 Workers being told, as a condition for
employment, that they must sign an agreement
not to join a union.
Private Guards/State Militias
 Called in to put down the strikes.
 Most famous was the Pinkerton Detective
Agency.
Pinkerton Badge
http://www.pimall.com/NAIS/BADGES/pinkertons.jpg
Strikes in the Late
th
19
Century
Industrial Warfare Against Labor
Court Injunctions
 Obtained by employers to force union
activity or strikes to end.
Public Fears
 Fostered public fear that unions were
anarchist, communistic, and unAmerican.
Symbol of Anarchy
http://www.my-os.net/blog/images/2006fevrier/anarchy.jpg
Government Support
 Federal and state governments were
worried about riots and revolution, so
were more than willing to help break
strikes.
Strikes in the Late
th
19
Century
Great Upheaval of 1886

Period when the nation
experienced intense strikes
and violent riots.
 Economic depression
causes unemployment and
wage cuts.
 Haymarket Riot, May 1-4,
1886


Bomb explodes in the middle
of a protest, wounding 60
officers and killing 8 officers
and protestors.
Attributed to anarchists
wanting to create chaos.
Engraving of the Haymarket Riot
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/haymarket/riotscene.jpg
The Haymarket Affair






Workers rallied around the idea
of an 8 hour workday.
On May 1, 1886, the largest
spontaneous labor
demonstration in the nation's
history occurred in Chicago.
Two days later, police shot and
killed 2 striking unionists
demonstrating against
"scabs.”
A bomb exploded at Haymarket
Square as police tried to break
up a demonstration against the
shooting of the unionists.
Mass arrests of radicals
followed and 8 anarchists were
convicted of the bombing
under questionable
circumstances.
The incidents renewed fears of
radicalism and led some
employers to develop
blacklists and strengthen their
resolve against strikers'
demands.
Strikes in the Late
th
19
Century
Homestead Strike of 1892
 Workers
strike to protest
wage cuts at the Carnegie
Steel Company.
 Management institutes a
lockout.


Homestead Strike
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/e/e0/180pxHomesteadstrike.jpg
Henry Clay Fricke hires 300
Pinkertons to guard the mill.
Violent clash between strikers
and Pinkertons leads to 16
deaths.
Strikes in the Late
th
19
Century
Pullman Strike of 1894


Organized by Eugene V.
Debs, president of the
American Railway Union.
Workers are mad.


George Pullman cuts wages
and refuses to lower rents and
prices in the company town.
Government steps in.



President Grover Cleveland
sends in troops.
Orders the workers to return to
work.
Union leaders refuse and are
jailed.
Pullman Strike
http://toddshammer.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/ihy9412081.jpg
The Pullman Strike




When Pullman slashed wages
to protect profits without
lowering prices and rent , the
American Railway Union
(ARU) led by Eugene V. Debs
initiated a massive strike and a
boycott of trains using Pullman
cars.
The US Attorney General
obtained a court injunction
against the workers for
interfering with the delivery of
the mail and President
Cleveland sent federal troops
to enforce the order and crush
the strike.
Violence claimed the lives of
over 30 people by the end of
the strike.
It was the first use of federal
troops to break a strike.
The Pullman Strike

The strikers were forced to return to work on Pullman's terms, Debs
served a prison sentence for disobeying the injunction, and the ARU
was disbanded.
 The hated George Pullman died 2 years later in fear that his tomb
would be defiled.