From the Orange Book
 Rise
of industrialism in the
United States and the interplay
of business and politics

Railroads encourage growth
◦ Local reliable travel, westward expansion
possible
◦ Gov’t subsidies and land grants such as
the Pacific Railway Act

Government makes land
grants/loans and subsidies to
railroads to help them build
◦ Helped settle the west(Homestead Act)
◦ Develop the country
and increase trade




1869
Central Pacific:
(west) Chinese
immigrants
Union Pacific: (east)
Irish immigrants,
Civil war vets
Dangerous job
(accidents, disease)

Were expected to
continue to give up
their lands


Government moved
many to
reservations
Some laws passed
to assimilate the
Natives- “act white”
3
Factors leading to 2nd Industrial
Revolution:
1.Natural
Resources
2.Creative Ideas- government supported
(patents)
3.Growing Markets- increase in labor
(immigration, migration)
Coal
resources
in U.S.
 Black
Gold
◦ Edwin L. Drake: uses steam engine
to drill for oil (1859)

Bessemer Steel Process
◦ Put air into iron to remove
carbon  steel
◦ Stronger, durable, rust
resistant

New uses for steel
◦ Railroads, barbed wire,
farm machines
◦ Construction: Brooklyn
Bridge, skyscrapers

Thomas Edison
◦ 1880: patents
incandescent light
bulb
◦ Creates system for
electrical production
and distribution



Electricity changes business
Becomes available to homes
◦ Encourages invention of
appliances (improve living)
Allows manufacturers to
locate plants anywhere (no
longer dependent on water)
Christopher Sholes
Typewriter, 1867
Alexander Graham Bell
Telephone, 1876
Iron, coal, steel, lumber, glass
industries grow to meet demand from
railroad building
 Railroads link isolated towns, promote
trade & interdependence
 New towns grow along railroad lines

RRs connected
U.S. but time was
still determined
by towns
 1883 U.S. towns
adopt time zones


George M. Pullman
◦ Build railcar factory on Illinois
prairie (1880)
◦ Provides housing, doctors, shops,
sports field for workers
◦ Company tightly controls
residents to ensure stable work
force (no drinking, loitering)

Railroad Abuses
◦ Farmers angry over being overcharged for
transportation prices

Granger Laws
◦ The Grange (a farmers’ organization) presses
for laws protecting farmers’ interests
◦ Sets principal that federal government can
regulate private industry to benefit public
interest
 Public
outrage leads to
Interstate Commerce Act of
1887
◦ Federal government can supervise
railroads
◦ Establishes Interstate Commerce
Commission (ICC)
Cars
John D. Rockefeller
Standard Oil Company
Andrew Carnegie
U.S. Steel
Robber Barons: business
men/bankers who dominated
industries and built up huge
fortunes
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Railroads
J.P. Morgan
Banking/Finance
 South
recovering from Civil War,
hindered by lack of capital ($)
 North owns 90% of stock in RR
 Duke family
◦ Duke Power, Duke University, American Tobacco
Compared
to
Bill Gates
Carnegie’s worth:
Rockefeller’s worth:
$298.3 billion
$663.4 billion
http://www.forbes.com/lis
ts/2010/10/billionaires2010_The-WorldsBillionaires_Rank.html
Gate’s worth:
$53 billion
125,000 acres!
6 years to complete
4 acres of floor space
-250 rooms-34 bedrooms-43 bathrooms-65 fireplaces-Pool, gym, and
bowling alley in the
basement-
Biltmore House
Clothing
of the
1880s
“What a funny little government”

“Gospel of Wealth”
◦ Carnegie’s ideals on how the wealthy should use their
money
Carnegie says: rich should be involved with
philanthropy- describes the danger of allowing large
sums of money to be passed into the hands of persons or
organizations ill-equipped mentally or emotionally to cope
with them.
-the wealthy entrepreneur must assume the responsibility of
distributing his fortune in a way that it will be put to good
use, and not wasted on frivolous expenditure
-Urges the rich to administer surplus wealth for the good of
the people
1.
2.
John D. Rockefeller became a magnate of the:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Oil industry
Steel industry
Railroad industry
Cotton industry
a.
b.
c.
d.
Andrew Carnegie
Buck Duke
J.D. Rockefeller
J.P. Morgan
Which of the following men became rich and
powerful as a finance capitalist who exerted
influence over a number of different types of
businesses?


Carnegie searches for
ways to make better
products more cheaply
He hires talented staff,
offers company stock,
promotes competition

Vertical Integration
◦ Buy out suppliers to
control materials

Horizontal Integration
◦ Merge with competing
companies

Carnegie controls
almost entire steel
industry
Vertical
Integration
Horizontal Integration
Steel Industry
Steel Plant
Iron Ore
Steel Co. A
U.S. Steel
Steel Co. B
Best-adapted will survive (survival of
the fittest)
 Economists used Social Darwinism to
justify laissez faire (government
shouldn’t interfere with business)
Social Darwinism ideals: the rich were
the natural rulers – justified neglect of
the poor in the name of “race
progress” – emphasis on competition


Sherman Antitrust Act (1896)
◦ Made trusts illegal if they interfere with free trade
◦ Not enforced: prosecuting companies difficult
“The Bosses of the Senate”

Exploitation and unsafe conditions unite
workers across regions
◦ 12 hour days, 6 days a week
◦ Repetitive, mind-dulling tasks
◦ No vacation, sick leave, injury compensation


Most family members work (including
children)
Women/children had jobs that require few
skills and received lowest pay
Child Labor

National Labor Union (NLU)(1866)- first
large scale national organization
◦ 1868 NLU gets Congress to give 8 hour work day to
civil servants


Local chapters of NLU reject blacks  Colored
National Labor Union forms
Noble Order of the Knights of Labor1869
◦ Open to women, blacks, unskilled
◦ Support 8 hour work day, equal pay,
arbitration


Skilled workers
Samuel Gompers helps
found American Federation
of Labor (AFL) 1886
 Uses collective bargaining
for better wages, hours,
conditions
 Strikes successfully, wins
higher pay, shorter
workweek
Industrial unions
include skilled,
unskilled workers
in an industry
 Eugene V. Debs
forms American
Railway Union,
uses strikes

Believed gov’t should be more involved
in the economy- gov’t should regulate
and make more decisions about what
and how items are produced
 Wealth should be shared


Some labor activists turn to socialism
◦ Wanted government control of business
◦ Wanted equal distribution of wealth

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)1905
◦ Organized by radical unionists, socialists
(included African Americans)
◦ Industrial unions gave unskilled workers
dignity, solidarity

Great Strike of
1877
◦ Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad strike
spreads to other
lines
◦ Governors says
impeding interstate
commerce
◦ Federal troops
intervene

Haymarket Affair
 3,000 gather at
Chicago’s Haymarket
Square, protest police
brutality
 Violence ensues, 8
charged with inciting
riot, convicted

Public opinion turns
against labor
movement

Homestead Strike
◦ 1892 Carnegie Steel
workers strike over
pay cuts
◦ National Guard
reopens plant
◦ Steelworkers don’t
remobilize for 45
years

Pullman Company
Strike
◦ Pullman lays off 3,000
and cuts wages but not
rent
◦ Pullman refuses
arbitration
◦ Federal troops sent
◦ Most workers fired,
many blacklisted

Farmers were in huge debt:
◦ Price of crops

while price of RR transportation
Greenbacks (paper currency) taken out of
circulation after the Civil War
◦ Farmers wanted more money in circulation
Front
Back

Farmers joined to form the Grange
◦ Oliver Hudson Kelley fought for farmers
◦ http://www.nationalgrange.org/

Populist Party (“People’s Party”) 
Populism
◦ Movement giving power to the common people
◦ Impact: realized true change must come
through political power






Circulation of greenbacks
Bimetallism- use gold and silver to back the
currency
Increased government regulation of
business (railroads/warehouses)
8 hour work day
Graduated income tax
Election reform
◦ Direct election
1. Which of the following BEST describes
reasons for joining the grange?
a.
b.
c.
d.
The grange provided a means by which farmers could
protect their interests collectively
The grange was a political movement which farmers and low
income workers felt represented their needs
The grange gave a voice to railroad industrialists who felt
unfairly criticized by angry farmers
The grange provided a place where farmers could fight to
protect laissez-faire economics




Bimetallism (currency
backed by gold AND
silver)
Would create more
money
Stimulate economy
Mostly Democrats
Silverites


Gold would create
more stable/expensive
money
Mostly Republicans
Gold Bugs
1. Which of the following was a problem faced
by farmers in the late 1800s?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Falling railroad prices interfered with their ability to
ship products.
High farm prices caused financial problems because
few people could afford their products
Overproduction of agricultural products led to falling
farm prices and made it hard to make a profit
Because there was too much money in circulation it
was impossible for farmers to get the price they
needed for their goods
•William
McKinley
Republican
•William
Jennings
Bryan
Democrat
(endorsed by
Populists)

Populism collapses
but proves that the
powerless
(common person)
can organize and
have political
impact


Why did Populism appeal to the common
man?
What is bimetallism and why did farmers
support it?
“You come to tell us and tell us that the great
cities are in favor of the gold standard. I tell
you that the great cities rest upon these broad
and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and
leave our farms and your cities will spring
back up again as if by magic. But destroy our
farms and the grass will grow in the streets of
every city in this country…”
What point is Bryan trying to make
about the importance of farms in the
U.S.?
“If they dare to come out and in the open
defend the gold standard as a good thing, we
shall fight them to the uttermost, having
behind us the producing masses of the nation
and the world. Having behind us the
commercial interests and the laboring
interests and all the toiling masses, we shall
answer their demands for a gold standard by
saying to them: You shall not press down
upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns.
You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of
gold.”
What image is Bryan trying to create and
why?
Political
Cartoons
What
does this
image
convey?