Baltimore Polytechnic Institute
February 1, 2013
A/A.P. U.S. History
Mr. Green
Students will analyze to what extent the big
monopolies (steel, oil, railroad) contributed to
class conflict by describing the role of the
industry leaders.
Objectives:
Explain how the transcontinental railroad network
provided the basis for an integrated national market and the great post–
Civil War industrial transformation.
Identify the abuses in the railroad industry and discuss
how these led to the first efforts at industrial regulation by the federal
government.
Describe how the economy came to be dominated by giant
trusts, such as those headed by Carnegie and Rockefeller in the steel
and oil industries, and the growing class conflict it precipitated.
Describe how new technological inventions fueled new
industries and why American manufacturers increasingly turned toward
the mass production of standardized goods.
AP Focus
Enormous immigration, mass production, and the
presence of low-skill jobs drive down workers’ wages.
A catalyst for postwar industrial and economic expansion
is the railroad industry, which not only facilitates trade, commerce, and
transportation, but also makes locomotive production a major industry.
The government plays a major role in the industry’s development and
importance by providing the companies with millions of acres of free
land—a giveaway, some say.
CHAPTER THEMES
America accomplished heavy
industrialization in the post–Civil War era.
Spurred by the transcontinental rail network,
business grew and consolidated into giant
corporate trusts, as epitomized by the oil and
steel industries.
Industrialization radically transformed
the practices of labor and the condition of the
American working people. But despite frequent
industrial strife and the efforts of various
reformers and unions, workers failed to develop
effective labor organizations to match the
corporate forms of business.
Submit Election Charts for 1884, 1888, 1892,
1896
The wealthy class is becoming more wealthy;
but the poorer class is becoming more
dependent. The gulf between the employed
and the employer is growing wider; social
contrasts are becoming sharper; as liveried
carriages appear; so do barefooted children
Henry George, 1879
To what extent do you agree or disagree with
the above quote?
How is the above argument utilized in today’s
political narratives?
Foreign investors put the money into the hands
of the private borrower
Innovations in transportation-coal, iron, oil
Mesabi Range-Chicago-Cleveland
Mass-production methods
440,000 patents issued between 1860 and
1890
Bell and Edison
Vertical integration-combining into 1
organization all phases of manufacturing
Justified on the grounds of efficiency and
quality
Horizontal integration-Trust developed by
Rockefeller to control competitors
Interlocking directorates-J.P. Morgan placed
his people in the businesses he bailed out
Capital Goods vs. Consumer Goods
Can you explain the difference
1870’s-Vanderbilt imported steel from Britain
to update iron rails
1900-U.S. produced 1/3 of world’s steel
Bessemer process-cold air blown on red-hot
iron caused the metal to become white-hot
by igniting the carbon eliminating impurities
Accumulated capital and entered steel business in
Pittsburgh
1900-produced ¼ of U.S. Bessemer steel
Financial giant-J.P. Morgan
made money and reputation by financing
railroads, insurance companies and banks
Carnegie sold holdings to Morgan for $400 million
Carnegie spent the rest of his life giving away his
money
Morgan reorganized the holdings to form U.S. Steel
capitalized at 1.4 billion
Drake’s Folly initiates oil boom in 1859
Kerosene burns brighter and is the 4th most
valuable export
Edison makes kerosene obsolete
Internal combustion engine gives oil a 2nd chance
John D. Rockefeller organized Standard Oil in Ohio
Controlled 95% of refineries in US by 1877
Consolidation made oil cheaper and better
Trusts developed in sugar, tobacco, leather,
harvester
A new rich develops
God given right to wealth
Social Darwinists
rich demonstrated greater abilities than the poor
Herbert Spencer coined the phrase “survival of the
fittest”
This theory justified imperialism
The new rich gained wealth on their own
14th amendment utilized by the monopolies to
define a corporations as a person, affording the
business the right to due process
Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890
largely ineffective except to ban unions which
restrained trade
Plantation system degenerated into sharecropping
Machine-made cigarettes
James Buchanan Duke-American Tobacco
Company/Duke University
South kept subservient to Northern
manufacturing
Textiles brought to the South for cheap labor
Entire families worked at Mill Towns, earning
credit to buy food from the company store
Using the Textbook from pages 583-592,
identify 10 impacts of the new industrial
revolution in America. Number your paper to
ten. Each impact should be at least one
sentence. You need to include labor unions
as well as family impacts.
You will read two primary source documents and
answer the following questions for each selection
1. In Praise of Mechanization (1897)
a. How does Levasseur (author of the
selection) appraise the overall impact of
mechanization? Is he convincing? Explain
b. What differences does Levasseur see
between work conditions in Europe and those in
the U.S.?
C. What does Levasseur identify as the
principal complaints of U.S. workers? Does
Levasseur consider them justified?
You will read two primary source documents
and answer the following questions for each
selection
A Tailor Testifies(1883)
a. What changes in work conditions had
the tailor seen in his lifetime? Explain
b. Were the above changes for better or
worse? Be specific
c. What did the changes imply for his
family life?
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Begin Reading first ½ of Chapter 25
Prepare for 5QQ on Tuesday
1880s Decade Chart due on Monday-No late
assignments will be accepted.