The Second Industrial
Revolution
Chapter 5
Section 1 – The Age of Invention
Industrialization
1. During the second half of the 1800s, the
U.S. changed from a nation of farming to
a modern, industrial nation.
2. The nation’s natural resources played a
key role in that transformation.
* iron ore, coal, lead, and copper
Industrial Innovations
• Bessemer Process –
produce steel faster
(Henry Bessemer and
William Kelly)
• Drake’s Folly – pump
oil at a faster rate
(Edwin Drake)
Refining Processes in the United
States
Steel – Effects on Industry
• Provided a strong,
inexpensive source of
building material
• Allowed the expansion of
the railroad industry
• Allowed the construction
of sophisticated
machinery, bridges, tall
buildings and so on
Oil – Effects on Industry
• Resulted in the
production of kerosene
for fuel or light
• Allowed the
manufacturing of other
important industrial
petroleum products
• Helped machinery
operate
Transportation
1. Railroads
* The single most
important factor in the
nation’s industrial
growth.
• Compressed-Air Brake
(George Westinghouse)
– allowed the
locomotive and all cars
to stop at the same time
(improved safety)
Transcontinental Railroad
• First completed railroad
that linked the coasts
together.
Central Pacific – started in
California and moved
East
• Chinese workers
Union Pacific – started in
Omaha, Nebraska and
moved West
• Irish immigrant workers
* They were joined together
at Promontory Point, Utah
Map of the Transcontinental
Railroad
Transportation continued
2. Horseless Carriage
• Nicolas – Joseph
Cugnot (1770) – 3
wheeled carriage with a
steam engine.
• Nikolaus A. Otto (1876)
– the internal
combustion engine
powered by gasoline.
• Charles & Frank Duryea
(1893) – 1st practical
motor car in the U.S.
continued
3. Airplanes
• Orville & Wilbur
Wright of Dayton,
Ohio made the first
flight near Kitty
Hawk, North
Carolina on
December 17, 1903.
Communications
1. Telegraph (1837) –
Samuel F.B. Morse
• Communication over
wires with electricity
• Western Union (1866) –
leading telegraph
company
• Telegraph companies
had offices in train
stations
continued
2. Telephone (1876) –
Alexander Graham
Bell
• “talking telegraph”
• More than a million
telephones at the
end of the 1800s
• Early telephones
required an operator
to connect calls
continued
3. Typewriter (1876) –
Christopher Sholes
• Quickly produce
legible documents
• Typing pools – job
opportunities for
women
Edison & Menlo Park
•
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Thomas Edison and his assistants promised a
minor invention every ten days and a big
invention every six months or so.
Telegraph – could send up to 4 messages at
once
Electrical vote recorder
Telegraphic stock ticker
Advances in electricity
Light bulb (Latimer)
Phonograph
Early motion picture cameras
The Rise of Big Business
Section 2
A New Capitalist Spirit
• Horatio Alger Jr. wrote rags to riches stories.
• The theory of laissez-faire capitalism calls for
government to keep hands off of business.
• Karl Marx developed the theory of communism
that proposed that individuals should not own
property.
• Herbert Spencer proposed the idea of social
darwinism that suggests that society progresses
through natural competition in which the fittest
people rise to positions of wealth
The Corporation
• Corporation is owned by shareholders who buy
shares of stock in the business.
• A group of companies that is controlled by a
single group of business leaders is an example
of a trust. (political cartoon)
• A trust reduces competition in an industry.
• When a company holds a monopoly, it
completely dominates its industry and it has
complete control over the price and quality of
products.
Carnegie and Steel
• Andrew Carnegie made his
fortune in the steel industry
and later gave away millions to
establish public libraries in
communities across the
country.
• He used vertical integration in
his business.
• J.P. Morgan bought his steel
mill for almost $500 million.
• He earned $1.20 a week on
his first job and when he
retired he was the richest man
in the world.
• The true rags to riches story.
Rockefeller and Oil
• John D. Rockefeller
was one of the
founders of Standard
Oil Company.
• He expanded his
business using
horizontal integration
in which he attempted
to control other
businesses that were
refining oil.
The Railroad Giants
• Cornelius Vanderbilt was a
pioneer of the railroad industry
who eventually controlled more
than 4,500 miles of railroad
track.
• The adoption of a standard
gauge for railway tracks
improved transportation by
making it unnecessary for
passengers and freight to be
transferred from train to train
each time they reached a
different line.
Continued
• George Pullman
manufactured sleeping
cars, dining cars, and
luxurious cars that made
long-distance travel by
rail comfortable for
passengers.
• Because he was
disturbed by the poor
conditions of city life, He
built a planned
community next to his
factory.
Mass Marketing
• Manufacturers used brand names,
packaging, advertising, and other forms of
mass marketing to sell their products.
• Department stores succeeded because
they bought goods in bulk and therefore
could sell them at low prices.
Labor Strives to Organize
Section 3
Government and Business
• Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust
Act in 1890 to outlaw all monopolies and
trusts that restrained trade.
• Government usually sided on the side of
corporations.
The New Working Class
• The jobs were filled
largely by the flood of
immigrants who came
to the U.S.
• Women and children
went to work in the
factories.
• Between 1870 and
1890, the number of
female workers
doubled.
Working Conditions
• Working conditions
during the late 1800s
were characterized by
long hours and low
wages.
• Children often worked
12-hour shifts (often
at night) for pennies a
day.
The Knights of Labor
• When Uriah Stephens founded
the Knights of Labor in 1869, it
was one of the first national
unions.
• Mary Harris Jones was a union
organizer and was called “the
most dangerous woman in
America.”
• Under Terence V. Powderly,
the union refused to support
the rights of Chinese workers.
The Great Upheaval
• The Great Upheaval is a name for the
intense strikes and violent labor
confrontations of 1886.
• Anarchist are people who oppose all
government.
• As a result of the Great Upheaval, many
workers left the Knights of Labor and
joined the American Federation of Labor.
The Haymarket Riot
• The Haymarket Riot was
a violent labor
confrontation in Chicago
that began when a bomb
was exploded among
police officers, killing 7
and wounding 70.
• Many employers required
new employees to sign a
yellow-dog contract in
which they promised not
to join a union.
American Federation of Labor
• Alarmed by the
violence initiated by
the unions in the
1880s, skilled workers
joined the American
Federation of Labor, a
new union founded by
Samuel Gompers.
The Homestead and Pullman
Strikes
• The Homestead Strike took place in 1892
at Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead Steel
Works in Pennsylvania. (16 deaths)
• The Pullman Strike took place in 1894 at
the Pullman Sleeping Car Factory in
Illinois.
• Eugene V. Debs was head of the American
Railway Union who supported the Pullman
strikers.