Industrial Age and Unions
Unit 6C
40 years – 1880 to 1920 – many changes
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What changed from 1880
to 1920?
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Cities grew out and up.
Transportation
Lighting
Entertainment
Late 1800s / Early 1900s #1 Industry
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Railroads
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Basis for trade
Connecting sections of country together - interdependency
Sub industries of steel, coal, etc. related
Financial crisis related to Railroad bubble – Panic of 1873
#1 later in 1900s, Automobile Industry. What would it be now?
What Changed America in the
Industrial Age?
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1. Steel
2. Oil
3. Electricity
- and the men who built their empires (Robber Barons)
What changed America?
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Steel
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Bessemer Process – injects air to remove impurities
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Makes steel stronger and lighter
Brought over from Britain (and perfected by American William Kelly)
Andrew Carnegie – invested in process; controlled industry in late
1800s
Why did Pittsburg become the Steel City?
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3 Major Items needed
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Iron ore – from Mesabi Range (Minn)
Coal – from Ohio River Valley
Limestone – from upstate NY
What you do think they needed the most?
Why Pittsburg?
Changes
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U.S. Steel Corporation
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Cities grow up and out.
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Skyscrapers
Elevators (Elisha Otis invented
safety elevator in 1850s)
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Subways, rail lines expand
out
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Using vertical integration,
Carnegie had over 20,000
workers and a bigger
operation than Britain’s
complete industry.
Sold to J.P. Morgan and
others in 1900 as the world’s
first billion dollar corporation.
Oil
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In the early 1800s, one of the most important industries in
America was whaling for it’s oil.
By the 1840s, Kerosene was being used in lamps.
1859 – Edwin Drake drills 1st well in PA. Begins boom.
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John D. Rockefeller used horizontal consolidation to
control over 90% of U.S. refineries with Standard Oil.
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Any guess why Rockefeller didn’t want electricity to light the cities?
One by-product not used – gasoline.
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Electricity
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Thomas Edison
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Over 1000 patents – phonograph, motion picture camera, and??
Connection to J.P. Morgan?
Menlo Park (NJ) lab
Ft. Myers (FL) winter home (Who were his neighbors in Ft. Myers?)
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Nikola Tesla –
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George Westinghouse
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modern alternating current (AC) design
Transformer for high-voltage current (much safer!)
Other Inventions of the late 1800s
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Typewriter – 1867 – Christopher Sholes (Why the qwerty board?)
Telephone – 1876 – Alexander G. Bell
Kodak Camera – 1888 – George Eastman
Safety Razor – 1895 – King Gillette
Hundreds of Thousands of patents issued
R&D – Research and Development divisions in corporations
Robber Barons
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By 1900, 4000+ millionaires
Many claimed to be “self-made men”
like Carnegie, but truth was most
born into wealth.
Rockefeller, Carnegie, Morgan
Cornelius Vanderbilt - RRs
Gustavus Swift – Meat packing
Isaac Singer – Sewing machines
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Gospel of Wealth
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By Andrew Carnegie
“use wealth for good of
community”
Gave back over $325 million
Was he trying to erase image
from Johnstown flood and
Homestead strike?
American Dream?
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Horatio Alger books
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Dime Novels
“Luck and Pluck” series
Inspirational rags to riches
stories
Social Darwinism with
businesses
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Strong survive, but what if
they Robber Barons used
bribes, unsafe practices?
Laissez-Faire (“hands-off”)
economics
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no gov’t intervention
Corporations
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Multiple people will own business, but business is legally
an “individual.”
14th Amendment was used to defend actions of
corporations as you can not make laws to discriminate
against individuals. (today’s effect – Citizens United case)
Idea of limited liability helped in laissez-faire economics
and the caveat emptor attitude.
Monopolies
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As Robber Barons became richer, gov’ts starting cracking
down on Monopolies.
Business tried to get around laws by calling them different
things: pool arrangements, trusts, Holding Companies.
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Used Vertical Integration or Horizontal Consolidation
Sherman Anti-trust Act (1890)
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Supposed to stop monopolies, but had little effect at that time.
It did not have enforcement provisions
Actually used against labor unions
Boom and Bust
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After the Civil War, the economy of the U.S. fluctuated wildly.
This caused some major economic downturns.
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Great divide between rich and poor.
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Panic of 1873 – over expansion of RR, Banks failed
Panic of 1893 – Banks crisis, extreme unemployment
1899 average salary in factories – men $498, women $269
Carnegie made $23 million that year (and incomes/stocks/bonds not
taxed)
Taxing policies still based on Tariffs and Excise taxes.
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How would fit into the Populist ideas?
Union Growth in late 1800s
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Early labor unions with women in Lowell system
National Labor Union (William Sylvus) died out in 1873
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Against women workers (drove down wages)
Molly Maguires – not a true union, but used violence
against coal mine superiors
Knights of Labor
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Led by Terrance Powderly
Welcomed skilled and unskilled labor
Downfall came in 1886 Haymaker Square Riots
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Bomb by anarchists killed 7 and injured over 60
Union died out in 1890
AFL – American Federation of Labor
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Led by Samuel Gompers in late 1800s
Focused on “bread and butter” philosophy
Excluded unskilled workers and had only skilled workers
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Why did help it to be more successful?
Long lasting – still around today
Union Info to know
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Collective Bargaining – power
of workers in union to
negotiate together.
Strikes – main weapon
Scabs – replacements when
on strike
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What is a sit-down strike?
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Unions were usually
associated with socialists,
communists, and anarchists.
Also many immigrants
involved.
Will be targeted in the
future in fights against
communism
Other Union Info
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Why did Unions grow in the late 1800s/early 1900s?
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Hours – lowered working day hours
Safety / Working Conditions
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Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
Company towns – forced to live in them (Pullman Strike when rent
was same after pay cut)
Against Child labor (why?)
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Mother Jones
Strikes to Know
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In most strikes, the gov’t usually always sided with factory owners.
Homestead Steel Mill Strike – owned by Carnegie, hired
Pinkerton Agents to guard scabs. Broke union with national guard. 1892
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Pullman (Sleepers) Strike (1894) – workers lived in company town.
Wages cut, but rent and prices in store not.
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Led by Eugene Debs who would later run for President as
Socialist.
2nd Industrial Revolution
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Extreme differences in incomes of the Robber Barons and
the working class.
But how did the advancements make life better for the
working class?
How did the United States compare to the rest of world
by the end of the 19th Century (1800s)?
Reflection Questions
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1. What industries changed the face of America in the late
1800s 2nd Industrial Revolution?
2. How did the idea of Social Darwinism helped to
develop monopolies?
3. Why did the AFL succeed as a union when the Knights
of Labor had failed?
4. What did the unions fight for besides higher wages?
5. How was the expansion of industry good for the
American poor even if they did not profit nearly as much
as the very rich?
Links
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http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/riseindustrial-america-1877-1900 - Industrial Timeline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P17JrdZJcFY&feature=
results_main&playnext=1&list=PLB40AC55D5CB1BC06
– union beginnings (why have them in 1800s) good info.
http://edsitement.neh.gov/lesson-plan/industrial-ageamerica-robber-barons-and-captains-industry - robber
barons lesson
http://mises.org/daily/2317 - robber barons article
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6MggpmJk1E&feature=
relmfu – trusts review video