Unit VA
AP United States History

► With the completion of Manifest Destiny throughout continental U.S., the nation encompassed near-perfect elements for massive industrialization and economic expansion
► Economic Resources
 Land
► Abundance and discovery of vast deposits of coal, iron ore, copper, timber, oil, gold, silver, agricultural
 Labor
► Cheap wages, immigration, population growth
 Capital
► Industrial capitalism and finance capitalism
► Federal subsidies and land sales
► Second Industrial Revolution and technological innovation
 Entrepreneurial Ability
► Captains of Industry/Robber Barons

► Using four business entrepreneurs as case studies for American innovation, industrial growth, and expansion of capitalism.
► Cornelius Vanderbilt
► Andrew Carnegie
► John D. Rockefeller
► J.P. Morgan

► Acquired his wealth in steamships and expanded into railroads in
1860s
► Revamped northeast railroads through consolidation and standardization
 New York Central Railroad
 Regional railway system from New
York to Chicago
 Replaced and built lines with standard gauges
► Implementation of steel
 Stronger to carry heavier loads
 Safer due to no corrosion
► Vanderbilt University

► Growth and Influence
 35,000 miles (1865) to 200,000 miles (1900)
 First Transcontinental Railroad
(1869)
► Leland Stanford’s Union Pacific and Central Pacific meet at
Promontory Summit, UT
 Market connections, boomtowns, and jobs
► Innovation and Improvement
 Standardized gauges
 Westinghouse air brakes
 Steel
 Time zones
► Federal Government
Involvement
 Pacific Railway Acts
► Land grants and government bonds to railroad companies
► Requirement of standardized gauges
 By 1871, federal and state governments sold 300,000,000 acres of land to railroads

► Rate Wars
 Competition among railroad companies was fierce and intense
 Stronger companies lowered rates to drive out weaker companies
► Led to monopolies
► Increased rates dramatically
► Long haul and short haul rates
► Stock watering/watered stock
 Inflated stocks led to higher consumer rates
► Pools
 Competing lines fixed prices and divided business for max profits
► Grange Lines
 Midwest farmers dependent on rail lines for shipping
 High freight rates impoverished farmers

► Agriculture became commercialized on cash crops for national and international markets
 Influx of Eastern capital and investment
 From subsistence to market/stores
 Pushed out local/small farmers
► Competition, deflated currency, and overproduction lowered prices while input costs increased
► “Middle Men”
 Farmers lost massive share of profits to managers of their sales
 Grain elevator and railroad companies charged expensive rents and transportation costs

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The Farmers Organize
Fueled by the Granger Movement
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Granger laws
Munn v. Illinois (1877)
 States could regulate private companies if they served the public interest, I.e. grain elevators, railroads
Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific
Railway Co. v. Illinois (1886)
 States could not regulate interstate commerce
Interstate Commerce Act (1886)
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Interstate Commerce Commission
National Alliance and the Ocala
Platform (1890)
 Unity against corporations and monopolies
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Favored direct election of Senators, lower tariffs, graduated income tax, federal banking system
 Evolves into People’s Party
(Populists) and Omaha Platform
(1892)

► Managed Pennsylvania
Railroad and invested in various industries
► Steel
 Bessemer Process
► Vertical Integration
► Urbanization and Cities
► Labor Unions and
Strikes

► Oxidation of iron ore to remove impurities
 Steel is lighter, stronger, rust-resistant
► Carnegie and Steel
 Adopted and adapted
Bessemer Process to steel plants
 Increased supply of quality steel dropped steel prices
 Abundance of steel significantly impacted
American industrial growth and expansion

► Carnegie acquired all aspects of steel production
► Limited competition, maximized profits, lowered prices

► Buildings
 Skyscrapers
► Steel beams
► Infrastructure
 Railroads
 Bridges
► Brooklyn Bridge
► Urban Innovation
 Mass Transit
► Elevated rails
► Subways
 Elevators
 Central steam-heating systems

Home Insurance Building
Chicago
1885
Flatiron Building/Fuller Building
New York
1902

► Urbanization
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Population increasingly moving to cities
► Mechanization of agriculture
► Economic opportunities with increased industrialization
 Increased infrastructure
► Streetcars, bridges, subways
► Skyscrapers, elevators, radiators
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City Layouts
► Business centers
► Older sections
 Immigration and minorities
► Suburbs
 Middle and upper class moved outside of cities to escape urbanization
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Urban reform developments

► Overcrowding
 Tenement Living
► Pollution
► Crime
► Sanitation/Water
Treatment
► Disease

► Municipal services
► Social Gospel
 Apply Christian values toward social problems and issues
 Josiah Strong, Walter
Rauschenbusch, Richard T. Ely
► Settlement Houses
 Jane Addams and Hull House
 YMCA
 Salvation Army
► Social Criticism
 Jacob Riis - How the Other
Half Lives (1889)
 Henry George Progress and
Poverty (1879)

► Typical 12 hour days,
6 days a week
► No benefits, such as vacation days, sick leave, health insurance
► Child Labor
 As young as 5 years old
 12-14 hours for $.27

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Industrialization, mass production, use of semiskilled workers = devalued labor
Poor and dangerous working conditions, immigrants, and meager salaries = upset workforce
Organized labor to appeal for better conditions, higher salaries, benefits
Union Methods: political action and efficacy, strikes, picketing, boycotts, slowdowns
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Industrialization, mass production, use of semiskilled workers = increased profits
Poor and dangerous working conditions, immigrants, and meager salaries = increasing profits and satisfied management
Developed image of unions and organized labor as un-
American, socialist, anarchist
Management Methods: lockouts, blacklists, yellow-dog contracts, government/private force, court injunctions

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Timeline of Gilded Age Unions and Strikes
Local associations and guilds before the Gilded Age led to industry-specific unions in local/state
National Labor Union (1866)
– first attempt of a national union of all workers
 Higher wages, 8-hour day (won for federal employees)
 Women and black equality, monetary reform, cooperatives
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
 Wages cut to make up costs due to Panic of 1873
 Federal troops used; unions lost support and popularity
Knights of Labor (1881)
 Members included women and blacks
 Cooperatives, end child labor, anti-trusts
 Preferred method of arbitration over strikes
American Federation of Labor (AFL) (1886)
 Pursued more practical goals rather than reforms – “bread-and-butter unionism”
 Samuel Gompers and walkouts for collective bargaining
Haymarket Bombing (May 4, 1888)
 May Day celebration coupled with strike in Chicago led to police killing 4 people
 Commemoration on May 4 led to bombing killing police officers and to a police riot
 8 innocent anarchists tried and convicted in show trial and hanged
Homestead Strike (1892)
 Carnegie and Frick used tactful negotiations to break unions
 Lockouts and Pinkertons led to union breaking
Pullman Strike (1894)
 Pullman wage cuts led to Eugene Debs to order boycotts of Pullman cars
 Federal injunctions against workers led to arrest of Debs
 In re Debs approved federal injunctions and weakened labor movements
By 1900 only 3% of workers belongs in unions

► Horizontal Integration
► Standard Oil
 Trusts and monopolies
► Sherman Anti-trust Act
(1890)
► Gilded Age Society
► Social Darwinism
► Gospel of Wealth

► Rockefeller established
Standard Oil in 1870
► Uses for Oil
 Kerosene lamps
 Fuel for railroads
► Used vertical integration to control oil industry then horizontal integration to control oil market
► Eventually controlled 95% of oil refining

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Tactics of Standard Oil
 Lowered prices to drive out competitors
 Threatened companies to sell to
Standard Oil (buyouts)
 Bribed railroads to buy Standard Oil fuel (rebates, kickbacks)
 Bribed Congress members
Standard Oil Trust
 Stockholders’ shares traded for trust certificates
 Board of Trustees controlled and administered companies as a whole
 Shareholders earned dividends based on overall profits
Monopolies
 Controls prices
 Limits competition
 Pressure on other services to provide discounts and rebates

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Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)
 Prohibits any “contract, combination, in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce”
United States v. E.C. Knight Co. (1895)
 Sugar refining monopoly tested Sherman Antitrust Act
 Regulation applied to commerce and not manufacturing

► By 1890s, 10% of Americans controlled 90% of the nation’s wealth
 Socioeconomic gap extensively widened
► 2/3 of population were wage earners
► Corporations required administrative/managerial labor -> expansion of middle class/white-collar workers
► Iron law of wages
 Supply and demand determined wages, not the consideration of workers’ welfare

► 20% of American women worked as wage earners
 Most single women; 5% married
 Low-income families required women in workplace
► Female-based Jobs
 Typical home-associated industries: textiles, foods
 New types of jobs: secretaries, bookkeepers, typists, communication operators
 Women and feminized jobs considered low status and low salaries
► Gibson Girl
 Iconic image of women as independent, stylish, and working
 Led to women to seek new types of jobs

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Population
 16.2 million immigrants between 1850-1900
 8.8 million during 1901-
1910
Pushes
 Mechanization removing jobs, esp. in rural areas
 Overpopulation
 Persecution
Pulls
 Political and economic freedoms and opportunities
Old Immigrants
 Northern and Western
Europe
New Immigrants
 Southern and Eastern
Europe; Asia
 Catholics, Jews

► Sociopolitical Enemies
 Josiah Strong Our Country
 Nativists
► Legislation
 Chinese Exclusion Act
(1882)
► Political Machines
► Ethnic Neighborhoods
 Little Italy
 Chinatown

“…Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore…”
Emma Lazarus The New Colossus , 1883

► Laissez-Faire Economics
 Economy driven by the “invisible hand” of market forces (supply and demand)
 Government should refrain from regulation or interference
► Social Darwinism
 Herbert Spencer
► “Survival of the fittest”
► Wealth a result of hard work and brilliance
► Poor and unfortunate were lazy
 William Graham Sumner
► Absolute freedom to struggle, succeed, or fail
► State intervention is futile
► Gospel of Wealth
 Andrew Carnegie
 Guardians of the nation’s wealth
 “All revenue generated beyond your own needs should be used for the good of the community.”

► “Rags to riches” stories
 Young American men, through hard work and virtue, will succeed
 Also used a supporting wealthy philanthropic character
► Seemingly propaganda of the American Dream under free enterprise and capitalism

► Banking and Financing
► Science and
Innovation
► Corporations
► Consumerism
► American Culture

► J.P. Morgan and Co.
 Financial capital and investment
 Directly and indirectly pursued inventions and innovations
► Mergers and
Consolidations
 Railroad industry
► Interlocking directorates
 Corporate board of directors sitting on boards of multiple corporations

► Thomas Edison
 The Wizard of Menlo Park
 Incandescent light bulb
► Safer than kerosene lamps
► New York City
 Direct current (DC)
► Edison developed system of power stations
► Nicola Tesla
 Alternate current (AC)
► Transfer of electricity faster and farther

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Sewing Machine (1855)
 Isaac Singer
Transatlantic cable (1866)
 Cyrus Field
Dynamite (1866)
 Alfred Nobel
Typewriter (1867)
 Christopher Scholes
Air brakes (1868)
 George Westinghouse
Mail-order catalog (1872)
 A.M. Ward
Blue jeans (1873)
 Levi Strauss
Barbed wire (1873)
 Joseph Glidden
Telephone (1876)
 Alexander Graham Bell*
Phonograph (1877)
 Thomas Edison
Light bulb (1879)
 Thomas Edison*
Cash register (1879)
 James Ritty
Gilded Age Innovation
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Universal stock ticker (1885)
 Thomas Edison
Transformer (1885)
 Nikola Tesla
Gasoline automobile (1885)
 Karl F. Benz
Skyscraper (1885)
 William Le Baron Jenney
Film roll and Kodak camera (1889)
 George Eastman*
Motion picture camera (1891)
 Thomas Edison*
Radio (1895)
 Guglielmo Marconi
Subway (U.S.) (1895)
X-ray (1895)
 Wilhelm C. Rontgen
Powered flight (1903)
 George and Wilbur Wright
Alkaline battery (1906)
 Thomas Edison
Model T (1908)
 Henry Ford

► Charles Alderton
 Experimented with various syrups and flavorings
► Robert Lazenby
 Developed Dr. Pepper by 1885
 Patented and incorporated by
1891
► St. Louis World’s Fair and
Exposition (1904)
 Introduces Dr. Pepper to the world
 Along with hot dogs, hamburgers, and ice cream cones

► American Telephone and
Telegraph Co. (1885)
 J.P. Morgan Co. financed merger of
Bell and communication companies
► General Electric (1892)
 J.P. Morgan merged Edison General
Electric and Thomas-Houston
Electric Company
► U.S. Steel (1901)
 J.P. Morgan bought Carnegie Steel and merged with other steel companies
 Becomes first billion dollar company in world

► Wide variety of mass produced goods led to new marketing and sales
► Brand names and logs
► Department stores
 R.H. Macy’s
► Chain stores
 Woolworth’s
► Grocery stores
► Mail order catalogs
 Montgomery Ward
 Sears, Roebuck, Co.

► American Christians focused values toward consequences of industrialization and urbanization
 Social Gospel
► Increases
 Catholics, Jews
► New Christian Sects
 Christian Science
► Spiritual life over material
 Pentecostals
► Baptism in spirit; speaking in tongues
 Salvation Army
 Jehovah’s Witnesses
► Millenialist

► Alcohol and vices blamed for urban problems
► Regulating Morality
 Comstock Law (1873)
► Temperance Organizations
 National Prohibition Party
(1869)
 Women’s Christian
Temperance Union (WCTU)
(1874)
► Frances E. Willard
 Antisaloon League (1893)
 Carrie Nation
► “Hatchetations”

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Educational Reforms

Compulsory Education
► Most states required 8-14 year olds to attend schools

Kindergartens
 Public Education
► Dramatic increase in high schools
► Comprehensive education
► Led to 90% literacy rate
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Colleges and Universities
► Increased through federal legislation and philanthropy
Science
 Darwin and Natural Selection
 Technological Innovation
Social Sciences
 Scientific method applied to behavioral sciences

Development of psychology, sociology, political science

► Causes
 Urbanization, less working hours, advertisements
► Vaudevilles
 Popularized with family-friendly subjects and material
► Saloons
► Amusement Parks
 Coney Island
► Circus
 P.T. Barnum
► Sports
 Spectator
► Baseball, boxing, football
 Amateur
► Golf, tennis

► Realism
 Objective reality
 Depict accurate and true characters and settings
 Absent of emotional embellishment
► Naturalism
 Depiction of objects in natural settings
 Time and place accuracy
Brooklyn Bridge at Night
Edward Willis Redfield
1909

► Ashcan School
 Depiction of New York
City urban life
 George Bellows
► James M. Whistler
► Winslow Homer
► Mary Cassatt
Both Members of This Club
George Bellows
1909

James Whistler’s Arrangement in Grey and
Black No. 1 (Whistler’s Mother) (1871)

Mary Cassat’s The Child’s Bath (1893)

► Victorian Influence
 Henry Hobson
Richardson
► Louis Sullivan
 “Father of
Skyscrapers”
 “form follows function”
► Frank Lloyd Wright
 “organic architecture”
► Foursquare Homes

► Press
 Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World &
William Randolph Hearst
► Sensationalism and scandals
 Magazines
► Literature
 Authors focused on character development and realism over plot
 Lewis Wallace
► Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ
 Mark Twain
► The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
► The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today
 Stephen Crane
► The Red Bad of Courage
 Jack London
► The Call of the Wild ; White Fang

► John Philip Sousa
 The Washington Post
 Stars and Stripes Forever
 Semper Fidelis
► Ragtime
 Originated from black communities combining
African syncopation and classical music
 Scott Joplin
► Maple Leaf Rag
► The Entertainer