THE SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
U.S. HISTORY CHAPTER 5,
SECTION 2
The Second Industrial Revolution
INTRODUCTION: During the late 1800’s, new
technology and inventions led to growth in
industry and big business, and revolutions in
transportation and communication.
OIL BOOM
In the mid-1800’s people refined oil
into kerosene to light lamps
In 1859 in Pennsylvania, Edwin L. Drake drilled
into the ground to extract oil – soon he was
pumping oil to the surface
“Wildcatters” – oil prospectors
OIL BOOM (continued)
In 1901 oil was found near Beaumont, Texas –
this led to an “oil boom” in Texas
Many leading oil companies started here, and
later they would refine crude oil into gasoline
and other petroleum products,
creating a revolution in
transportation and industry
INDUSTRY
New technology in oil and steel industries
MAKING STEEL: in the 1850’s a new method,
called the “Bessemer process,” made steel
making faster and cheaper
American steel mills:
1873: 115,000 tons
1910: 24 million tons
RAILROADS
In the 1850’s, railroads crisscrossed the
Northeast and into the Southeast and Great
Lakes region
Congress authorized two companies to build
rail lines to the West Coast: Union Pacific
westward from Omaha; Central Pacific
eastward from Sacramento
May 10, 1869 the two lines met at Promontory
Summit in Utah Territory
Railroads…
-Government gave land
-Cheap steel enabled expansion
-Promoted trade and provided jobs
-Sped up settlement of the West
-Caused new towns to spring up
-Led to standardized time for the nation (1918)
THE RISE OF BIG BUSINESS
Big business prospered in the 1800’s
Entrepreneurs: risk takers who started new
business ventures
Capitalism: economic system in which business
is privately owned
Laissez-faire capitalism: companies operating
without government interference
Social Darwinism: the stronger survive
New Business Organizations
New type of business organization:
Corporation – a business with the legal status
of an individual; business owned by people
who buy stock, or shares, in the company
Board of Directors – make decisions
Corporate Officers – run operations
Monopoly: business having complete control
over an industry
Industrial Tycoons
John D. Rockefeller: Standard Oil
started in oil refinery business – by 1875
Standard Oil refined half the oil in the U.S.
Andrew Carnegie: poor boy – went to work for
the railroads – invested – founded his own
company, Carnegie Steel Company, and by
1899 dominated the steel industry (sold his
company in 1901 for $480 million)
Industrial Tycoons (con’t)
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Began investing in railroads during the Civil
War
George Pullman
made a fortune designing and building
railroad sleeper cars
Industrial Tycoons (con’t)
TWO VIEWS:
1) “Robber Barons” who destroyed
competitors with tough tactics
2) “Captains of Industry” who used their
business skills to expand and strengthen the
national economy
Working Conditions late 1800’s
Steelworkers: worked 12 hours a day, six days a
week, for little pay
Textile workers: worked 60 – 80 hours per week
(many of them were children)
Miners: worked underground with explosives,
but without safety regulations
Low pay, unhealthy conditions, no sick pay or
leave, no compensation for injuries
Management and Labor
They had differing opposing interests – workers
wanted good wages; owners wanted to keep
labor costs low
There was a great gap between rich and poor.
The relationship became strained – conflict!
Workers began forming Unions
Workers began to organize
By the late 1800’s workers began to band
together to pressure employers for better pay
and working conditions
KNIGHTS OF LABOR (1869) – campaigned for
an 8-hour workday, end of child labor, and
equal pay for equal work
This was the beginning of the LABOR UNION
Unions STRIKE!
GREAT RAILROAD STRIKE (1877): Workers
struck in protest against wage cuts – blocked
movement of trains – strikes spread –
clashes led to many deaths – Army finally
ended the strike
HAYMARKET RIOT (1886): about 1,500
different strikes over wage cuts – in Chicago
crowds gathered, a bomb went off, 11 died
and more than 100 were injured
“Solidarity Forever”
When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run,
There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun;
Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one,
But the union makes us strong.
CHORUS: Solidarity forever, Solidarity forever, Solidarity forever,
For the union makes us strong.
It is we who plowed the prairies; built the cities where they trade;
Dug the mines and built the workshops, endless miles of railroad laid;
Now we stand outcast and starving midst the wonders we have made;
But the union makes us strong.
Chorus.
They have taken untold millions that they never toiled to earn,
But without our brain and muscle not a single wheel can turn.
We can break their haughty power, gain our freedom when we learn
That the union makes us strong.
Setbacks for organized labor
Employers tried to get employees to sign
pledges to not join unions –
In 1886 a group of workers, led by Samuel
Gompers, formed the American Federation
of Labor (AFL) – they won wage increases
and shorter workweeks
Though gains were made, yet the late 1800’s
remained the era of “big business”
Workers: Organize & Strike
Advances in Transportation
Railroads made long-distance travel easier
A transportation revolution:
STREETCARS: by 1900 most cities had electric
streetcars
SUBWAYS: Boston opened the first subway line in
1897; New York in 1904
AUTOMOBILES: first practical American motorcar
in 1893
AIRPLANES: Wright brothers first flew December
17, 1903
Mass Marketing
Retail merchants looking for ways to maximize
their profits – new forms of marketing (brand
names, advertising)
“DEPARTMENT STORE”
Many items in one store
Mail-order purchasing
Advances in Communication
TELEGRAPH: 1837 Samuel Morse patented
method for sending messages over wires
Wires came to be strung on poles along
railroad tracks
TELEPHONE: Alexander Graham Bell patented
a design in 1876 – by 1900 there were more
than a million telephones in offices & homes
TYPEWRITER: first practical typewriter
developed in 1867 – women hired as typists
Thomas Edison
One of America’s most amazing inventors: in
1876, Thomas Alva Edison opened a research
lab in New Jersey – spent hours testing ideas
– invented first phonograph; telephone
transmitter; electric light bulb; electricity
network to New York City;
electric power plants…
(more than 1,000 U.S. patents!)
An Age of Extremes:
Great individual wealth and terrible poverty
New factory jobs and corporations
New inventions:
Electric lights
Horseless carriages
Telephones
Flying machines
Moving pictures
Skyscrapers
Record players
Typewriters
Baseball & Football leagues