The Second Industrial Revolution
Spectacular economic growth after the
Civil War
Directions for first section of notes

Create concept map with FACTORS
LEADING TO ECONOMIC GROWTH in the
middle and 8 outer circles, leaving room to
add information to those 8 outer circles on
the outside of them
Example of Concept
Map
Factors leading to economic growth

Abundant Natural Resources
Fertile soil
 Swift-flowing streams
 Vast quantities of timber
 Rich deposits of coal, iron ore, oil, phosphates, and
copper

Factors leading to economic growth

The Free-Enterprise System
Capitalist system – factors of production are
privately owned
 People are free to buy and sell goods and labor on
an open market
 Market acts to eliminate less efficient producers
 Producers of better and cheaper goods are
generally able to compete more effectively and
stay in business

Factors leading to economic growth
Laissez-faire policy (government “hands-off”
economic matters)
 Patent system – encouraged inventiveness by
guarantee
-ing an inventor exclusive
rights to the use of his or her
invention for a limited period

Factors leading to economic growth

Tariffs

Protected American manufacturing from foreign
competition by imposing customs duties on
foreign-made goods
Factors leading to economic growth

Legacy of First Industrial Revolution
Use of steamboats and railroads began linking the
country
 In the South, led to the expansion of the “Cotton
Belt”
 Midwest produced livestock and wheat for both
the NE and the South

Factors leading to economic growth

Economic stimulus provided by the Civil War


Northern manufacturing grew from the needs of the war
The passing of the following federal laws:

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Morrill Tariff (1861) – protect American manufacturing from
European competition
National Banking Act (1863&1864) – created national banking
system and currency
Homestead Act (1862) – offered free land to settlers occupying
farms in the West
Morrill Act (1862) – gave land grants to states to support technical
and agricultural colleges
Pacific Railway Act (1862) – gave federal loans and land grants to
railroad companies to complete transcontinental railroad
Gilded Age and Second Industrial Revolution
PLEASE USE YOUR NOTE
OUTLINE AND MATRIX
Second Industrial Revolution – Spread
of Railways

Spread of Railways
By the end of the Civil War, the U.S. had 35,000
miles of railroad track.
 25 years later, it had more than 5X that mileage –
more than all of Europe
 Steel rails replaced iron ones
 Refrigerated cars were invented to haul meat long
distances

Second Industrial Revolution

George Pullman

Invented the sleeping car so passengers would be
more comfortable
nd
2
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Industrial Revolution - Steel
Steel
Bessemer Process made producing steel more
economical
 Cheaper steel allowed Americans to produce
thousands of miles of railroad track, build giant
steamships, suspension bridges, turbines and
engines, and skyscrapers
 Andrew Carnegie brings the Bessemer Process to
America and begins Carnegie Steel

Bessemer Process
Andrew
Carnegie
The Gilded Age

The Gilded Age
Historians sometimes refer to the Second
Industrial Revolution as the “Gilded Age”
 A gilded surface has a thin layer of gold on top
concealing a less expensive metal beneath
 Phrase taken from Mark Twain
 Humorously criticized greed and corruption in
American society

Social Darwinism
Philosophy that the most successful individuals
were those endowed with superior talents
who had the ability to adapt, survive, and
thrive
 Wealthy people often viewed poverty as the
fault of the poor themselves rather than as the
product of circumstances or of injustices in
the social system

Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie
Scottish Immigrant
 Adopted Bessemer Process of making steel and
brought it back to America
 Bought out competing local companies in the
1870s
 Vertical Integration – having complete control of
all stages of production and distribution

Andrew Carnegie – Gospel of Wealth

Gospel of Wealth

Wrote a book that stated that rich men should
not die with their wealth but should give it away,
especially to institutions that promoted selfimprovement
Carnegie Hall – New York
Carnegie Library Pittsburgh
2nd Industrial Revolution –
Communication Innovations

Telegraph
Samuel Morse invented the telegraph using
electromagnetism and using a code of long and
short spaces capable of transmitting the alphabet.
 By breaking and closing the circuit, the telegraph
operator communicate over a long distance

2nd Industrial Revolution –
Communication Innovation

Transatlantic Cable

In 1865, Cyrus Field made a heavy and durable
cable to be able to send and receive telegraphic
messages between America and Europe
2nd Industrial Revolution –
Communication Innovation

Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell began investigating how to
reproduce the sounds of speech electronically to
help the deaf since his mother and wife were both
deaf
 In 1875, he patented the telephone which made it
possible to communicate over long distances using
natural speech instead of Morse code

2nd Industrial Revolution – Electricity

Electricity
Edison worked with electricity for several years
before he patented the phonograph (record
player)
 Continuing his research in Menlo Park, NJ, he
invented a practical electric light bulb in 1879
 Continued inventing things like motion pictures,
improved battery, first electric power station
 He filed more than 1,000 patents

Phonograph
Edison’s
Light Bulb
Young Edison
Older Edison
2nd Industrial Revolution – Electricity


Nicola Tesla – Serbian
immigrant who came to
the U.S. to work with
Edison.
Left to partner with
Westinghouse because
he believed “AC” was
better than Edison’s
“DC”
Nicola Tesla
George Westinghouse
nd
2

Industrial Revolution - Oil
John D. Rockefeller
Early 19th century, people used whale fat (blubber)
to make oil for lighting
 1st oil well was drilled by Edwin Drake in
Pennsylvania in 1859
 Improvements in refining petroleum led to
gasoline and Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company

Rockefeller’s Approach
Horizontal Integration – one owner controls
all companies and facilities at one stage of
production of a good
 Standard Oil Trust bought 90% of all oil
refining in the U.S.
 Lowered the price of kerosene and other oil
products by more than 80%, which his
competitors could not do

THE TRUST GIANTS POINT OF VIEW – “What a funny little
government”
2nd Industrial Revolution – J.P. Morgan
Banker and backer of Edison until it was
shown that Tesla’s “AC” system worked better
 Companies – General Electric and J.P. Morgan
& Company
 Bought Carnegie Steel for $400 million and
changed the name to U.S. Steel, which became
the first billion-dollar company in America

2nd Industrial Revolution – Other
Industries

Internal Combustion Engine
Henry Ford put the power of the internal
combustion engine into the automobile
 Revolutionized the labor aspect with the assembly
line and increased wages

2nd Industrial Revolution – Other
Industries

First Airplane

Wilbur and Orville Wright in Kittyhawk, NC in
1903
2nd Industrial Revolution – Women and
African American Inventors
John Albert
Burr patent
for new
rotary
blades
Josephine Cochran and the 1st
Automatic Dishwasher
2nd Industrial Revolution – Women and
African American Inventors
Granville T. Woods – patented a
multiplex telegraph that could send
signals between stations and
moving trains
Elijah McCoy – Patented oil-drop
cubs that automatically added oil to
lubricate the engines of
locomotives and steamships
enabling them to run better
2nd Industrial Revolution – Women and
African American Inventors
Madame C.J. Walker – Sold hair
care and cosmetic products for
African-American women. May
have been the 1st African American
millionaire
Sarah Goode received a patent for a
fold-away bed that could be tucked into
a desk
2nd Industrial Revolution – Women and
African American Inventors
Jan Ernst Matzeliger – Born in S. America,
he moved to U.S. at the age of 19
Invented a machine that attached the upper
part of a leather shoe to its sole
By hand, an expert shoemaker could attach
no more than 50 soles a day; with the new
machine, a worker could attach 150 to 700
soles a day
Cut the price of shoes in half
Activities (Choose One)


Write an imaginary
newspaper headline and
article announcing the
patenting of a new
invention, such as the
telephone or electric
light bulb
Must be at least two
paragraphs

Which invention from
this period do you think
had the greatest impact
on society? Write at
least two paragraphs
stating which invention
you have chose, why
you have chosen it, and
how it
benefited/impacted
society.
Monopolies
Eliminating competition leads to a monopoly –
complete control over the production of a
good or service
 Disadvantages:

Less incentive to improve products
 Could raise prices at any time. Consumers had no
choice because of the lack of alternative products

Governments Response to
Monopolies
Under the laissez-faire ideology, government
was not supposed to interfere
 Series of Supreme Court decisions affirmed
that government had no right to interfere
 Business leaders often gave hefty campaign
contributions and some even secretly bribed
government officials

Governments Response to
Monopolies
The first anti-trust laws were weakly enforced
but they established that Congress could
regulate business in some circumstances
 Sherman Anti-Trust Act – combinations “in
restraint of trade” are prohibited
 Interstate Commerce Act – Congress
regulates interstate railroads; sets up
enforcement agency

Florida History

Henry Morrison Flagler (1830-1913)
Partner of John D. Rockefeller in the creation of
Standard Oil
 In 1887 and 1888, he built the Ponce de Leon
Hotel (now Flagler College) and other luxury
hotels in Palm Beach and Miami, forming the basis
for the tourism industry
 “Father of Miami”

Henry M. Flagler

Florida East Coast Railroad
Flagler merged several smaller railroads
 His railroad brought tourists to fill his hotels, but
also made it possible for Floridians to export their
agricultural products, including citrus fruits,
vegetables, tobacco and cigars, cotton, beef, and
cattle
 Built a railroad connecting south of FL to Key
West for shipping goods throughout the
Caribbean (was destroyed by hurricane in 1935)

Henry Morrison Flagler