U.S. History

• 1. In what significant way did the development of the incandescent lightbulb improve 19th c. urban conditions?–A. It created the possibility of home-based

businesses.–B. It prompted more immigrants to remain

in large cities.–C. It enabled passenger trains to operate at

night.–D. It replaced the dirty and dangerous

gaslight.

• 2. What historic situation is most comparable to the lightbulb replacing oil lamps?–A. The railroad replacing the automobile.–B. Electric engines replacing steam

engines.–C. Steel production replacing oil

production.–D. The telegraph replacing the telephone.

Thinking history…..

• http://www.yourememberthat.com/media/2145/Jerry_Seinfeld__History_Class/#.UoI_pnCkq3g

What are the “big” questions throughout history?

• For this unit, we’re looking at the “modernization” of America.

I can. . . • Evaluate the impact of the new

inventions and technologies of the late nineteenth century

• Identify and evaluate the influences on business and industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

• Identify labor and workforce issues of the late nineteenth century, including perspectives of owners/managers and Social Darwinists

Natural Resources Fuel Industrialization

• Black Gold– Edwin Drake uses a steam engine to drill in Titusville, PA– Oil boom in the Midwest, converting it to kerosene (gasoline

was originally thrown away)• Bessemer Steel Process

– 1887 iron ore deposits discovered in the Mesabi Range in MN

– Bessemer process infuses air into molten iron to remove the carbon, making it lighter and stronger (steel)

• New Uses for Steel– Railroads, barbed wire, and the farm machines of

McCormick and Deere– Bridges and the first skyscrapers

Brooklyn Bridge

Home Insurance Building in Chicago

Inventions Promote Change

• The Power of Electricity– 1876: Edison’s laboratory in Menlo Park, NJ– George Westinghouse made electricity safer– Electric streetcars and the spread of the city

• Inspired Inventions– Incandescent light bulb, typewriter, telephone, phonograph

• New Products and Lifestyles– Expanding urban population demands inventions– Women in the workforce; expansion of all factory work– Workers lose power, but consumers gain power– However, the workweek did lessen by 10 hours– As new industries are born/expanded: Advertising and

recreation

New Products and Lifestyles

– Expanding urban population demands inventions– Women in the workforce; expansion of all factory

work– Workers lose power, but consumers gain power– However, the workweek did lessen by 10 hours– As new industries are born/expanded: Advertising

and recreation– Department Stores– Mail order catalogs

Streetcar (and then the subway)

Typewriter

Telephone

Phonograph, radio, music, leisure…

Railroads Span Time and Space

• A National Network– By 1856 RR had expanded to the Miss. River– By 1869 the Transcontinental RR is completed

• Romance and Reality– Dreams of unsettled lands and adventure– However, the building of the road was difficult and primarily

completed with immigrant labor• Union Pacific: Irish, Civil War Vets, African Americans• Central Pacific: Chinese

• Railroad Time– RR created a united nation (Symbolism)– creation of 24 time zones (4 in the U.S.); Congress okays it in

1914

Opportunities and Opportunists

• New Towns and Markets– Cities emerged as specialists (Chicago:

stockyards; Minneapolis: grain industries; etc.)

• Credit Mobilier– Corruption building the RR– Union Pacific officers skimmed off $23

million in stocks, bonds, and cash (paying off 20 representatives in Congress)

Working Conditions

• 1900: 1 in 6 kids age 10-15 worked outside the home

• Most workers had 12-16 hours/day, 6 days/wk• No paid vacation, no sick leave, no workers

comp

Labor Union Issues

• Knights of Labor 1869– Blacks, women, unskilled workers• “an injury to one is the concern of all”• Equal pay, 8 hour work days

• American Federation of Labor– Samuel Gompers– Used strikes as a major tactic– Achieved shorter workweeks and higher wages

Industrial Unionism

• Both skilled and unskilled workers in an industry

• Eugene Debs– American Railway Union– Eventually turned to socialism: a system based on

gov’t control of business and property and equal distribution of wealth

Union Incidents

• Great Railroad Strike of 1877• Haymarket Riot

Pullman Strike

• Pullman – Pullman sleeper– He employed so many he built a company town– See other powerpoint!– http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xeaixx_impac

t-of-the-pullman-strike_tech

Pullman Sleeper

Pullman Company Town

Fewer Control More • Growth and Consolidation

– Oligopolies form through mergers: when one company bought out the stock of another

– When firms bought out all others they formed a monopoly• Often they did this by setting up a holding company: a company that does

nothing but buy up stock• Another way was to form a trust: turning your stock over to a board of trustees

(who also hold competing companies stock) to manage. You get dividends.

• Rockefeller and the Robber Barons– Standard Oil (Rockefeller) went from controlling 3% to 90% of the nation’s

oil in 10 years– He paid workers low wages and undercut competitors to run them out of

business– To counter this they pointed to the “Gospel of Wealth”

• Rockefeller gave away over $500 million to the Rockefeller Foundation, $80 million to the University of Chicago

• Carnegie gave away $325 million; Carnegie Foundation, Carnegie Hall, 3,000 libraries

• Sherman Antitrust Act

The Grange and the Railroads• Railroad Abuses

– RR had a built in monopoly– Misuse of government land grants– They fixed prices; charged different rates

• Granger Laws– The Patrons of Husbandry was formed in 1867 for the purpose of est. a

social and educational outlet for farmers (organization, cooperatives, political action)

– Successful at the state level– Munn v. Illinois: states won the right to regulate RR

• Interstate Commerce Act– 1886: States cannot set rates for interstate commerce; this is the

national government’s authority• The Panic of 1893

– 600 banks and 15,000 businesses fail; 3 million people lose jobs– RR were then taken over by the likes of Morgan and Vanderbilt– By 1900, 2/3 of the nation’s RR tracks were owned by seven companies

Carnegie’s Innovations

• Management Techniques– Hired the best chemists and metallurgists;

employed the newest techniques and machines in his plants; offered stock to his assistants; encouraged competition amongst them to increase production

• Business Strategies– Vertical integration– Horizontal integration– By 1901 Carnegie produced 80% of the

nation’s steel

Social Darwinism and Business

• Principles of Social Darwinism– Grew out of Darwin’s theory of biological evolution– success of a few and the failure of others justified the Laissez-faire

economic principle– Herbert Spencer applied Darwin to business: Free competition would

ensure survival of the fittest• A New Definition of Success

– This idea natural was endorsed by the nation’s 4,000 millionaires.– However, Protestants bought into it as well: personal responsibility and

blame.– Riches were a sign of God’s blessing; the poor must be lazy or inferior– Popular novels chronicled this: Horatio Alger “rags to riches” stories

were very popular

Business Boom Bypasses the South

• Economic Causes• Social Causes