US History Final Exam Review Chapter 16

Chapter 16 Industrial Revolution - - Post-Civil War= explosive growth Industrialization o Modern transportation and communication systems Completion of transcontinental railroad Larger, faster steam ships Laying of telegraph cable under Atlantic Ocean to connect the US with Europe. New products o Camera o Telephone o Sewing machine Impact of Railroads in the Post-Civil War Era - After the Civil war, the Paton office gives you the right to have it as your intellectual property when you invent something. The railroads move peoples and goods faster than anything else can. Urban industrial society Opens the west to economic development Transported raw materials to factories The railroad companies were the largest company developed Different injuries of the drivers The railroads - Transcontinental Railroad Railroads caused huge growth in internal trade o Side effects of the railroads: Standardized timekeeping Land grant system Robber barons- men who controlled natural resources, paying low wages, creating monopoly. Scandals The robber Barons - John D. Rockefeller Cornelius Vanderbilt Andrew Carnegie JP Morgan  Before the Civil War, most businesses were small local companies not huge corporations. After the Civil War, rapid expansion with much bigger corporations. Competition bigger products for lower prices The government didn’t do much to intervene with business No government interference with the businesses. They did little to help businesses buying other businesses. By the 1800’s the robber barons- men who controlled natural resource, paying low wages, creating monopoly. Some people think they are the captives of the industry, but others think otherwise. Cornelius Vanderbilt- railroads - - also known as the commodore, was an American business magnate and philanthropist who built his wealth in railroads and shipping. He was also the patriarch of the Vanderbilt family and one of the richest Americans in history. He provided the initial gift to found Vanderbilt University, which is named in his honor. Cornelius Vanderbilt and the railroads imperiled local industry, becoming subjects of political cartoons like this one in the New York Times. JD. Rockefeller: Oil - Founded the standard oil company in 1870 By 1880, controlled 90% of domestic oil production Horizontal integration- it means that he comes in and buys his competition. He wants to purchase your company. Trusts and holding companies- buys up to 40 companies- majority stockholder or only stockholder of the company. Attacked by the press as being too powerful. Andrew Carnegie: Steel - - - Monopolized the steel industry via U.S steel Sought to achieve vertical integration, or the control of all aspects of steelmaking, to control costs and profits o He buys everything from iron mines to finished product meaning he owns all parts of production, so he knows how to make profit Scottish born o He invested in cars that you can sleep in when you travel across the country o He invested in oil during the Civil War but after the was he focuses on the steel Gives out 300 million to building schools and helping the community. The duty of the wealthy to help society-written in his book. JP Morgan - American financier, banker, philanthropist and art collector who dominated corporate finance and industrial consolidation during his time. 1892: Morgan merged Edison General Electric and Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric - - - After financing, the creation of the Federal Steel company, he merged it in 1901 wth the Carnegie Steel Company and several other steel and iron businesses, including Consolidated Steel and Wire Company, owned by William Edenborn, to form the United States Steel Corporation. At the height of Morgan’s Career during the early 1900’s he and his partners had financial investments in many large corporations and had significant influence over the nation’s high finance and United States Congress members. The last of the robber barons Morgan finances mergers. He is given credit for stopping the panic of 1907. He has a lot of power to stop national depression. Social Change: - The gilded Age Growing middle class Women in the workforce Working class Child labor We see invention of the middle class We see more and more women entering the workforce Working class- 59 hours a week for 6 days a week If the sun is shining, they are working. They are paid 22 cents an hour Children are working from the time they are under 8 years old They are not able to go to school- no education so they will never get out of this kind of life as they grow up. Unions: - Bad working conditions- creation of unions by workers o A union would allow workers to bargain collectively to negotiate higher wages and better working conditions. o While they being paid poorly, and dangers of working as a child and an adult. o There are things making life better like electricity o They standard of living is going up even though the work force isn’t being treated fairly o They form unions to bargain collectively instead of individual to make it more effective to the government. Strike and economic crisis: - - Throughout the late 1880’s, the united Stated experienced various economic panics depressions Strike was a common reaction to the businesses responding to the weakened economy o Deflation from 1865-1897Prices are going down Bad economics There wages are getting cut o Inflation- causes o The labor is tight-hard to find worker o Raised waged to get people to work o The prices go up on items Panic of 1873: the stock market crashed causing investors to sell off investments they had including railroads Panic of 1893: over-expansion in the industry and the railroads and a drop in European demand for American farm products and a drop off of European investment in US. Great Railroad strike of 1877: - Panic of 1873 more wage cuts first nationwide labor protest Strike= 80,000 railroad workers in 11 states and affected two-thirds of the nation’s railways. - Hayes sent troops to Chicago, they restored order. Over 100 dead and millions of damages. A lot of strikes are related to the panic of 1873 during this time - Left more than 100 people dead and millions of dollars in damaged property. In Pittsburg, thousands of strikers burned 39 buildings and destroyed more than 1,000 rail carts/ locomotives. Knights of labor: - The failure if the great railroad strike convinced labor leaders that they needed to get workers better organized. By the late 1870’s, the first nationwide industrial union, the knights of labor were created. Consisted of skilled, unskilled, men and women, immigrants/ African Americans, endorsed the reforms advanced by previous working men’s groups including the creation of a bureau labor statistics and mechanics. To ensure payment of wages, the elimination of the eight-hour workday and worker cooperatives and greater use of paper currency. Knights of labor condemned violence, class warfare, socialism, preferring boycotts to strikes to pressure employers. Haymarket Square riot: Haymarket (1886) o AFL demands 8-hour day o Strike in Chicago police kill 4 strikers o Protest at Haymarket square Police order to disperse Bomb thrown, police killed/ wounded and fired back riot The bomb is tied to the Knights of Labor The protest was encouraged by the knights of labor and the membership is decreasing. o Anarchism- believed that government, any government was a device used by powerful capitalists to oppress the working poor. They wanted to make the government disappear.   - - American Federation of Labor: - 1886: delegates from 25 craft unions organized the AFL o Federation of many separate national unions 1890: AFL membership reaches 500,000 Homestead Strike and Pullman Strike stalled union movement o Both tested the strength of AFL Served to reshape the political landscape Homestead Steel Strike: - Workers strike at Carnegie’s steel plant in PA Henry Frick (manager) calls Pinkerton Detective guards=strikebreakers Strikers fight guards and win But national guard breaks the strike Pullman Strike - ARU unionized the Pullman Palace Car Company. 1893- Pullman cut wages de to recession workers can’t afford rent or goods 1894- Pullman fired three workers who complained, a strike began. ARU stopped handling Pullman cars The boycott tied up railroads and threatened to paralyze the economy.  -