CHAPTER 5

AN INDUSTRIAL NATION

Reasons to Go West

Opportunities for those who have none here

HOMESTEAD ACT: encouraged farmers, African Americans, and European settlers to move west

Mining: Silver and gold in west! Ranching Adventure

1901 – Struck oil in Spindletop Kicked off oil

boom in Texas Oil boom lasted

20 years

New technologies Production Rose New technologies

Industry and Railroads

1850s “Bessemer” Process made making steel faster and cheaper

1873: 115,000 tons of steel 1910: 24 million tons – world’s top

producer! Used for railroad locomotives and rails Bigger bridges Taller buildings Nails and wire

Railroads

Union Pacific laid tracks westward from Omaha

Central Pacific laid track from Sacramento

MAY 10, 1869TWO RAILS MET IN UTAH TERRITORY

Railroads

Led to the adoption of standard time BEFORE: people kept time according to the

sun Chicago – 12:00 Indianapolis – 12:07 Pittsburgh – 12:31 Michigan had 27 different time zones

Railroads required accurate timekeeping AFTER: world time zones

THE AMERICAN WEST

In the mid-1800s US Government’s Indian Policy Changed BEFORE: army forcibly removed Native

Americans, moved them west-- BUT WE WANT TO LIVE IN THE WEST -- AFTER: government seized land and sent Indians

to reservations GOAL: break the power of Plains Indians Americans agreed Reservations threatened buffalo-centered way of life We killed the buffalo to weaken the Native Americans

INDIAN WARS

Tensions between Plains Indians, settlers, and the US Army grew

Settlers broke treaties Battle of Little Bighorn

“Sitting Bull” beat the US Army Wounded Knee: 300 killed Reservation Life

AMERICANIZATION: Indians abandon traditional culture to live like Americans

14TH AMENDMENT

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws

HOW COULD THE GOV’T TAKE AWAY INDIAN LAND?

Mining

After California gold rush, each new gold or silver strike inspired a new rush to the West

Everyone was looking to get rich, quick! Mining Communities: mostly men, just

tents or shacks Some grew into towns with dirt streets,

wooden sidewalks, stores, and saloons Denver Colorado was a mining town

Cowboys

Ranching: Demand for Beef rose in cities Cow in Texas = $4 Cow in East = $40 Ranchers hired cowboys to drive a herd of

cattle to railroad town where they would be shipped to meat-packing towns. Usually lasted 3 months, 10-12 miles a day

2/3s of Cowboys were white teenage boys 12-18

Many African Americans, Latinos and even a few women!

Homestead Act

1862 Allowed any head of household over age

21 to claim 160 acres of land Required to build a home on the land,

make improvements, farm the land for 5 years

2 million people claimed land

The Rise of Big Business

Rose thanks to: ENTREPRENEURS: risk takers who

started new ventures Were free to do so thanks to:

CAPITALISM: most businesses are privately owned

LAISSEZ-FAIRE: “leave alone” companies operate without government

interference

Social Darwinism

There were huge inequalities under capitalism

Some explained these inequalities with SOCIAL DARWINISM: stronger

members adapt to the environment and thrive, while weaker ones gradually die out Stronger people, businesses will prosper Weaker ones would fail

Business Organization

In response to changes in industry, new types of business organization developed

CORPORATIONS Owned by people who buy stock, or shares,

in co. Board of directors makes decisions To expand, corporations can sell stock to

make $$ Stockholders can lose only the amount they

have invested Competition was fierce!

CORPORATIONS

Some corporations merged to form a TRUST A board of “trustees” ran the company like

a single corporation To gain dominance

When a TRUST had complete control over industry it was a

MONOPOLY

The very, very, very, very, RICH Tycoons

John D. Rockefeller: Standard OilVERTICAL INTEGRATION(OWNING EACH STEP OF THE PRODUCTION PROCESS – like pipelines and railroad cars)

Andrew Carnegie: Carnegie Steel Example of the American Dream!

Cornelius Vanderbilt: Railroads George Pullman: sleeper cars

Immigration

Old Immigrants : 1800-1880 10 million from Northern and Western

Europe New Immigrants: 1880-1910

18 million from Eastern Europe Greece, Italy, Poland, Russia Religion, Language, Clothing, Food, all

DIFFERENT Entered at Ellis Island in New York City

What was the reaction to Immigrants?

Native Born Americans (Nativists) who were afraid of new immigrants pushed: AMERICANIZATION: becoming more

American (assimilating) Poor immigrants never got farther than

the city and lived in: TENEMENTS: rundown apartment

buildings

Titans of Industry Challenge

Read each task and its decisions Weigh the pros and cons of each

decision Choose an option for each task, and

record your choice on the back, along with its math and its pros/cons

Add up your choices to see how much money your business will make

Example

+90-20 -5 +10 +2 = 77* 1000 = $77,000

Scale with inflation (what it would be worth today):

1900 2012 90,000 = 2,053,836 80,000 = 1,825,632 70,000 = 1,597,428 60,000 = 1,369,224 50,000 = 1,141,020 40,000 = 912,816 30,000= 750,000 20,000=500,000 10,000=250,000

Sherman Antitrust Act

In 1890 10% of the country had 75% of the wealth

Sherman Antitrust Act: made it illegal to form trusts that interfered with free trade Ineffective because the government prosecuted few

WORKERS 1/6 children 10-15 held jobs Worked 12-16 hours a day, 6 days/week No vacation Injuries were common Workers began to organize

Unions

By banding together, organized labor hoped to pressure employers to give better pay and safer workplaces Knights of Labor in Philadelphia

8 hour work day End of child labor Equal pay for equal work

Strikes! Common tactic over boycotts or

negotiations

Strikes

Great Railroad Strike 1877 Protested cuts in wages Workers blocked movement of trains Stopped traffic for over a week Clashes with militia led to numerous deaths Mobs in Pittsburgh caused millions of

dollars in damage Army ended the strike

Strikes

Haymarket Riot 1886 1,500 strikes over wage cuts Some involved violent clashes with

employers and police Chicago: crowds gathered in Haymarket

Square Bomb thrown into crowd: 11 dead 100 injured Foreign-born unionists blamed for violence 8 men with foreign sounding names

convicted and sentenced to death

Homestead Strike

1892 Workers of Carnegie Steel in Homestead,

PA Workers seized the plant Private guards hired by the company

tried to take back control Killed 16 people

Hurt the steel workers union

Form a Union!

In your study group you will unite as a union

Appoint a secretary 1. What are your goals as a union? 2. What are your demands? 3. What will you do if you don’t get what

you want? 4. What would a strike look like?

Collins Type II

Purpose of a Union Purpose of a Strike Study Group:

Who is the big winner in business – the owner/tycoon or the workers/unions?