Railroads, Inventions, and the Age of “Big Business”

American Expansion

Pacific Railway Act of 1862 U.S. Government hired Union Pacific and Central

Pacific Railway Company to build railways across the whole United States.

Central PacificStarted in Sacramento, CABuilt toward the East

Union PacificStarted in Omaha, NEBuilt toward the West

The two railroad companies met in Promontory, Utah to drive the “Golden Spike” on May 10, 1869

1st Transcontinental Railroad

Promontory, Utah May 10, 1869

The Workers

Workers were mainly Chinese, Irish immigrants, and African American citizens:

Central Pacific—ChineseUnion Pacific—Irish and African American

Working conditions were poorReasons:

Weather—frigid winds, hot desertRough and dangerous terrain-- mountainous,

blasting

Effects of the Railroad on the West:Workers moved westIron and steel industries

grew because of increased demand from the railroads

Demand for coal increased

Many towns grew up along the railroad, increasing the population out west

Time zones were created

Scheduling was a

major concern—

Accidents!

Towns set clocks according to the sun.

Time differences from town to town created confusion.

1883:

National

System of

Time ZonesTime zones were created to

help with this. How many total time zones does the USA have?

Time Zones

Who were they? Powerful individuals who

controlled the nation’s rail traffic…

Example: Vanderbilt

Some railroad companies began to consolidate.

Consolidate-to combine (separate companies)

Rebates—discounts given to the biggest shippers

Smaller railroad companies could not compete and soon were out of business.

Railroad Barons:The beginnings of “Big Business”

TelegraphTransatlantic Cable—Cyrus

Field (1866)Typewriter—Christopher

Sholes’s (1968)Telephone—Alexander

Graham Bell (1876)Kodak camera—George

Eastman (1888)

And…..THE CAR!!

New Technologies

Henry Ford made the car affordable for everyone.

What made it less expensive?1. Assembly line—workers

perform the same task over and over, getting really fast at it

2. Mass production—to produce large amounts of the same goods quickly

Results—lots of goods at a cheaper price

How did the automobile change American industry and society?

Factors of Production In order for a factory

to get started, it needs three things…

1. Land2. Labor3. Capital

What is capital?Machines, buildings,

tools, money

How does a company or corporation raise capital?

1. Company—owners get a loan from a bank

2. Corporation—sell stockStock—shares of ownership

in a corporationShareholders—partial

owners who bought stockDividends—cash payments

to stock owners when the corporation makes a lot of money

Click this link to see a video from “Common Craft,” a fantastic instructional video site.

www.commoncraft/stock-markets-video

How does “selling stock” work?

Oil Industry-John D. RockefellerSteel Industry-Andrew Carnegie

These men got EXTREMELY rich (imagine Bill Gates of Microsoft) off of the very limited government regulation of business.

Other “Big Business”

Trust—a group of companies managed by the same board of directors

Rockefeller bought up the majority stock of other companies from individuals by offering the stock of his company as a trade—which paid a higher dividend.

This put his company, Standard Oil, in control of all of the other smaller, independent companies.

What is a trust?

Monopoly—total control of an industry by a single company or producer

By owning the majority stock of many other companies, Rockefeller was able to drive his competitors out of business.

He encouraged his customers not to purchase from them and he used his power to get special shipping rates from the railroad companies.

What is a monopoly?

Horizontal (same)

You can form a monopoly by taking control of the businesses within your industry. There are two types:

Vertical (connected)

Philanthropy—the use of money to help societyBoth Carnegie and Rockefeller gained a ton of

wealth during this time. As they got older, they decided to give some of it back to society.

How did they do this?Created schools/universitiesCarnegie Hall—concert hallPublic librariesInstitutes for medical research

What is a philanthropist?

Working conditions during the early 1800’s to the late 1800’s were harsh: 12 hours, 6 days a week, unsafe and unhealthy environments.

(Coal miners/cave ins, steelworkers/burns, loss of limbs in machines, etc.)

Sweatshop—crowded and dangerous urban factory, often women and children labor worked there

*Laws to protect workers were often ignored.

Unions

Fought for better pay and safer working conditions

Trade unions—members had a skill (skilled labor)

Knights of Labor —national labor union that included women, African Americans, and unskilled workers

American Federation of Labor –national labor union of skilled workers, led by Samuel Gompers

How did labor unions help?

Many members of unions were immigrantsCollective bargaining –union representatives met with

factory owners to negotiate changes or improvements for union members.

Unions organized strikes to force changesStrike—to stop work for a period of time

Violence –sometimes strikes ended in violence (Haymarket Riot)

How did company owners react?1. Strikebreakers -replaced workers with new workers2. Blacklist-list of union “trouble makers” shared by owners

that prevented some workers from getting a job

Characteristics of unions:

Immigrants came to the U.S. for opportunity: political freedom, jobs (farm/factory), religious opportunity

1st wave—early 1800’s—Western Europe2nd wave—late 1800’s—Eastern/Southern Europe

Immigration Stations:Ellis Island —New York City (Europeans)Angel Island –San Francisco (Chinese/Japanese)

Immigrants

How did most get here? By boatsteerage—cramped quarters on the lower decks of ships (think Titanic)

Where did they settle?Ethnic enclave —immigrants settled in areas with others

who were from their ethnic group for support: similar language, culture, jobs(China Town, Little Italy, etc.)

Many tried to assimilate into American culture.assimilate –to become part of

Most lived in tenements, an apartment building in the slums—poor, run down neighborhoods

Immigrants

Tenement Life for Immigrants

Tenement--Crowded, multi-family apartments in the slums of the city.

Tenement Life for Immigrants

Often no indoor plumbing or water, unsafe building conditions.

Disease and death risks were high, and children became homeless with loss of parents.

Many Americans began to dislike immigrants:1. Competition for jobs2. Different cultures/languages/religions3. Blamed them for increased crime, unemployment,

lack of educationNativism—pro American and anti-immigrantThese people wanted to limit immigration.4. Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)—law stopped Chinese

from entering U.S. for 10 years5. Immigration Act of 1917—law required immigrants

to be able to read/write in a language in order to enter

Anti Immigrant Feelings

What areas were reformed?1. Big Business2. Labor Conditions3. Government Democracy4. Society/Urban Life

Who helped? The “Muckrakers”

The ProgressivesA Period of Reform

Theodore Roosevelt

What did he improve?1. “Trustbuster”—He helped reduce the influence of

trusts through government regulation.2. Conservation—He pushed to conserve the

nation’s natural resources and set aside land for wildlife sanctuaries

3. Food Inspection—He supported the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act (Dept. of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration)

1st Progressive President?

Large companies formed monopolies, oligopolies, and trusts and abused their power. It hurt competition and consumer choices/prices

1. Railroad (Interstate Commerce Act)2. Steel (Sherman Anti-trust Act)3. Oil

Big Business Reform

Americans and immigrants worked in unsafe conditions, long hours and received low wages.

Workers formed unions:1. Knights of Labor2. American Federation of Labor3. Worker’s Compensation

Labor Conditions and Reform

Spoils System endedPendleton Act created the Civil Service

Commission to provide workers for government jobs

17th AmendmentReplaced the practice of state legislators

choosing senators with the direct election of senators by the voters.

InitiativeReferendumRecall

Government Reforms

Temperance movementSocial push to reduce the consumption of

alcoholImmigrant life/tenementsSettlement houses, public educationProhibition18th Amendment was passed to make the

consumption, production, and transportation of alcohol illegal

Urban and Social Reforms

America’s Food Supply

Upton Sinclair’s book The Jungle exposed the truth behind the meat packing industry.

Meat Patent Medicines

Medicines were being made with false labels and questionable or dangerous ingredients and sold to consumers.