Industrialization and the “Gilded Age”

Students will take notes on how America’s great entrepreneurs helped the U.S. become one of

the world’s leading industrial powers.ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS: • What factors encouraged American economic growth in the decades after the

Civil War?• How did workers fare in the new industrial America?• Could workers have improved their working conditions without organizing labor

unions?• How did industrialization bring both positive and negative changes?

Technological Innovations ● Alexander Graham Bell:

Telephone/Telegraph 1876● Thomas Edison:

Electric Light Bulb 1879● Additional Inventions:

o 1900 - Electric Streetcars and Subway Trainso 1920 - Electric Refrigerator

What a “transcontinental railroad” means...

★ Development of a National Market:○ Shipping became less expensive → access to

mass-production + large market = profits○ Development of department stores ○ Magazine/Newspaper advertisements

★ Population Growth★ Corporations and Stocks

○ “Shareholders” - a partial owner○ Corporation – a company charted by a state

and recognized in law as a separate “person”.

Entrepreneurship and PhilanthropyAn entrepreneur is a person who starts a business in the hope of making a profit. The entrepreneurs in the late 19th century were able to reap huge profits for themselves – making the period from 1865-1900 known as the “Gilded Age”.

Captains of Industry (Robber Barons)

Andrew Carnegie● Invested in the Bessemer

process, which made the production of steel more economical - 15 minutes vs 24 hours.

● Founded Carnegie Steel Corporation in 1892, buying out steel mills, iron ore fields, coal mines and ships.

● Carnegie paid his workers low wages and forced them to work 12-hour long shifts.

● Philanthropy – generous donations of money.

(1835 - 1919)

Captains of Industry (Robber Barons)

John D. Rockefeller● Invested in refining - turns the

crude oil taken from the ground into useful products.

● Created the Standard Oil Company in 1870 and controlled 90% of the oil refining in the U.S. by 1879.

● By 1882, his company became a “trust” in which he controlled the largest proportion of shares became a virtual monopoly, forcing railroad companies to give him special, secret rates for his oil, while they changed his competitors higher prices.

● Philanthropy

(1839 - 1937)

The Pros and Cons of Big BusinessPros● Large business are more

efficient, leading to lower prices

● They can hire large numbers of workers

● They can produce goods in large quantities

● They have the resources to support expensive research and invent new items

Cons● They have an unfair

competitive advantage against smaller businesses

● They sometimes exploit workers

● They are less concerned with where they do business and pollute the area

● They have an unfair influence over government policies affecting them

Laws Against Anti-Competitive Practices

❖ Government leaders believed in laissez-faire – the theory that the government should

not interfere in the operation of the free market.

❖ Government role in a laissez-faire economy:

-it provides laws to protect property and enforce contracts.

-it establishes a system of patents to promote inventions, and enacts tariffs to help

manufacturers.

Laws Against Anti-Competitive Practices

❖ Interstate Commerce Act (1887) - prohibited unfair practices by railroads, such as charging higher rates for shorter routes. Interstate Commerce Commission enforced.

❖ Sherman Anti-Trust (1890) - stopped monopolies engaging in unfair practices that prevented fair competition.

Conditions of Labor➢ Long Hours and Low Wages

○ Average workday: 10-14 hours/six days a week

○ Pay: $3-$12 a week

➢ Poor Conditions○ Thousands of workers were

injured or killed each year

➢ Child Labor○ ⅕ of all American children under

the age of 15

➢ Lack of Job Security

Rise of Unions and Strikes❖ Knights of Labor (1869) - demanded an 8-hour

work day, higher wages, safety codes in factories, opposed child labor and supported equal pay for women.➢ fell apart after losing a series of major strikes

❖ American Federation of Labor (1881) - goals were higher pay, 8-hour work day, better working conditions and job security.➢ closed shops - places where only union

members could be hired