The Incorporation of America, 1865-1900

Chapter 18

A Revolution in Technology

Inventions Alexander Graham Bell Thomas Edison

Railroads – got land grants from gov’t Create national market – food supplies to urban

areas Organized over large distances

Industry By 1900, the U.S. produced 1/3rd of the world’s

industrial goods

Mechanization Takes Command Increased productivity

Coal – cheap & reliable fuel Machines increase speed of production –

dangerous for workers Larger businesses – economies of scale Reorganization of factory labor and management

Increased volume of goods Assembly line production

Began with meat-packing

The Expanding Market for Goods Marketing and Merchandising Rural Free Delivery – post office mail

system Sears, Roebuck & Montgomery Ward –

mail order Chain stores Department stores Advertising firms

New Immigration

Southern & Eastern Europe Darker skin and eye color Illiterate & Unskilled Jewish, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic Settled in dirty, crowded cities

Xenophobia – fear of foreigners Prejudice against different ethnicities Changes in immigration law – first efforts at

restriction

The Wage System

More Americans working for wages Immigrants met demands of new industries for

labor – periodic depressions threw millions out of jobs

Dangerous, tedious, 12 hour days Changed employer/employee relations

Women moved into clerical positions & retail sales Racism kept Blacks and Chinese out of most

skilled positions

Social Darwinism & What Social Classes Owe to Each Other

Herbert Spencer – Social Darwinism Poor are less fit Helping them hurts society

William Graham Sumner Only a few are capable of putting aside

selfish pleasures to produce capital Members of the working class deserve to

be poor – they are lazy

Gospel of Wealth

Andrew Carnegie – Gospel of Wealth Philanthropy – careful redistribution of

wealth back into society for the betterment of others

Poor are mentally and emotionally unfit to cope with direct aid

Mill Towns

Company owns all property Rent houses from company Shop at company store Company has much control over town

government Teachers and clergy reinforce

company’s work ethic

Populating the City

Immigrants accounted for most of the urban growth

Groups tended to live near their countrymen and work in similar trades

People moved around in search of better opportunities

Chinese Exclusion Act – 10 yr. ban on immigration and limited civil rights

The Urban Landscape

Poor - dumbbell tenements – overcrowding, pollution, lack of sanitation, diseases

Wealthy – townhouses & mansions Fires – in late 1800s, there is a

movement to beautify the city Louis Sullivan – architect – skyscrapers Subways and streetcars – allow people

to live farther from city center

Integration, Combination & Merger Vertical integration – control every step

in production Andrew Carnegie - Iron ore mines,

railroads to ship to factory, steel factories Horizontal integration – control all one

product John D. Rockefeller – Standard Oil –

owned 90% of U.S. refineries

Sherman Anti-Trust Act 1890

Became ineffective due to court interpretations

Actually speeded up consolidation

The Knights of Labor

Terence Powderly – Largest union of the late 1800s

One union for all – skilled & unskilled, women & minorities included 8 hr. work day Restriction on child labor Equal pay for men & women Graduated income tax

Decline – Haymarket Square incident Associated with violence & radicalism/anarchy

The American Federation of Labor Samuel Gompers More respectability Only skilled workers – no minorities

Pure and simple unionism – not radical Higher wages – family wage earned by men Women’s role – in home, working lowers

wages Shorter hours Collective bargaining

The New South: An Internal Colony Vision of using resources to be a

manufacturing center – DID NOT HAPPEN

Northern investors bought up much of what the South did have for resources & manufacturing

Southern Labor

Southern factories – rigidly segregated Wages were lower than in North Widespread use of child and convict

labor African-Americans men were allowed

low-paying jobs with railroads African-American women typically

worked as maids or cooks

Transformation of the Piedmont Communities Southern Virginia to Northern Alabama Textiles – dozens of small industrial

towns Tobacco & cotton prices fell – more

children sent to work in factories to pay family debt

Transition into mill towns

The City and the Environment

Attempts to clean up city led to: Pollution of rivers Garbage dumps on rural lands Eventual development of sewage

treatment plants

Conspicuous Consumption

Gilded Age – Mark Twain Horatio Alger – “Rags to Riches” Newport Mansions

Gentility among the Middle Class White, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant (WASP) Live in areas away from inner city Managers, technicians, engineers

Culture in Conflict, Culture in Common - Education School system grew rapidly at all levels Small minority attended high school or

college State universities and colleges evolve

Morrill Land Grant Act - 1862 Development of liberal arts and professional

schools Women gained more access to colleges Vocational education Booker T. Washington – Tuskeegee Institute

Culture in Conflict, Culture in Common – Leisure & Public Space Park systems Working class & middle class had

different ideas Working class – athletic contests Middle class – cultural activities

Disputes over alcohol Temperance & prohibition movements

grow

Culture in Conflict, Culture in Common – National Pastimes Ragtime, vaudeville, sports

Middle class: golf, tennis, croquet Working class: boxing

Baseball – professional teams and league play 1880s – segregated 1920s - creation of the Negro Leagues