Industrialization & The Gilded Age. New Inventions (contributing to America’s economic progress) Bessemer Process – for making steel Sewing machine Telegraph.

Industrialization&

The Gilded Age

New Inventions(contributing to America’s economic progress)• Bessemer Process – for making steel• Sewing machine• Telegraph• Telephone• Oil well• electricity

Transcontinental Railroad• First completed in 1869• Made it possible to travel to California• Addition railroad construction created a demand

for steel and tied the country together, creating a truly national market from coast to coast

free enterprise system• Contributed to America’s economic growth by

encouraging entrepreneurs to develop new industries and expand them

Other factors contributing to America’s economic growth

• Population growth• The rise of the corporate form of business• Skills of entrepreneurs

Andrew Carnegie• Successful entrepreneur who helped organize and

increase production• Bought iron ore fields, coal mines & ships to have

complete control over the production of steel.• He kept wages low and spent millions on

philanthropy

John D. Rockefeller

• Another successful entrepreneur who helped organize and increase production

• Made his fortune refining oil• He obtained secret,

beneficial rates from train companies, giving him a competitive advantage

laissez-faire

• Under the system of laissez-faire, government took a “hands-off” policy towards business.

• Nevertheless, the government promoted economic growth by providing a system of laws to protect property and enforce contracts, regulating currency and interstate trade, and imposing tariff duties on foreign goods.

Working Conditions

• Workers faced difficult conditions in industrial America.

• Most were unskilled and spent long days at boring, repetitive tasks for low wages.

• They lacked any job security.• Working conditions were often unhealthy or

hazardous.

Unions• Workers tried to bargain collectively by

forming unions• Occasionally went out on strike – temporarily

refusing to work.

Knights of Labor• The Knights of

Labor tried to unite all American workers, both skilled and unskilled, into one national labor union, but this was not successful.

American Federation of Labor• The A.F. of L. led by

Samuel Gompers, was a national federation of different craft unions of skilled workers.

Which of the following accurately describes an effect of electrical power on the U.S. textile industry in the late 19th century?

A. Because electric-powered sewing machines were harder to operate, the textile labor pool transitioned from predominately female to nearly all male workers

B. The introduction of computer technology allowed for the creation of customized stitches with little human intervention.

C. As electrical sewing machines dominated textile manufacturing, prices of ready-made clothing soared for consumers

D. Power-driven sewing machines and cloth cutters rapidly moved textile manufacturing from tailor shops to large factories

Which of the following business innovations resulted in the most enhancements for business and labor efficiency at the turn of the 20th century?

A. The introduction of global positioning productsB. The rise of labor unions and collective

bargainingC. The passage of legislation banning child laborD. The introduction of scientific practices into

management and production

Organizations such as the American Federation of Labor represent attempts to --

A. gain control of state and federal legislaturesB. change from a free enterprise economic

system to socialismC. Bring more unskilled and immigrant workers

into the labor forceD. Improve wages, hours, and working conditions

…one of the serious obstacles to the improvement of our race is indiscriminate charity. It were better for mankind that the millions of the rich were thrown in to the sea than so spent as to encourage the slothful, the drunken, the unworthy. Of every thousand dollars spent in so called charity to-day, it is probable that $950 is unwisely spent; so spent, indeed as to produce the very evils which it proposes to mitigate or cure. ” -Andrew Carnegie, Gospel of Wealth, 1889

Andrew Carnegie promoted the ideas contained in the passage from Gospel of Wealth by --

A. funding philanthropic works such as the creation of public libraries

B. donated large sums of money to soup kitchen and clothing drives for the poor

C. raising the wages of workers in his Homestead steel factory

D. urging ratification of an amendment creating a graduated income tax

Quick Review of last week’s content:

• As you come in and get your pizza. Read over your notecards from last week to prepare for a few review questions from last week’s content:

Industrialization and the Gilded Age

The statement “God gave me my money. I believe the power to make money is a gift from God to be developed and used for the good of mankind,” was probably said by --

A. John D. RockefellerB. Terrence PowderlyC. Samuel GompersD. Thomas Edison

The Interstate Commerce Act (1887) and the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) were efforts by the federal government to ---

A. regulate aspects of businessB. expand the positive features of the trustsC. favor big businesses over small companiesD. move toward government ownership of key

industries

“ …Anyone may say that the organizations of labor invade or deny liberty to the workmen. But go to the men who worked in the…coal mines twelve, fourteen, sixteen hours a day, for a dollar or a dollar and twenty five cents, and who now work eight hours a day and whose wages have increased 70 per cent in the past seven years – go tell those men that they have lost their liberty and they will laugh at you…” -- Samuel Gompers to National Civic Federation, 1905, in The Samuel Gompers Papers

Based on the previous passage, what did Gompers see as the benefit of joining a union?

A. Workers had gained better working conditions.B. Workers now worked longer hours in coal mines.C. Workers were able to work for a dollar and

twenty five cents.D. Workers were able to have their children work in

mines.

During the Gilded Age there was a notable increase in federal support for --

A. the growth of big businessB. involvement in foreign warsC. the acquisition of foreign territoriesD. increased temperance regulations