The Gilded Age 1870-1900. Gilded Age Themes Industrialization Urbanization Unions and Reform Movements The Closing of the Frontier Gilded Age Politics.
Post on 26-Dec-2015
230 Views
Preview:
Transcript
The Gilded Age
1870-1900
Gilded Age Themes
• Industrialization• Urbanization• Unions and Reform Movements• The Closing of the Frontier• Gilded Age Politics
The Gilded Age
America’s Industrial Revolution
Learning Target
• I can analyze the factors that contributed to America’s Industrial Revolution including new technology, new methods of conducting business, and the role the American government played in the process of Industrialization.
America’s Industrial Revolution: Causes
• Market Revolution (~1800-1850)– Broader markets– Faster manufacturing– Better consumers– EARLY RAILROADS
• The Civil War– New industries– Improved technology– New class of millionaires
America’s Industrial Revolution: Causes
• Abundant natural resources• People
– Laborers– Entrepreneurs– Inventors
• New Technology
America’s Industrial Revolution: Causes
• Government– Tariffs– Laissez faire– Favorable legislation
America’s Industrial Revolution:Role of the Railroads
• Pacific Railway Acts (1862-3)– Union Pacific– Central Pacific
• Paid by mile of track– $16,000– $32,000– $48,000
• Plus…
America’s Industrial Revolution:Role of the Railroads
• Paid with land• A lot of land• A whole lot of land. • A whole whole whole whole whole whole whole
whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole whole lot of land.
• 200 ft. on either side of the track• Plus…
America’s Industrial Revolution:Role of the Railroads
• Up to ten square miles of land per mile of track laid
Role of the Railroads:The First Transcontinental Railroad
Central Pacific• Eastward starting in
Sacramento, CA• Mostly Chinese labor• Through the Sierra Nevada
Union Pacific• Built westward starting in
Omaha, NE• Mostly Irish labor
Role of the Railroads:The First Transcontinental Railroad
Role of the Railroads:The First Transcontinental Railroad
Role of the Railroads:The First Transcontinental Railroad
• Promontory Point, Utah: May 10, 1869
Role of the Railroads: Impact
• Made lots of men really, really rich.
Role of the Railroads: Impact
• Other industries that fed the railroads grew.
Role of the Railroads: Impact
• Markets grew, spurring other industries
Role of the Railroads: Impact
• Growing opposition
America’s Industrial Revolution:Inventors, Inventions, and Entrepreneurs
• McCormick mechanical reaper
• Drake Oil Well
Inventors, Inventions, and Entrepreneurs
• Bessemer Converter • Seiman’s Open Hearth Method
Inventors, Inventions, and Entrepreneurs
Thomas Edison: The Wizard of Menlo Park• Telegraph work• Phonograph• Industrial Research
Laboratory• Electric light bulb work• Centralized power
distribution• Motion picture cameras
Inventors, Inventions, and Entrepreneurs
Cornelius Vanderbilt• Steamboats• Gibbons• Railroads in New York• Left 100 million his son,
William Vanderbilt
“The Commodore”
Inventors, Inventions, and Entrepreneurs
Andrew Carnegie• Born poor• Early work in telegraph
company• Began investing in steel• Pioneer of “vertical
consolidation”• Sold Carnegie Steel to JP
Morgan to create US Steel• “Gospel of Wealth”
Carnegie Steel
Inventors, Inventions, and Entrepreneurs
Business methods: Vertical IntegrationCarnegie
Steel
Unions/Labor/Company Towns
Delivery of Finished Products
Manufacture
Shipping
Raw Materials
Inventors, Inventions, and Entrepreneurs
John D. Rockefeller• Humble origins• Began his career as a book keeper
for a produce business• Invested in oil refining in Ohio in
1863• Used volume to reduce shipping
costs• Practiced both vertical and
“horizontal integration”• Pioneered the “trust” method of
organization• Billionaire by the time he died
Standard Oil
Inventors, Inventions, and Entrepreneurs
Business methods: Horizontal Integration
Standard Oil Board of Trustees
Standard Oil of Ohio
Standard Oil of New Jersey
Standard Oil of California
Inventors, Inventions, and Entrepreneurs
John Piermont Morgan JP Morgan, & Co
• Born into banking family• Obsessed with efficiency• Worked with businesses
between industries to reduce competition
• Twice worked to save the American economy:– Panic of 1893– Panic of 1907
Inventors, Inventions, and Entrepreneurs
Business methods: The Interlocking Directorate
JP Morgan andCompany
Oil Trust Beef Trust Steel Trust
Inventors, Inventions, and Entrepreneurs
top related