Bell Ringer – 9/13 Of the following inventions which do you consider the most important and why: typewriter, phonograph, telegraph, telephone.

Bell Ringer – 9/13Of the following

inventions which do you consider the most

important and why:

typewriter, phonograph,

telegraph, telephone.

A Technological Revolution

Changes in Daily Life

1865• Electric light did

not exist• Ice was

expensive and rare

• Mail traveled by stagecoach or horseback

1900• Typewriter,

sewing machine, & phonograph made life easier

• Standard of living highest in the world

The Transcontinental Railroad

Construction began in 1862 & ended on May 10, 1869 where the Central Pacific & the

Union Pacific Railroads met in Promontory Point and the ceremonial golden spike was

hammered into the last rail.

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The Union Pacific Railroad

• Started building in 1865 at Omaha, Nebraska

• Workers included Civil War veterans, new Irish immigrants, miners, farmers, cooks, adventurers, & ex-convicts

The Central Pacific Railroad• The Big Four – grocer Leland Stanford, shop

owner Charley Crocker, & hardware store owners Mark Hopkins and Collis P. Huntington

• Construction started in Sacramento, CA and cost $36 million

Leland StanfordGov. of CA, US Senator,Founded Stanford Univ.

Charley Crocker

Mark HopkinsCollis P. Huntington

Railroad Problems & Solutions

•Trains were dirty, but began to improve– Steel rails– Standardized track– Improved air brakes– Telegraphs used– Clocks set to the same time

The Land Grant System

• Land grants – to encourage railroad construction

• Land was sold to raise money• Pacific Railway Acts of 1862 &

1864• Awarded over 120 million acres

of land, covered building costs

Alexander Graham Bell **patented the telephone, ** 1885 he and a group of partners formed

AT &T

Improvements in Communication

Samuel F. B. Morse **perfected the

telegraph & its code**after the CW several companies formed the

Western Union Telegraph Company.

Electric Power

The “Wizard of Menlo Park”, Thomas Edison invented many items such as the

phonograph. Although none had such an impact as the light bulb, and by 1882 he had built

a central power station.

George Westinghouse**1885 developed alternating

current**1890s, General Electric &

Westinghouse Electricity were formed using ideas of Edison &

Westinghouse.

The Bessemer Process

William Kelly of Kentucky developed a process of smelting

iron that was quicker and cheaper and made possible the mass

production of steel.

End Day 1

Railroad Regulation• Munn v. Illinois (1877) & Wabash case –

S.C. did not allow state to regulate RRs

• Interstate Commerce Act – RR rates should be set in proportion to the distance traveled

The Growth of Big Business

Captains of Industry or

Robber Barons• Increased supply of

goods• Created jobs• philanthropists

• Drained natural resources

• Encouraged gov’t. corruption

• Drove competitors out of business

• Paid workers little• Dangerous factories

Andrew Carnegie• Vertical consolidation• Carnegie Steel

Company (Est. 1889)• Philanthropist –

“Gospel of Wealth”• Social Darwinism• Economies of scale

Monopoly v. Cartel•Monopoly → complete control

of a product or service•Trusts – trustees owned

controlling stock in other companies

•Holding companies – does not own any companies, just stock in others

Standard Oil Company

•Horizontal consolidation

•J. D. Rockefeller•Standard Oil Trust (1882)

•Sherman Anti-Trust Act

Vertical Consolidationpurchase of all levels of production

Horizontal Consolidationpurchase of competing companies

in the same industry

EFFECTS on AMERICA?

•Overproduction–Cut prices–Laid off workers–Panic of 1893

Industrialization & Workers• Immigrants – Contract Labor Act (1864)• Working families

– Young children worked– No insurance, employment or otherwise– Social Darwinism, relief would encourage idleness

• Factory work– Most worked 12 hrs., 6 days/week– piecework→work hard, more $– Large workload hard on workers, no extra $, unhealthy/safe

• A strict work environment– Workers fined/fired for being late– Factories unsafe– Division of labor

• Took joy out of work• Working women & children

– Women – no chance to advance– Children – 5% of work force, wage meant not going hungry