Industrialization during the Post Civil War Era: 1869-1900 Topic 15.

Industrialization during the Post Civil War Era: 1869-1900

www.buschistory.net Topic 15

The Civil War showed the manufacturing capabilities of the US.

New Wealth and Entrepreneurs

Railroad, Mining, Shipping, Real Estate, Banking

Standard Oil, Carnegie Steel, Pacific Railway, Trusts/Monopolies, Banking

John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Frick, JP Morgan

Demand for Labor fuels Immigration

Mechanization leads to farm over production, Debt, migration to the cities for jobs

Call for Reform, Unions, Politics, Populism and Progressivism, End of Laissez Faire, New Legislation

An Economic Power House, New markets are needed…..

IMPERIALISM AND THE 20TH CENTURY

The Industrial Age – 1869-1901

Major U.S. Resources are Iron, Coal, and Oil• Iron and Coal were used for making Steel• Oil was used mostly for lamps at first• Most Iron comes from Eastern Deposits along the Appalachian Mountains.

Iron Ore is also produced in the Lake Superior Region and throughout Minnesota

• Eventually Iron Ore would be used in the making of Steel.• Andrew Carnegie became the most powerful of the Steel Barons• Coal comes predominately from the Appalachian region as well.• As the U.S. industrialized, Coal production jumped from 33 Million to 250

Million tons in the late 19th Century. • The Oil industry began in earnest with “ Drake’s Folly,” in 1859. It was the

first intentionally drilled oil well in the U.S. (Titusville, Penn.)• By 1900 John D. Rockefeller controlled 90% of the nations oil with his

Standard Oil Trust.• Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and J.P. Morgan became known as

Robber Barons due to their monopolistic control over the Steel, Oil, and Banking industries respectively. This occurred during the late 19th century and early 20th century.

II – Inventions and Discoveries:

• A – Electricity• Helped with the spread of factories.• Allowed electric power to replace man powered machinery• Edison’s invention of the monofilament bulb (1874) led to

standardized electric lighting in cities.• In 1882 Edison built the first power plant that provided

electricity to light 85 buildings in NYC. By 1890 the practice was in widespread use throughout the USA.

• George Westinghouse invented Alternating Current (AC) as opposed to Edison’s Direct Current. It could travel greater distances. These two ideas led to the development of General Electric and Westinghouse Electric in the 1890's.

• The greatest impact was on urban areas

Telephone and Typewriter• B – Telephone• Invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876• In 1884 Bell began the American Telephone and

Telegraph Company ( AT@T) which still exists today . • The use of women as telephone operators became

commonplace and allowed them to become a viable, if not restricted, part of the labor force.

• C – Typewriter• Invented by Christopher Sholes in 1867.• Created many jobs – primarily for women• Along with the sewing machine and telephone leads to

large scale participation of women in the workforce.

Immigration: Old and New

•Contributed greatly to the growth of industry as a form of cheap labor.•The Old Immigrants (10 million) came primarily from Northern European Countries such as England and Germany between 1865 and 1890.•The New Immigrants (10 Million) came primarily from Southern European and Middle Eastern Countries such as Italy, Greece, the Slavic nations, Russia and Armenia. Unlike their predecessors, many did not speak English and were much worse of economically. These immigrants were the first group to come through Ellis Island in NYC between 1890 and 1920

Where did they enter?

• The New Immigrants arrived primarily through Ellis Island in New York and Angel Island in San Francisco.

LABOR ISSUES AND EVENTS:Supplement Chs. 18-20 – Faragher’s Out of Many

Knights of Labor

Early attempt at a national unionAll working men and women belonged to the same union

Included factory and white collar workersSought an 8 hour day, equal pay for equal work,

and an end to child laborPrimarily interested in working conditionsMaximum membership – 700,000 in 1885

A series of failed strikes caused the union to fail around 1890

II – American Federation of Labor (AFL)

Formed in 1886 by Sam GompersOrganized skilled workers into smaller, specific craft unions

Limited opportunities for Africans and Women

Interested in wages, hours, and working conditionsUsed Collective Bargaining as a negotiating technique

Employers used yellow dog contracts ( workers promised not to unionize) as a tool against unions

III – The Railroad Strike of 1877

Resulted due to a 10% cut in wages by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads

Other railroads followed suit while increasing workloads as wellViolent reactions quickly spread among workers

Local troops were called out in Philadelphia – they fired on the demonstrators

A crowd of 20,000 angry men and women set fire to railroad property

Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes sent federal troops to crush the strike and riots

Many strikes followed and between 1881-1890 24,000 strikes occurred among the nations industrial complexes

IV- The Haymarket Strike – 1886

May 1, 1886 there was a national demonstration for an 8 hour workday

Strikes began to spread across the countryOn May 4 a group of anarchists called a rally in

Chicago’s Haymarket Square. Tension was running high.

A bomb was thrown into a police formation causing a riot and killing 7 police

This caused police to open fire into the crowd.The Anarchists were caught, tried and some were hanged –

charged with conspiracy to commit murder.To Unionists the anarchists became martyrs,

to employers they were criminals

V – The Homestead Riot – 1892A strike against the Carnegie Steel plant

in Homestead, Pennsylvania.Carnegie’s partner, Henry Frick

tried to cut wages for company workersFrick wanted to crush the union.

On July 1st Frick called in the Pinkertons, a private police force.That evening 300 Pinkertons attempted

to sneak up on the strikers. Striking workers fired on them. Many were killed on both sides.

The union was forced to admit defeat and Homestead reopened under government protection.

Carnegie Steel and it’s successor U.S. Steel remained non-union until the 1930’s

VI – The Pullman Strike

George Pullman is best known for inventing the “sleeping car.”He was known for taking good care of his workers –

providing schools and homes for them.During the depression of 1893 Pullman was forced to cut wages

25-40% and to lay off many workers.When workers protested they were fired.

A strike was called and Pullman refused to negotiate.Eugene V. Debs, founder of the American Railway Union,

convinced 120,000 workers to join the Pullman strike.

It led to a complete disruption of the nation’s mail servicePresident Grover Cleveland sent in troops to break the strike.

12 deaths occurred.Debs was jailed for 6 months.

Questions:

• 1. What general pattern can you see in the resolution to these strikes?

• 2. Would you say that during the latter part of the 19th century government tended to side with organized labor or with big business? Why?

Robber Barons and More• 1869 Transcontinental Railroad Completed• Robber Barons – Businessmen like Andrew Carnegie

(steel), John D. Rockefeller (Oil) and J.P. Morgan (Banking) controlled most of the Big Business and money in the United States.

• Carnegie used an integrated means of production called a Vertical Consolidation. He controlled all aspects of his Steel business from the Iron Mine, to the Railroad, to the Distribution centers. He would undercut competition’s prices and force them out of business.

• Rockefeller created a monopoly by using a technique called Horizontal consolidation, in which his Standard Oil Company bought out other oil companies and dominated the Oil Industry.

Two Business Models

Bob’s Oil

Jack’s Oil

Mik’s Oil

Tim’s Oil

Tom’s Oil

Standard Oil of Ohio

John D. Rockefeller would own controlling Shares in each of the smaller companiesThereby controlling the market

HORIZONTAL INTEGRATION

Financed by JP Morgan’s Bank

Construction sight

Railroad

Distribution Center

Railroad

Foundry

Railroad

Iron Mines

CarnegieSteel

Instead of controlling the market, Carnegie controlled the process. By integrating the process he controlled his costs.

This is Known as VERTICAL INTEGRATION

Corporations and Mega WealthEach box represents one share. By controlling 51% you control the company. Sell the other 49% to investors to raise Capital.

Here owning 51 shares (51%) gives you total control

Legislation• Robber Barons believed in Social Darwinism. • The Best Business ideas will prevail • Their Tactics led to the passage of the Interstate Commerce

Act in 1887 to regulate the railroads, and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890 to regulate monopolies.

Moving West and Closing the Frontier

• 3 reasons – The Railroad and………

The Railroad, The Morrill Land Grant Act and the Homestead Act

The Morrill Land Grant Act: 140 million acres of land given to state governments for private sales to fund agricultural

colleges.

The Homestead Act: Gave 160 acres to settlers willing to farm the land for 5 years.

All they had to do was build a house.

Some Sad Results worth Remembering• In 1864, Col. Chivington led a massacre of 450 men, women and

children at Sand Creek in Colorado (The Sand Creek Massacre). • They had been guaranteed safety by the U.S. army.

• Another event occurred at Little Big Horn in 1876, where the famous General Custer met a large group of Sioux led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.

• Along with Custer, 260 of his men were killed.

• At Wounded Knee South Dakota (1890), over 200 Sioux were gunned down while performing a ritual Ghost Dance.

• Helen Hunt Jackson wrote A Century of Dishonor and exposed many of these events.

The following slides relate to Populism – a political reform attempt which began as a result of Industrialization

In the late 1800 the Populist movement began. It arose from a group of farmers called the Grange.

They wanted the federal government to regulate railroad rates and paper money to be based on silver instead of gold. They hoped that more money in circulation would lead to inflation and higher prices for their crops. Their leader was William Jennings Bryan. He unsuccessfully ran for president in 1896.

While Populism died out its’ goals continued and become part of the Progressive Movement in the early 1900s

These slides actually go with the next topic, but they make sense her as well

Populism

Politics, Immigration and Urban Life

Coined the Gilded Age by Mark Twain the late 1800’s was a time of uneven wealth and many

social problems.

Laissez Faire – A lack of government policies controlling business.

Spoils System- Also called Patronage faithful supporters were given government jobs by elected

officials regardless of qualifications.

• Political Parties became more clearly defined. Democrats were typically the party of the less privileged: laborers, immigrants, planters etc.

• Republicans became the businessman’s party

Pres. Garfield was assassinated (1881) by a disappointed Republican office seeker. His successor, Chester A. Arthur, used the assassination to push the Pendleton Act through Congress in 1883. It called for competitive exams for all government workers outlawed patronage.

McKinley to Roosevelt• Following a severe economic depression Republican William

McKinley was elected president in 1896, defeating Populist William Jennings Bryan.

• The economy rebounded with the return to the gold standard and McKinley easily won reelection in 1900. In, 1901, McKinley was assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. Theodore Roosevelt assumed the Presidency

Cities• Building innovation, immigration, and African American

migration from the south all caused a tremendous growth in American cities.

• Ghettos developed as ethnic neighborhoods, and Political Bosses ruled the major cities. William March “Boss” Tweed ruled New York’s political machine known as Tammany Hall.

Reforms

• Big city corruption led to varying reforms. • The Women’s Christian Temperance Union was the largest

women’s organization in the U.S. and it led the drive for prohibition.

• With no government assistance for the needy the Social Gospel movement developed. Led primarily by women, it sought to apply the gospel of Jesus to everyday society.

Settlement Houses• Settlement Houses were a major part of this movement. • Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr started Hull House (1889)

in Chicago. These were home for homeless immigrants and became community centers in poor neighborhoods.

• Lillian Wald started the Henry Street Settlement in New York

Social and Cultural Changes

• Public Schools became more common at the turn of the 20th Century.

• Religious Schools became popular as a way for immigrants to “get an education” and maintain their unique culture.

• Railroad tycoon Leland Stanford founded Stanford University (1885).

• Vassar College in NY became the first women’s college (1865).

African American education had two vastly different opinions.

• Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He wanted African Americans to learn productive trades that would be useful in the White community (1895 Atlanta Exposition).

• W.E.B. Du Bois disagreed with Washington and felt that African Americans should educate themselves to compete and to lead (Niagara Movement). He becomes one of the founders of the NAACP.

Suffrage• With more education and new employment opportunities

brought on by technology, women take on a greater role in society.

• It will eventually lead to suffrage in 1920 with the passage of the 19th amendment