The Gilded Age - WELCOME TO MS. MARTIN'S CLASS! · 2019-01-20 · WHAT IS THE GILDED AGE? •Term created by Mark Twain, famous author of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn •Gilded=

THE GILDED AGE

Industrialization, Big Business, and

Organized Labor

OVERVIEW OF THE GILDED AGE

WHAT IS THE GILDED AGE?

• Term created by Mark Twain, famous author of Tom Sawyer and

Huckleberry Finn

• Gilded= coated with gold

• A time of

• Rapid Industrialization

• Development of Infrastructure

• Little government regulation of the economy

• After the end of the Frontier

EXPANSION OF INDUSTRY

• Changes in technology

• Fuel: Now using Kerosene,

Oil, Coal

• Iron and Steel become

important parts of Industry

• Steel is used for

• Railroads

• Buildings and Bridges

• Farm tools

• Food cans

KEY INVENTIONS

• Thomas Edison

• Made power plant/long-

lasting lightbulb

• With electricity, factories

can work more hours and be

located anywhere

KEY INVENTIONS

• The Typewriter!

• Telephone (1876)

• Invented by Alexander Graham Bell

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEGQUgWBQL

4

THE AGE OF RAILROADS

• By 1890, over 200,000 miles of RR

Track

• But every year, about 2000 RR workers

die and 20,000 are injured

• RRs built by Immigrants (Chinese in W

and Irish in E) and African Americans

• Railroads link the nation

• Travel and industry increases

• Time zones created to keep railroad

schedules

THE AGE OF RAILROADS

• Railroads cause industry to grow

• George Pullman invents a sleeping train car

• Railroads were usually corrupt

• Charged high prices to travel or ship by rail

• Bribed government officials

• Made millions through trickery

CONGRESS STEPS IN

• Congress tries to combat Corruption

• Supreme Court allows Congress to regulate trade

between states

• Interstate Commerce Act passed

• Prices have to be “reasonable and just” for people to travel

• But Act not strong enough to control the Railroads

GILDED AGE THEMES

• Big Business

• Businesses consolidate into big

industries

• The Rise of Organized Labor

• Laissez- Faire Economics

• Government was hands off, very little regulation

• Resulted in wealthy businesses and lots of corruption

GILDED AGE THEMES

• Urbanization

• Growth of the Cities and resulting

problems

• Immigration

• Millions of immigrants change the

makeup of our country

• Social Darwinism

• Survival of the fittest, the best

individuals will succeed

BIG BUSINESSDuring the Gilded Age

GOVERNMENT PRACTICES

• Laissez-Faire Economics

• Means “hands off”

• Government does not regulate business

• Results in very wealthy businesses, lots of corruption,

little competition

• Why?

• Social Darwinism: The idea that the best will succeed on

their own, so the Government does not need to do anything

MONOPOLIES AND INTEGRATION

• Many businesses in the Gilded Age became monopolies

• Having exclusive (or only) control of the supply or trade of a

good or service

• Two tactics

• Horizontal Integration: Buying out competitors

• Vertical Integration: Buying out suppliers in every step of

creating your good

ROBBER BARONS

• A person who has become rich

through ruthless business practices

• Andrew Carnegie (Steel)

• Horizontal Integration: Bought out his

competitors

• Vertical Integration: Bought his

providers of raw materials and

transporters of his goods

ROBBER BARONS

• John D. Rockefeller (Oil)

• Created Standard Oil

• Bought other oil companies

(Horizontal integration)

ROBBER BARONS

• Cornelius Vanderbilt

(Railroads)

• J.P. Morgan (Banking)

• Some robber barons

contributed money to

philanthropy/charity

MONOPOLIES AND TRUSTS

• Robber Barons created monopolies

• Had control over all competition

• Also created trusts

• Companies that agreed to work with

one another for a common goal

• What is the problem with this???

SHERMAN ANTI-TRUST ACT

• In 1890, Congress

passed the Sherman

Anti-Trust Act

• Outlawed trusts and

monopolies

• But VERY difficult to

enforce

WORKING CONDITIONS

• TERRIBLE

• Long hours

• Dangerous conditions

• Bad living conditions

• Child Labor

• To try and improve

working conditions,

people began to form

Labor Unions

UNIONS AND STRIKES

• Union: A group of workers who want to protect

their rights

• Unions often utilized strikes as tools

• Meaning all workers would agree not to go in to work

• They know the company needs them to work and produce

goods, so they hope they will gain power by not working

• Usually ended in violence

ORGANIZED LABOR

During the Gilded Age

LABOR UNIONS AND TACTICS

LABOR UNIONS AND TACTICS

• Labor Union

• Workers who organize against their employers to seek better

wages and working conditions

• Labor Strike

• Workers stop working until their demands are met

• Boycott

• People refuse to buy a company’s product until the company

meets demands

LABOR LINGO

• Scab Workers: New workers brought in to replace strikers

and work for less pay

• Black List: List of people disliked by business owners

because they led Unions

• Collective Bargaining: Employers and Unions sit down to

negotiate

WHY NOW?

• Immigration, Urbanization, and

Industrialization in the Gilded

Age leads to large

disenfranchised population

• However, Labor Unions remain

to this day!

FORMING THE UNIONS

• Union Membership

grew from about the

1880s on

• In 1900, 1 in 12

workers were in

Unions

NOTABLE UNIONS

• The Knights of Labor

• Loose federation of workers from all different trades, biggest

Union

• Women were allowed to join

• Biggest strikes involved railroad workers

• Wanted the outlawing of Child Labor

• Wanted gender equality in pay

NOTABLE UNIONS

• The American Federation of Labor

• Founded by Samuel Gompers

• Organized only skilled workers

• Focused on 8-hour workday and end to child labor

• Biggest strikes involved industrial workers

NOTABLE UNIONS

• The International Workers of the

World (IWW or Wobblies)

• Most radical group

• Extreme tactics and socialism

BIGGEST STRIKES

• Great Railroad Strike of 1877

• Railway workers protested unfair wage

cuts and unsafe working conditions

• Violent, unorganized strike

• Put down when President Hayes sent in

federal troops

BIGGEST STRIKES

• Haymarket Square Riot (1886)

• In Chicago, workers went on strike for an 8 hour

workday

• Police came to crush strike, killed and wounded many

• The next day a rally was held in protest

• Someone threw a bomb and killed 7 police officers

• The police retaliated, killing 10 workers and wounding 50

• Leads to nationwide distrust of labor

BIGGEST STRIKES

• Homestead Strike (1892)

• In Pennsylvania, Andrew Carnegie cut

wages of his steelworkers

• Workers went on strike

• Carnegie’s men in charge called in the Pinkerton police force

• Violence between strikers and Pinkertons, federal troops sent in to calm

situation

• Steelworkers end up losing power and calling off strike

BIGGEST STRIKES

• Pullman Strike (1893)

• In Chicago, railroad workers’ pay was cut, but they

had to pay the same for company housing

• Nationwide railroad strike shut down the railroads

• President Grover Cleveland sent in federal troops,

arguing that the trains HAVE to run for the

government to work

• Court system and military used to limit the power of unions