The Rise of American Business

Transcontinental Railroad The biggest contributor was the Federal Gov’t They gave land & money

Corporations Huge businesses Shares of stock were sold Stock-a piece of a company The sales of stock brought in large amounts of investment capital. Capital=Money

One company controls all of a business or industry

Entrepreneurs Ambitious people who take control of businesses & industries. Robber Barons: term that made these people sound evil, like they made their fortunes robbing people. Captains of Industry: term that made these people sound great, like they were helping the workers out by providing jobs.

Andrew Carnegie Leader of the steel industry Controlled all aspects of steel making Iron Mines Steel Refineries Bessemer Process Shipping

John D Rockefeller Standard Oil Trust Controlled 95 % of the oil industry Bought out smaller competitors Was able to secure cheap shipping prices

J. Piermont Morgan Banking Later bought Carnegie Steel Renames U.s. Steel

The Gov’t * Business The Gov’t always supports businesses at the expense of the common person Laissez-Faire- the gov’t let businesses do whatever they wanted to do Social Darwinism-survival of the fittest; the strong businesses survived at the expense of the weak

Factory Work Was brutal Long hours, Low pay No breaks No benefits

Knights of Labor The 1st real labor union Lacked focus Powderly

AFL The American Federation of Labor Samuel Gompers

AFL A series of craft unions Was a success Collective Bargaining-when union leaders negotiate with factory owners

Labor Unions Goals Shorter Work Day Better working conditions Benefits Vacations

Strikes Great Railway Strike Haymarket Riot Homestead Strike Pullman Strike Textile Strike They all fail because the federal gov’t supports the owners

Urban Life Crowded Dirty Poor

Jane Addams Hull House-Education services to the poor

Women's Suffrage Fight for the right to vote Elizabeth Cady Stanton Susan B. Anthony Lucretia Mott Alice Paul 19th Amendment 1920-women finally obtain the right to vote

Immigration Immigrants come to this country Willing to work for cheap Labor Unions despise them because they undercut their cause Settle in the cities ghettos

Boss System System in which a political “boss” ran things behind the scenes Was almost always corrupt The boss would be the 1st to greet immigrants Got jobs and houses for them In turn the immigrants supported the boss and voted for the bosses people

Boss Tweed Corrupt, unofficial leader of NYC Tammany Hall Embezzled millions from the city

Reactions against Immigrants Nativism-intense hatred of immigrants Know-Nothing Party-would terrorize immigrants and claim to “know nothing” about what was happening Labor Unions hated them Immigrants from southern + eastern Europe as well as Asia were especially hated because they were different.

Anti-Immigrant Legislation Quotas-limit on the number of immigrants Emergency Quota Act of 1921-limited the # of immigrants National Origins Act-further reduced immigration Chinese Exclusion Act-limited Chinese immigration Gentlemen’s Agreement-kept Japanese immigrants out