The Busy Hive 1877-1911 KC 6.1 Part I-II

Causes of Rapid Industrialization Steam Revolution of the 1830s-1850s. The Railroad fueled the growing US economy: First big business in the US. A magnet for financial investment. The key to opening the West. Aided the development of other industries.

Causes of Rapid Industrialization Technological innovations. Bessemer and open hearth process Refrigerated cars Edison “Wizard of Menlo Park” light bulb, phonograph, motion pictures.

Alexander Graham Bell Telephone (1876)

Causes of Rapid Industrialization Unskilled & semi-skilled labor in abundance. Abundant capital. New, talented group of businessmen [entrepreneurs] and advisors. Market growing as US population increased. Government willing to help at all levels to stimulate economic growth. Abundant natural resources.

New Business Culture Laissez Faire  the ideology of the Industrial Age. Individual as a moral and economic ideal. Individuals should compete freely in the marketplace. The market was not man-made or invented. No room for government in the market!

2. Social Darwinism British economist. Adapted Darwin’s ideas from the “Origin of Species” to humans. Notion of “Survival of the Fittest.” Herbert Spencer

2. Social Darwinism in America Individuals must have absolute freedom to struggle, succeed or fail. Therefore, state intervention to reward society and the economy is futile! William Graham Sumner Folkways (1906)

New Type of Business Entities Pool 1887 Interstate Commerce Act  Interstate Commerce Commission created. Trust  John D. Rockefeller Standard Oil Co.

Standard Oil Co.

New Type of Business Entities Trust: Horizontal Integration  John D. Rockefeller Vertical Integration: Gustavus Swift  Meat-packing Andrew Carnegie  U. S. Steel

New Type of Business Entities

New Financial Businessman The Broker: J. Pierpont Morgan

Wall Street – 1867 & 1900

% of Billionaires in 1900

% of Billionaires in 1918

The Protectors of Our Industries

The ‘Bosses’ of the Senate

The ‘Robber Barons’ of the Past

“On Wealth” The Anglo-Saxon race is superior. “Gospel of Wealth” (1901). Inequality is inevitable and good. Wealthy should act as “trustees” for their “poorer brethren.” Andrew Carnegie

The Changing American Labor Force

Child Labor

Child Labor

Labor Unrest: 1870-1900

The Corporate “Bully-Boys”: Pinkerton Agents

An injury to one is the concern of all! Knights of Labor Terence V. Powderly An injury to one is the concern of all!

Goals of the Knights of Labor Eight-hour workday. Workers’ cooperatives. Worker-owned factories. Abolition of child and prison labor. Increased circulation of greenbacks. Equal pay for men and women. Safety codes in the workplace. Prohibition of contract foreign labor. Abolition of the National Bank.

The American Federation of Labor: 1886 Samuel Gompers

How the AF of L Would Help the Workers Catered to the skilled worker. Represented workers in matters of national legislation. Maintained a national strike fund. Evangelized the cause of unionism. Prevented disputes among the many craft unions. Mediated disputes between management and labor. Pushed for closed shops.

Anarchists Meet on the Lake Front in 1886

McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. Haymarket Riot (1886) McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.