Industrialization and Trusts

Unit Objectives To learn the impact of the Industrial Revolution in America To learn the impact of the Titans of Industry on America To learn the impact of the trusts and railroads on America To assess the positives and negative of industry, trusts, and railroads

Mass Production: PRODUCING LARGE QUANTITIES OF SAME PRODUCT Assembly Line: PRODUCT MOVES ALONG A PRODUCTION LINE AS DIFFERENT WORKERS DID THE SAME TASK OVER AND OVER

Important figures of the Industrial Revolution Eli Whitney: Cotton Gin; Helped bring ideas of the assembly line and mass production to America Samuel Colt: Guns; Worked with Whitney to bring the ideas of the assembly line and mass production to America Samuel Slater: Brought the idea of the factory to America Henry Bessemer: Discovered cheaper, better way to make steel Edwin Drake: Drilled first oil well in Pennsylvania (led to cheaper kerosene for lanterns and lubrication for machinery)

The Industrial Revolution led to a new way to purchase products Old Way: Go downtown to a small specialty shop, order the product if it wasn’t in stock, pick it up in a couple of weeks

New Way: Mail order (ordering products through the mail) -Montgomery Ward (“Iron-clad” Guarantee): STARTED MAIL ORDER; IF PRODUCT NOT SATISFACTORY, GOT MONEY BACK—HAD TO EARN TRUST  

-Richard Sears:   IMPROVED MAIL ORDER WITH COLOR, QUICK DRY INK, THINNER PAGES; MAIL ORDER CATLOGUES BECAME TRENDY

Department stores (A.T. Stewart): OPENED SHOPPING TO ANYONE (SMALL SPECIALTY STORES HAD CATERED TO WEALTHY); LOW PRICES, BETTER SELECTION, NO WAIT OR SHIPPING COSTS, CREATED NEED FOR LARGE CAST-IRON BUILDINGS (LED TO SKYSCRAPERS)

Trusts (THIS IS AN ID): MONOPOLIES OF SEVERAL COMPANIES TO POOL RESOURCES AND INCREASE PROFITS   Number one goal of a trust: ELIMINATE COMPETITION (BOUGHT THEM OUT OR DROVE THEM OUT OF BUSINESS WITH LOW PRICES)

Important trust-builders -Andrew Carnegie: STEEL -John Rockefeller: OIL -J.P. Morgan: BANKING

Government’s role with trusts At first the government left trusts alone because it saw them as good for the economy (Laissez Faire)—that led to prosperity for businesses with almost no regulation which led to corruption Later people realized trusts put smaller businesses out of business and were bad for the consumer and the government started to regulate them; Eventually the government banned them as illegal

Railroads:   Expanded west rapidly as a result of the discovery of gold and the increased settlement of the frontier Robberbarons: WEALTHY RR AND OTHER BUSINESS OWNERS WHO HAD THE IMAGE OF BEING GREEDY AND CORRUPT

Government supported the expansion of the railroad by selling railroad companies frontier land very cheap Impact of the railroad:   TIME TO CROSS COUNTRY REDUCED FROM A MONTH TO A WEEK FRONTIER TRAVEL BECAME MUCH SAFER LED TO STANDARD TIME ZONES AND TRACK GAUGES

Overall Impact Overall social impact of industrialization and trusts—they did lead to economic growth for America’s big businesses, but at what cost? America changed from a rural, agricultural nation to an urban, industrial nation within one generation Early industry created jobs with low wages, poor and unsafe working conditions, long hours, child labor Cities grew much quicker than urban planners could prepare for resulting in ghettoes (poor ethnic neighborhoods) and tenement housing (overcrowded unsafe apartments for the poor)—many rural people who had trouble making a living on their farms came to the cities looking for work Immigrants flooded America’s biggest cities and became competition for jobs