US-U5-L3 The Progressive Era was a period of social activism and political reform in the United States that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s.

Monopolies A monopoly is the total control of a type of industry by one person or one company.-American Vision the exclusive possession or control of something. - monopoly Many people feared monopolies because they felt that a monopoly could change its product and there was no competition to stop it. People felt that monopolies could raise prices very high and again there was no competition to keep the prices low. On the opposing end people felt that monopolies would have to keep their prices low or competitors would arise.

Trusts A trust is a combination of firms or corporations formed by a legal agreement, especially to reduce competition-American Vision In general, a trust is a relationship in which one person holds title to property, subject to an obligation to keep or use the property for the benefit of another. 0.html

Vertical Integration Vertical integration means that a entrepreneur purchases companies at all levels of production. For instance: he buys a farm with cows, a slaughterhouse, the refrigerated railroad cars for transport, the cooled warehouses, the meat packing plants, delivery wagons, and the marketplace to sell the meat.

Horizontal Integration Horizontal Integration is when many competing companies are bought up and turned into one large company Standard Oil was broken up by the government in 1911 for being a monopoly Rockefeller was also a philanthropist, supporting colleges such as Spelman

Big Business/ John D. Rockefeller John D. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in To remove competition, Standard Oil bought oil refineries, so that by 1880 they owned 90% of the refineries in the US, forming a monopoly To avoid violating state laws against horizontal integration, Standard Oil formed a trust, a way of merging and controlling other companies

Standard Oil Video 4feN0

Big Business/Andrew Carnegie Emigrated to the US in 1848 from Scotland. Rags to riches story. When he was an adult he began buying shares to iron mills and factories that made sleeping cars and locomotives. He also invested in a company that built bridges. He traveled to England where he met Sir Henry Bessemer. He then came back to the US and adapted his steel mills to the Bessemer process and that changed the face of steel making forever in the US because it was so cheap.

The Pullman Railcar Company The Pullman Company required their employees to live on the company’s land and shop only at the company’s stores. In the 1890s there was an economic depression that caused problems with this system because the company’s stores were too expensive, and people were receiving 25-50% pay cuts. Some people even lost their jobs.

1894 Pullman Strike In 1894 the American Railway Union, led by Eugene Debs, led a strike against the Pullman Company (IL) who manufactured railroad cars The Pullman Company tried to hire new workers, but they were attacked by the strikers. President Cleveland sent in U.S. troops and ordered the strike to end. The ARU collapsed as a Union as a result of government intervention. The government felt that unions were a menace to American capitalist economy.

The Jungle The Jungle is a novel written by Upton Sinclair in 1906 about the dangers of the meatpacking industry through an immigrant family’s fictional story. Sinclair’s intention was not to expose the meatpacking industry, but to expose the poverty, lack of social programs, corruption of those in power and poor working conditions.

Impact of The Jungle The meatpacking industry’s unsanitary conditions were exposed and Congress was forced to pass laws to regulate the meatpacking industry so that food was safe to consume. Federal Laws –Meat Inspection Act was passed –Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 –From those two programs came the Food and Drug Administration in 1930 that is still in effect today.

Hull House Jane Addams brought the idea of settlement houses to the US from Britain. The Hull House was located in Chicago and was established to teach recently immigrated peoples to cook, clean, administer basic first aid, speak the English language, and know their legal rights, etc. This brought about other social service work where women played key roles. ?v=

Women and Reform Movements Women were major contributors to many reform movements including: –Child labor –Women’s suffrage (right to vote) –Education –Prohibition/temperance

Jim Crow Jim Crow Laws-named after a fictional character in a song Called for the grandfather clause, poll taxes, residency requirements, and literacy tests for voting rights for African Americans, Mexican Americans and some whites until about The grandfather clause in this instance refers to if a person’s grandfather could vote before the Civil War then the person trying to vote would be allowed to vote as well, if not they were not “grandfathered in”.

Plessy v. Ferguson Homer Plessy was a free person that was 7/8 th white and 1/8 th black. He tried to board a whites only railroad car in Louisiana, but according to state law he was black, therefore this action was illegal. He refused to move to the colored car and was subsequently arrested. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court. The phrase that is attached to this ruling is “Separate but Equal” and it applied to most areas of society, i.e. schools, restaurants, water fountains, etc.

NAACP A group that formed in response to the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling was National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The NAACP wanted full civil rights for African Americans (equal pay, total voting rights without prejudice, etc.) Still active today and supports civil rights cases.

Ida Tarbell Ida Tarbell wrote articles for a magazine exposing big business corruption of the Standard Oil Company as well as political corruption in New York and Chicago. Her findings helped to cause the government to interfere and break up the Standard Oil Company. Ida Tarbell and Upton Sinclair are both muckrakers because they stir up drama that later causes political or social change.

Closing/Ticket out the door Explain what a monopoly is in your own words. What are the differences between horizontal integration and vertical integration? What business did Rockefeller found? What was the result of the Pullman Strike?

Closing – Ticket out the Door What was Hull House? What is the phrase attached to Plessy vs. Ferguson? What group was formed as a result of Plessy vs. Ferguson? Explain muckraker. Who was Ida Tarbell?