1. Industrialization in the late 1800s
Ch 14 sec 1 and 2

2. Several factors combined to fuel an industrial boom in the 1870s and 1880s

3. 1. Abundant Natural Resources
Crude oil, iron ore, and coal deposits in the U.S.
Edwin Drake used a steam engine to extract oil
Henry Bessemer developed a cheap, efficient method for turning iron ore into steel
steel was used for railroads, barbed wire, machinery, canned food, and bridge & skyscraper construction

4. 2. An Increasing Number of Inventions
Edison perfected the light bulb & developed a system for producing and distributing electricity
Westinghouse made electricity safer and less expensive
Bell invented the telephone
Henry Ford used the assembly line
The Wright Brothers invented the first airplane

5. 3. AN Expanding urban population due to immigration and migration
provided the labor supply and a market for goods
new industrial cities developed: Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh
problems from rapid growth grew quickly

6. 4. Railroad expansion
government gave huge land grants and loans to railroad companies
they were the nation’s largest businesses and created monopolies that would lead to widespread corruption and abuse of power
The Interstate Commerce Commission was created in 1887 to regulate railroads, but was only loosely enforced

7. Corporations, monopolies and the idea of capitalism
After the Civil War, many companies became corporations, meaning they sold stock to members of the public
Some corporations hen created monopolies using vertical and horizontal integration
Example:

8. Capitalism became our economic system
Most believed that capitalism is compatible with the American ideal of equal opportunity
It allowed for the self-made made: every individual has a chance to succeed and attain great wealth
Examples: Carnegie (steel), Rockefeller (oil), Morgan (banking), Vanderbilt (railroads)
Question: Were they industrial capitalists or robber barons?

9. New ideas created to support capitalism
Social Darwinism: belief that only the fittest individuals survived in the marketplace and the poor were poor because of their own shortcomings
The Gospel of Wealth, by Carnegie, argued that people of great wealth had not only great power, but great responsibility; it was their duty to donate their wealth to create public projects