1. Government practices Government supported laissez-faire economics
Means “hands off”
Government does very little regulation
Result=very wealthy businesses and lots of corruption and little competition

2. Social Darwinism Idea that the best individuals will succeed
The survival of the fittest
Government should do very little

3. Robber barons Andrew Carnegie Built a giant steel firm
Bought out competition and provides of raw materials and transportation of his goods
Known as vertical consolidation

4. John D. Rockefeller Another robber baron Controlled Standard Oil
Bought other oil companies
This is horizontal consolidation=controlling competition at one step in the process of a product.

5. Other robber barons Cornelius Vanderbilt: Railroad monopolist
J. P. Morgan: banking monopolist
Robber barons did philanthropy work
JDR philanthropy was attacked as "tainted money"; 1910 Puck cartoon shows him purifying it through a foundation

6. Monopolies and trusts Robber barons created monopolies
Where a firm controls all the competition
Also created trusts
Companies agree to work together

7. What’s wrong with this?
What’s wrong with having monopolies and no competition?

8. Sherman Anti-trust Act
Congress passed the Sherman Anti-Trust act to outlaw trusts and monopolies
Difficult to enforce

9. Working conditions Conditions were terrible Long hours
Dangerous conditions
Poor living conditions
Child Labor
To improve conditions formed labor unions

10. Unions Group of workers who want to protect their rights
Knights of Labor: unskilled/skilled workers demanded reforms in child labor, safety, hours (8 hr day), equal pay for women
American Federation of Labor: skilled workers demanded higher pay, shorter work weeks.

11. Strikes
Strikes resulted and usually ended in violence. Government usually sent in troops against the unions

12. Notable Strikes
Haymarket Square Riot: laborers held a riot in Haymarket Square in Chicago. A bomb was thrown by a protester, police fired on strikers and several were injured
Homestead Strike: Carnegie hired Pinkertons (private security) to end a union strike, violence broke out, strike was crushed
Pullman Strike: laborers for the railroad went on strike and shut down the railroads, federal troops brought in, people were hurt and lost their jobs.