1. US Industry and the Gilded Age http://www. history
The Gilded Age - period following the Civil War, (End of Reconstruction in 1877 to the turn of the twentieth century.)
- coined by writers Mark Twain as an era of serious social problems hidden by a thin layer of gold.
- Enormous growth of cities that attracted millions from Europe.
- Railroads were the major industry,
- Factory system, mining, and labor unions also gained in importance.
What do the pictures suggest about the Gilded Age?

2. The Rise of Industry 1. Rise of American Industry;
(a.) Abundant natural resources – good soil, flowing streams & rivers, lumber,
deposit if minerals.
(b.) Free Enterprise System – capitalism, private investment ownership, hard
work and individualism.
1. What is the goal of the free enterprise system?
2. How does the goal of the free enterprise drive its success?
(c.) Government – laissez-faire or “hands-off” in the 19th century. Some
policies promoted industrialization such as protective tariffs and patents.
3. What is a protective tariff?

3. The Key to Success - Railroads
2. The Modern Industrial Economy Emerges:
(a.) The Expansion of Railroads:
1. Transcontinental Railroad completed in 1869.
2. Railroads connecting the East to the West
connecting raw materials to factories, and factories
to consumers throughout the nation.
3. Iron, coal, & steel industries stimulated.
4. Causes settlement of the frontier – brought settlers
to Great Plains, linked frontier to cities, promoted
immigration to build lines. (Irish & Chinese).
Transcontinental Railroad
(b.) Growth of Population:
1. Between 1860 –1900, the U.S. population more than doubled.
2. Millions of European immigrants and Far Easterners came to America.
3. Steady rise in demand for goods, source of cheap labor.

4. New Markets to Sell Goods
C. Development of a National Market:
1. High investment costs of mass production required large market to remain
profitable.
2. A national market emerged in the late 19th century. Railroads, telegraphs,
and telephones linked together to all parts of the nation. Goods could be
shipped cheaper than local producers because of machines.
3. Department stores, chain stores, & mail order houses developed.
1st Victoria Secrets Catalog

5. Technology (d.) Technological Progress:
1. Bessemer Process – Henry Bessemer’s process that made steel better &
more economical.
2. Electricity to power machines, streetcars, and subways.
3. 1st oil well, 1859 in Pennsylvania.
4. Internal combustion engine led to car and plane.
5. Elias Howe – sewing Machine (1846)
6. Elisha Otis – elevator (1852) – led to taller buildings.
How did this change cities?
7. Christopher Shoals – typewriter (1867)
8. Alexander Graham Bell – telephone (1876)
9. Thomas Edison – electric light bulb (1879) Edison
10. Orville and Wilbur Wright – airplane (1903)

6. Progress Through the Entrepreneurial Spirit

7. New Ways of Doing Business
( e.) Business Organization: Corporations
1. Before the Civil war, most business was privately owned by individuals or
by partnerships.
2. Corporations – big business is empowered to
act as a “person”
3. Since it is very expensive to start, corporations
raised capital by selling shares of the business to
investors in the form of stocks, making stockholders
partial owners.
4. Corporations enjoyed advantages because
of large amounts of money they raised.
5. Stockholders shared in profits in the form of
dividends.

8. Captains of Industry or Robber Barons???
(a.) This period is known as the Gilded Age because of lavish lifestyles of
those who became rich from industry.
(b.) Great entrepreneurs influenced American life and became known as
Captains of industry, because they helped create the modern industrial
economy of mass production, and affordable goods.
(c.) Some called these people Robber Barons because of their ruthlessness
to competitors and workers.
. Andrew Carnegie - a Scottish immigrant who became nation’s largest steel
maker. Carnegie
Workers paid very low wages,
Crushed attempts to unionize.
- Spent his later life giving millions away
to libraries and charities across the nation.

9. Captains or Robber Barons Continued
2. John D. Rockefeller- his Standard Oil Company had monopoly control of the oil industry. He made millions with a vertical monopoly of the steel Industry. Standard Oil
- Look at the cartoon and describe how a vertical monopoly works.

10. Captains or Robber Barons Continued
3. J.P. Morgan – banker who took over many companies.
- Bought Carnegie Steel in 1901 for a half a billion dollars, merged
with other companies and created U.S. Steel, the world’s largest company.
Morgan
4.Henry Ford – revolutionized the auto industry with the assembly line.
- Lowered cost of producing cars and made them affordable.
- Paid workers high wages so they could buy such goods.
- Also donated millions to charity.
Ford's Model T
5. Cornelius Vanderbilt
- made millions in the steamship and railroad
industry.
- Gave $1 million to university in Nashville, Tenn.
Vanderbilt
Watch the videos and take notes.