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Published byJustin Mills Modified over 9 years ago
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A New Spirit of Reform 1872-1897
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The Gilded Age The American worker hidden under the powerful few Reform, or change needed – were the industries corrupt?
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Railroad Credit Scandal Union Pacific buys credit company Gives contracts from government to Union Pacific Overpaid 50 million – stocks look good? Led to investigation
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President Grant Corruption Railroad credit scandal Cheated American Indians Illegal payments from whiskey companies to avoid paying taxes. People were making millions off the government
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Political Corruption ….. Helped immigrates for votes Boss Tweed – newspaper bribe
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Election of 1884-Cleveland wins Interstate Commerce Act Forced Railroad crossing state lines to charge customers the same fees for the same service. C. Vanderbilt made a Fortune from building railroads. Great Northern Railroad System – James Hill- “The Empire builder
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Reform was also needed with American workers Labor Unions established: Strikers – stop working to get better pay or conditions Two groups formed AFL Nobel Order of Knights
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Two Different Unions: AFL : American Federation of Labor -Skilled workers -peaceful bargaining (talks) Knights of Labor Open to all workers Improve pay and work conditions Strikes and boycotts Ends with a bomb
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Texas Longhorns; 400 ranches -Ranching big business -Cattle trails and railroads developed. Meatpacking developed by Armour and Swift
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Andrew Carnegie poor, from Scotland came over at 12 worked on railroads Started and invested in Carnegie Steel Co Became a steel tycoon; railroads, bridges, buildings Sold in 1901 to J P Morgan for 480 million; libraries, schools, medical research
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Tech Boom– “Menlo Park wizard” Thomas Edison – perfects light bulb, brings electricity to New York, invents many things….like the phonograph Alexander Gram Bell – invents telephone
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Other inventions: George Eastman – The Kodak camera! Elisha Otis – the elevator! Edwin Drake – strikes oil in Titusville! Ford – gas engine and creates the assembly line!
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Vocabulary: Selling stock – way for a corporation to make money Entrepreneur – person who starts and organizes a business Monopoly – a corporation that has little competition
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Corporations Stockholders – are those who buy shares in a company. The company is led by Board of Directors Trusts – formed to gain dominance with several companies hence creating monopoly To control the markets, business bought out their competition – horizontal combination
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John D Rockefeller - started Standard Oil -vertical integration -owned 90% of pipelines refined 84% of the oil
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Vertical Integration Control all industries required for production from raw material to the final delivery. Raw Material Factory production Railroad for delivery
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Manufacturing replaces agriculture Suspension bridges ----Brooklyn bridge Refineries for crude oil---Rockefeller Railroads---Cornelius Vanderbilt Meat packing-----Amour and Gustavo Swift Steel for sky scrappers US has tremendous natural resources- coal, iron, petroleum Downside—factories caused pollution.
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