1. The Gilded Age (Industry) SSUSH11a- d

2. Industrialization increased the standard of living and the opportunities of most Americans, but at what cost? Are “Robber Barons” just a thing of the past?

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9. Promoted Settlement on the Great Plains Linked the West and East and thereby creating one great national market

10. Federal Government gave lots of money to railroad developers Thought that more railroads meant faster settlement of the west Unforeseen Consequences: 1.Hasty and Poor Development 2.Widespread Corruption (spoils system) 3.Railroads controlled 50% of land in some western states

11. 25% of all railroad companies go “belly up” J. Piermont Morgan buys ‘em up and consolidates them (makes them one company) Result? – By 1900, seven companies controlled 66% of nation’s railroads I own a lot of Railroads. So what? Do somethin’.

12. “The public be damned.”

15. 1.Steam Revolution of the 1830s-1850s 2.The Railroad fueled the growing US economy: First big business in the US A magnet for financial investment The key to opening the West Aided the development of other industries

16. 3.Technological innovations Bessemer and open hearth process Refrigerated cars Thomas Edison Bessemer Converter

17. “The Wizard of Menlo Park”

18. The Light Bulb

19. The Phonograph (1877)

20. The Ediphone (Dictaphone)

21. The Motion Picture Camera

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23. Telephone (1876)

24. Kitty Hawk, NC – December 7, 1903

25. I want to pay my workers so that they can afford my product! – Henry Ford

27. 4.Unskilled & semi-skilled labor in abundance 5.Abundant capital 6.New, talented group of businessmen entrepreneurs and advisors 7.Government willing to help at all levels to stimulate economic growth 8.Abundant natural resources

29. Individual as moral and economic ideal Individuals should compete freely in the marketplace The market was not man-made or invented No room for government in the market! = “Hands Off” government attitude toward business

30. British economist. Advocate of laissez-faire. Adapted Darwin’s ideas from the “Origin of Species” to humans. “Survival of the Fittest.” Herbert Spencer

31. Individuals must have absolute freedom to struggle, succeed or fail Therefore, state intervention to reward society and the economy is futile William Graham Sumner

33. Wealth no longer viewed as bad Wealth = God’s approval Christian duty to accumulate wealth Should not help the poor Russell H. Conwell

34. ”Money printed your Bible, money builds your churches, money sends your missionaries, and money pays your preachers, and you would not have many of them, either, if you did not pay them. I say, then, you ought to have money. If you can honestly attain unto riches in Philadelphia, it is your Christian and godly duty to do so. It is an awful mistake of these pious people to think you must be awfully poor in order to be pious. Some men say, Don't you sympathize with the poor people? Of course I do…but the number of poor who are to be sympathized with is very small. To sympathize with a man whom God has punished for his sins, thus to help him when God would still continue a just punishment, is to do wrong, no doubt about it, and we do that more than we help those who are deserving. While we should sympathize with God's poor—that is, those who cannot help themselves---let us remember there is not a poor person in the United States who was not made poor by his own shortcomings, or by the shortcomings of someone else. It is all wrong to be poor, anyhow.” - Russell H. Conwell

35. Softer version of this view Wrote Gospel of Wealth (1901) Anglo-Saxons are superior Inequality is Inevitable Wealthy should act as “trustees” for their “poorer brethren” Andrew Carnegie

36. Protestant (Puritan) “Work Ethic” Horatio Alger [100+ novels] What do you think about this?

39. John D. Rockefeller

41. Horizontal Integration – Owning all your competitors – John D. Rockefeller Vertical Integration – Owning all the stages of production – Andrew Carnegie (U.S. Steel)

44. 1877 - Munn. v. IL Government says you cannot “fix” grain prices 1886 - Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railroad Company v. IL Federal Government says it’s in charge of interstate regulation 1890 - Sherman Antitrust Act in “restraint of trade” “rule of reason” loophole 1895 - US v. E. C. Knight Co. Antitrust act applies only to commerce, not manufacturing

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56. “Lockout” “Blacklists” “Yellow-Dog Contracts” Private Guard & Militias to put down strikes Obtaining court injunctions against strikes

57. Railroads cut wages Workers strike 500,000 workers from other industries joined Rutherford B. Hayes used Federal Troops to end violence – 100 people killed in strike

58. National Labor Union Knights of Labor American Federation of Labor William Sylvis (1828-1869), American labor leader.

60. Strike at George Pullman’s model company town near Chicago 1894: cut of wages & fired negotiators Eugine V. Debs (Amer. Railroad Union) said no trains pull Pullman cars Eugene V. Debs in 1897

61. Pullman attached cars to mail trains In re Debs (1895) – Supreme Court approved injunctions against strike – Debs lost faith in free-market capitalism and founded American Socialist Party 1900

63. Industrialization increased the standard of living and the opportunities of most Americans, but at what cost?

64. Are “Robber Barons” just a thing of the past?