1. Chapter 5 Industrialization & The “Gilded Age”
Between 1869 & 1899 the U.S. Population nearly tripled and during this time America emerged as an industrial and agricultural giant

2. The Rise of Big Business
The Industrial Revolution created huge corporations that came to dominate the economy as well as political & social life during the late 19th century
There were many things that launch this economic growth like natural resources including forests, mineral wealth, & rivers
Carnegie Plant at Homestead, PA

3. The Second Industrial Revolution was spurred by three developments:
The 1st was the creation of interconnected national transportation & communication network
The 2nd happened in the 1880s w/ electric power
The 3rd was the systematic application of scientific research to industrial processes

4. Building the Transcontinental Railroads
A transcontinental railroad was not built before the Civil War b/c North-South sectional differences prevented Congress from selecting a route
The first transcontinental railroad was built in just sixteen months
The celebration after the completion of the
first transcontinental railroad

5. Those Who Build the Railroad
The Union Pacific work crews were made up of ex-soldiers, former slaves & Irish & German immigrants
The Central Pacific crews were made-up mainly of Chinese workers that came to the U.S. to CA b/c of the Gold Rush & railroad jobs
Chinese workers building the
transcontinental railroad

6. Financing The Railroads
Railroad executives were called “robber barons” b/c they were dishonest
Credit Mobilier was a construction company that overcharged the railroads
Jay Gould was the most notorious of the railroad “robber baron”
Another baron was Cornelius Vanderbilt whose business consolidation put the control of railroads in the hands of the few
Jay Gould

7. Inventions Spur Manufacturing
During the 1890s the U.S. patent Office registered almost 235,000 inventions
Some of these inventions were refrigerated railcar, barbed wire, air brakes, typewriter, telephone
Thomas Alva Edison invented the first successful incandescent light bulb
Thomas Edison, 1878

8. Nikola Tesla’s Alternating-Current Motor made it possible:
For water sources to locate away from waterfalls
To transmit high voltage electricity
For power sources to locate away from coal deposits
For Westinghouse to defeat Edison
Nikola Tesla

9. Rockefeller & the Oil Trust
In 1870 Rockefeller started the Standard Oil Company and decided to take over all other oil businesses
Rockefeller perfected the idea of the holding company or a company that controlled other companies by holding a majority of their stock
Rockefeller became a leading philanthropist

10. Carnegie & The Steel Industry
Andrew Carnegie rose from poverty
Carnegie made money in many areas, including oil railroads, iron and steel, and bridge building
Carnegie wrote “The Gospel of Wealth” in 1889

11. J.P. Morgan, Financier
Morgan was born wealthy and was an investment banker
By the 1890s he controlled 1/6 of the nation’s railway system
Morgan’s U.S. Steel Corporation a holding company for a variety of interests was the 1st billion dollar corporation

12. Sears & Roebuck
After the Civil War w/ all the new inventions manufacturers came up w/ many new products
The question was: how to get these products to isolated farms & small towns?
Sears, Roebuck & Company was a pioneer in selling goods by mail
Sears, Roebuck and Company Catalogue

13. Labor Conditions
By modern-day standards working conditions were dreary and often dangerous
By out of 6 children in the nation was working full time
By 1881, only 7states had laws that children had to be at least 12 before they worked
Southern Cotton Mills

14. Disorganized Protest
It was very difficult for workers to organize unions
There were strikes in the Penn. coalfields by an Irish group called the Molly Maguires
Many of the Mollies were hanged

15. The Railroad Strike of 1877
This was a more widespread labor incident and the 1st major interstate strike in American History
The RR strike started b/c of a cut to workers wages
This strike ended when the workers, who lacked organized bargaining power, returned to work

16. The Sand-Lot Incident
B/C of the 1870s depression there were anti-Chinese riots in San Francisco
Denis Kearney started the Workingmen’s party of CA which was based on this anti-Chinese sentiment
In 1882 Congress voted to prohibit Chinese immigration
Denis Kearney

17. Toward Permanent Unions
National Labor Union started in 1866
Contract Labor Act
Knights of Labor started in 1869
Anarchism – many European Anarchists emigrated to the U.S.
The Haymarket affair was blamed, probably unfairly, on seven anarchist leaders

18. Gompers & the AFL
Gompers served as president of the American Federation of Labor until 1924
The AFL was concerned more with concrete economic gains that with social of political reforms
Samuel Gompers, head of the
American Federation of Labor

19. Mother Jones Lost her family in the 1867 yellow fever epidemic
She worked for higher wages, shorter hours, safer workplaces, & restrictions on child labor
She lost most of the strikes

20. Socialism & The Unions
In 1877, followers of Karl Marx in America organized the Socialist Labor Party
Daniel De Leon wrote that blue-collar violence and anarchy were the only paths to success
Daniel De Leon

21. The Stance of Government Toward Business
During this period the stance of the Supreme Court on liberty of contract could best be described as favorable toward business
Between 1887 & 1897, the efforts by state & territorial governments to protect workers were thwarted by pro-business conservative judges