2.  After Reconstruction RR companies, the steel and oil industries changed the way that people lived.

3.  As we migrated westward, the federal government granted large amounts of land to the rail road companies to try to connect the east to the west  To achieve this as quickly as possible, RR companies used Chinese labor.

4.  1 st transcontinental RR was completed in 1869  Many Chinese were injured and killed during it’s production, and they were exploited - given lower wages and overworked

5.  Once a RR completed a project, they would sell the land off cheaply which also promoted the movement west  Once people began this trek west, the RR’s gained business by bringing people west and taking goods and cattle back east.

6.  RR’s were Steel’s biggest customers  The steel industry began developing cheaper more efficient ways to produce steel (Bessemer Process)  Andrew Carnegie was the big Steel tycoon that changed the face of wealth in America

7.  Steel led to growth of other big businesses especially oil, financial, and manufacturing sectors of the economy  As big companies gained more and more wealth, they began to dominate many things in society and politics  This led to eventual government reform of big business

8.  Oil grew quickly in this era  John D. Rockefeller with “Standard Oil Company” quickly gained control of all the smaller companies and evolved into a huge monopoly  Trust- when 1 company controls the majority of similar companies in a market

9.  Technological advances after Reconstruction and the development of new inventions to improve the daily life of man led to the need to develop electricity  Edison’s light bulb, phonograph, and movies made it necessary for him to develop a way to distribute electricity to large numbers of people

10.  Electricity soon replaced steam power in factories  Replaced horses to power streetcars  Replaced human effort to power household appliances  Electricity greatly improved quality of life in America

12.  Until 1800, most immigrants came from Northern Europe, they were called “Old Immigrants.” They were protestant (except Irish Catholics) and most spoke English.  1880’s- Steamships make immigration to America more affordable. Therefore “New Immigrants” began to come from Southern and Eastern Europe (Poland, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Greece, and Russia.)

14.  “New Immigrants” were:  Catholic and Jewish  Spoke no English  Were poor and dressed differently from Northern Europeans.  A small number of immigrants came from Asia.

15.  Industrial Working conditions (Late 1800’s-Early 1900’s)  Work week: 6 days- 10-14 hr. days  Pay: $3-$12/a week  Jobs were on a take it or leave it basis  No unemployment insurance  No worker’s compensation  No health insurance  No old-age pension (or social security)  No minimum wage

16.  With the rise of big business (businesses that have huge numbers of employees with no access to the owner)-Workers lost all bargaining power.  Workers began to form unions (to act as a group) to get their demands met.  Unions had no government regulation to protect them.

17.  2 nd Labor Union  The American Federation of Labor (AFL) was formed in 1881. ▪ Leader: Samuel Gompers ▪ AFL consisted of separate unions of skilled workers joined together in a federation. Unskilled workers were excluded. ▪ Goals: Improving wages and working conditions, higher pay and an 8 hr. work day. ▪ Gompers fought to improve job security by seeking closed shops (places where only union members were hired. ▪ This was a successful labor union.

19.  1894 Pullman Strike: Because of a economic depression, the Pullman company laid off 3,000 employees and cut the wages of the rest by 30% without lowering the cost of employee housing.  A strike was called in the spring but Pullman refused to negotiate with the strikers and the strike turned violent. Pullman fired most of the strikers and blacklisted many of them so they could never work for the railroad again.

20.  As the east became more industrialized after the Civil War-People began moving West to find new land.  Native Americans had to compete with new arrivals.  Example: When gold was found in the Dakota’s the U.S. went back on a treaty they had signed with the Sioux to not settle on their land. The U.S. and Sioux went to war resulting in the removal of the Sioux to a reservation.

22.  Sitting Bull’s people (Sioux) became convinced that they could cleanse the world of evil and restore the Sioux’s greatness.  The U.S. called for the arrest of Sitting Bull and he was killed in a brief gun battle.  After his death, several hundred of his people fled to Wounded Knee, SD. U.S. soldiers went to take their weapons and a gun was fired (no one knows by whom) and the U.S. opened fire with machine guns and killed 300 Sioux. This ended the wars with the Native Americans.

24.  At the turn of the century, middle class reformers (people who want to change things), began to address many problems faced by people of the day.  Journalists called “muckrakers” exposed unsafe conditions of factory workers and unsanitary conditions in the food industry.“muckrakers”  Other reformers focused on restoring economic opportunities and correcting injustices in society.

26.  Upton Sinclair was a muckraker who wrote about the disgusting conditions of the meat packing industry. His book, The Jungle, described conditions such as rotting carcasses, rats, human fingers (when they were caught in machines) and other unsanitary ingredients being ground up with the meat.  After reading this report, President Theodore Roosevelt pushed for the passage of the Meat Inspection Act (1906). The pure Food and Drug Act was also passed which banned the sale of contaminated foods and called for truth in labeling.  These were the first restrictions placed on the food industry.

27.  Jane Addams(1860-1935) was a reformer who wanted to help the poor.  She founded Hull House in Chicago. This was a settlement house (community center) that helped the urban poor. They provided classes, medical assistance and helped abandoned women and widows with food and job opportunities.

29.  Plessy vs. Ferguson(1896): This court case set the stage for segregation in much of the country. Plessy was an African American who was arrested for sitting in the all white section of a train. He took his case to the supreme court saying that the 14 th amendment protected all people’s rights regardless of race. The supreme court said that segregation was constitutional as long as it was equal. However, “separate but equal” was not possible.  This continued for 60 years.

30.  Ida Tarbell was also a muckraker.  She wrote “History of the Standard Oil Company” in which she exposed Rockefeller’s cutthroat methods of eliminating competition.  One method he used was by getting special rates on railroad shipping for his oil, while making sure the competition had higher rates.

31.  Tarbell’s writing helped to inform the people of unfair business practices and helped lead to reform that prohibited the formation of monopolies (where one business controls all of one type of good or service) and trusts (businesses who ban together to set prices so they can charge more). Competition for consumers is what keeps prices down.

33.  Direct election of senators: Before 1913, senators were appointed by the House of Representatives of each state. The 17 th amendment in 1912 made senators be directly elected by the people, giving the people more power in government.

34.  Initiative: A bill originating with the people. This bill would be put on the ballot for the people to vote on.  Referendum: The people accepted or rejected the bill by voting on it.  Recall: If enough voters asked for it, elected officials could be forced to face another election before the end of their term. This enabled people to remove a person from office.

35.  Laws were passed to limit child workers and also to limit working hours. In 1908, Oregon passed a law limiting women to 10 hour work days. In 1902, states began passing worker’s compensation laws to pay families when a worker was killed at work.

37.  Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): Banned all Chinese immigration. White settlers in California felt that the Chinese were taking all of the jobs, and lobbied for immigration restrictions.  Many Chinese immigrants worked on the railroad and many white settlers wanted these jobs.

39.  Cuba rebelled against Spain for their independence.  Americans felt obligated to help Cuba get independence.  American government wanted to protect economic interests in Cuba  The U.S. battleship Maine was blown up in Havana Harbor. The press blamed Spain and the U.S. declared war against them.

41.  The war lasted only 15 weeks. The war was fought in the Spanish colonies in the Pacific as well as Cuba. Spain was quickly defeated and the U.S. gained the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam.  Cuba became independent in name, but fell under the indirect control of the United States.

42.  Remember the Monroe Doctrine? (think turf wars…if you come on my turf I will attack you) The Roosevelt Corollary is an addition to the Monroe Doctrine. This was also known as the Big Stick Policy.  Roosevelt declared that the U.S. would act as an “international Police Power” in Latin America. In other words when the US felt the need to interfere, they would send troops to resolve conflicts in the interest of the U.S.

43.  It was used to justify sending troops to Haiti, Nicaragua, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.  Troops were not withdrawn from Mexico until 1917 when the U.S. entered WWI.

45.  When Panama declared their independence from Columbia, Roosevelt sent troops to protect them.  In return, the Panamanian government gave the U.S. control of the Panama Canal Zone, a 10 mile wide strip of land through Panama where a canal was started in 1903. The canal was finished in 1914 and allowed ships (especially the navy) to go from the Atlantic to the Pacific without going around South America.