Lecture on Industrial America

Introduction

• Lecture by Professor Lerma on Industrial America.
• Focus on the political cartoon "The Bosses of the Senate" (1889).
• Questions to consider:
  • Major argument of the cartoon?
  • Intended audience?
  • Necessary context?
  • Conclusions and relevance to current events?

Essential Questions

• Causes and effects of industrialization during the Gilded Age?
• Use of social Darwinism to justify wealth disparity in the Gilded Age?
• Rise of organized labor movements and their goals?

Rise of American Industry

• By 1900, US was the world's leading industrial power.
• Factors for Industrial Growth:
  • Abundance of raw materials (coal, iron ore, etc.).
  • Largest labor supply due to immigration.
  • Expanded labor markets (railroads).
  • Capital from government and European investors.
  • Technological advancements (440 patents from 1860-1890).
  • Pro-business government policies (tariffs, low taxes).
  • Rise of entrepreneurial and management classes.

Railroads and Industrialization

• Expansion from 35,000 miles (1865) to 193,000 miles (1900).
• Effects: National markets, mass production, and consumption.
• Creation of time zones by the American Railroad Association (1883).
• Investment in railroads led to the modern stockholder corporation.
• Major railroads: New York Central, B&O, Pennsylvania, Union Pacific, Central Pacific.
• Transcontinental Railroad (1862-1869).
• Consolidation under J.P. Morgan's monopolies.
• Legislation: Interstate Commerce Act (1886).

Second Industrial Revolution

• Key Industries: Steel and oil.

• Steel Industry (Andrew Carnegie):

  • Bessemer-Kelly process for steel production.
  • Controlled 3/5 of US steel by 1900.
  • Sold to J.P. Morgan (1901) forming U.S. Steel Corporation.

• Oil Industry (John D. Rockefeller):

  • Standard Oil Company and horizontal integration.
  • First oil well in Pennsylvania (1859).

Development of Trusts

• Trusts as corporations controlling competitors.
• Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) and its limitations.
• Laissez-faire capitalism and social Darwinism.

Philosophies of Wealth

• Gospel of Wealth (Andrew Carnegie):
  • Education, wealth, and philanthropy.
• Rockefeller's Puritan work ethic.
• Russell Conwell's advocacy for wealth as a Christian duty.

Technological Innovations

• Transatlantic cable (1866), telegraph, telephone (Alexander Graham Bell, 1876).
• Other inventions: Typewriter, cash register, calculators, Kodak camera, phonograph, light bulb, transformer.

Effects of Industrialization

• Wealth disparity: 10% owned 90% of wealth.
• Expansion of the middle class.
• Low wages led to women and children in the workforce.
• Labor discontent and rise of unions:
  • National Labor Union (1866), Knights of Labor (1869), AFL (1886).

Labor Movements

• Tactics: Strikes, picketing, boycotts.
• Business responses: Scabs, lockouts, blacklists, legal injunctions.
• Significant strikes: Great Railroad Strike (1877), Haymarket Riot (1886), Pullman Strike (1894).
• Eugene Debs and the American Socialist Party.

Conclusion

• Industrial capitalism brought wealth and poverty.
• New social developments of owners and employees.
• Shift in societal structures requiring new social institutions.
• Ongoing relevance of industrialization in modern society.