Download CHAPTER 6: A NEW INDUSTRIAL AGE

CHAPTER 6: A NEW
INDUSTRIAL AGE
LATE 19TH CENTURY AMERICA
EXPERIENCED AN INDUSTRIAL
BOOM
The Great Transformation
1876-1900

From rural to urban
– What changes?
• Population density (how spread out) & diversity (kinds of people)
• Need for services

From agricultural to industrial
– What changes?
• Cultural changes
–
–
–
–
–
–
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Dress
Time (daily, seasonally) vs. clock
Values
Where & how you live
Diet
Relationships
From isolationist to international involvement
– What changes?
• Military needs
Introduction

Rapid, profound changes
– New Industry
• Shift in employment to manufacturing
• Number of firms shrank
• Economic power concentrated in fewer hands
New Industry
Introduction

Rapid, profound changes
– Technology
• Technology played a major role in transforming factory
work and increasing the scale of production as steam and
later electricity freed manufacturers from dependence on
water power.
• In the late nineteenth century, the United States became a
technological innovator. Between 1870 and 1900,
900,000 patents were issued in the United States.
• Thomas Edison’s success stimulated research and
development in Europe and the United States.
• Invention gave the United States a commanding
technological lead.
New Industry
Introduction

Rapid, profound changes
– Corporations: A new way to organize economic activity
•The modern corporation supplied the structural framework
for the transformation of the American economy.
•The corporation became a significant factor in the American
economy in the 1850s when railroad companies grew.
•The two major advantages of the corporation were that a
corporation can outlive its founders and its officials and
shareholders are not personally liable for its debts.
•Large corporations changed the nature of work and
stimulated urban growth.
New Industry
Introduction

Rapid, profound changes
– The Changing Nature of Work
• By 1906, industrial labor had been reduced to minute,
low-skilled operations, making skilled artisans obsolete.
• Mechanization and technological innovation did not
reduce employment but did eliminate some jobs.
• Industrial workers shared little of the wealth generated by
industrial expansion. They labored under unsafe
conditions, generally working 10 hours a day, six days a
week for low wages.
• Workers lived close to factories in poor environments.
• Many workers labored in small, cramped, poorly
ventilated sweatshops.
New Industry
Introduction

Opulence and growing poverty
– Gilded Age
• Term applied to late-nineteenth-century
America that refers to the shallow display and
worship of wealth characteristic of that period.
New Industry
Relative Share of World
Manufacturing
Essential Question
Industrialization
increased the standard
of living and the
opportunities of most
Americans,
but at what cost?
SECTION 1: THE EXPANSION
OF INDUSTRY
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After the Civil War (1865) the
U.S. was still largely
agriculture
By 1920, the U.S. was the
leading industrial power in
the world
This enormous growth was
due to three factors;
1) Natural Resources
2) Governmental support
3) Urbanization
BLACK GOLD


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
EDWIN DRAKE PICTURED
WITH BARRELS OF OIL
In 1859, Edwin Drake used a
steam engine to drill for oil
This breakthrough started
an oil boom in the Midwest
and later Texas
At first the process was
limited to transforming the
oil into kerosene and
throwing out the gasoline -a by-product of the process
Later, the gasoline was used
for cars
Causes of Rapid Industrialization
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. (next slide)
Causes of Rapid Industrialization
3.
Technological innovations.
 Bessemer and open hearth


process
Refrigerated cars
Edison
o “Wizard of Menlo Park”
o light bulb, phonograph, motion
pictures.
Causes of Rapid
Industrialization
4. Unskilled & semi-skilled
labor in abundance.
5. Abundant capital.
6. New, talented group of businessmen
[entrepreneurs] and advisors.
7. Market growing as US population increased.
8. Government willing to help at all levels to
stimulate economic growth.
9. Abundant natural resources.
BESSEMER STEEL PROCESS



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Oil was not the only
valuable natural resource
Coal and iron were
plentiful within the U.S.
When you removed the
carbon from iron, the
result was a lighter, more
flexible and rust resistant
compound – Steel
The Bessemer process did
just did (Henry Bessemer
& William Kelly)
BESSEMER CONVERTOR
CIRCA 1880
NEW USES FOR STEEL
The railroads, with
thousands of miles of
track, were the biggest
customers for steel
 Other uses emerged:
barbed wire, farm
equipment, bridge
construction (Brooklyn
Bridge- 1883),and the
first skyscrapers

BROOKLYN BRIDGE
SPANS 1595 FEET IN NYC
INVENTIONS SPUR INDUSTRY
ELECTRICITY
1876- Thomas Alva Edison
established the world’s
first research lab in New
Jersey
 There Edison perfected the
incandescent light bulb in
1880
 Later he invented an entire
system for producing and
distributing electricity
 By 1890, electricity
powered numerous
machines

EDISON
Thomas Alva Edison
“Wizard of Menlo Park”
Alexander Graham Bell
Telephone (1876)
THE TELEPHONE
Another important
invention of the late
19th century was the
telephone
 Alexander Graham
Bell and Thomas
Watson unveiled
their invention in
1876

BELL AND HIS PHONE
Alternating Current
George Westinghouse
Westinghouse

Also invested an air brake for railroads
THE TYPEWRITER
Christopher Sholes
invented the typewriter in
1867
 His invention forever
affected office work and
paperwork
 It also opened many new
jobs for women
 1870: Women made up
less than 5% of
workforce 1910: They
made up 40%

Marketing Consumer Goods
Department stores
 Chain stores in smaller towns (Woolworth)
 Mail order (Sears, Roebuck)
 Packaged goods (Kellogg, Post)
 Refrigerated railroad cars & canned goods

– Swift (meat packing)
U. S. Patents Granted
1790s  276 patents issued.
1990s  1,119,220 patents issued.
SECTION 2: THE AGE OF THE
RAILROADS
The growth and
consolidation of the
railroad industry
influenced many facets
of American life
 However, the unchecked
power of the railroad
companies led to
widespread abuses and
then reforms

Railroads & Industrialization

What resources do railroads need as
they are being built?
– Steel
– Wood
– Water
– Tools
– Railway bed materials
– Others?
A NATIONAL NETWORK
By 1869, tracks had been
laid across the continent
(Golden Spike- Utah)
 Immigrants from China
and Ireland and out-ofwork Civil War vets
provided most of the
difficult labor
 Thousands lost their lives
and tens of thousands
were injured laying track

IMMIGRANTS FROM
CHINA LAID TRACK
RAILROAD AND TIME
Before 1883, each
community still
operated on its own time
 For example: Noon in
Boston was 12 minutes
later than noon in New
York City
 Indiana had dozens of
different times
 No standard time
reference

PROFESSOR DOWD CREATES
TIME ZONES
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In 1869, to remedy this
problem, Professor C.F.
Dowd proposed dividing the
earth into 24 time zones
The U.S. would be divided
into 4 zones: the eastern,
Central, Mountain, and
Pacific
1883 – Railroads
synchronized their watches
across U.S.
1884 – International
Conference adopts zones
PROFESSOR DOWD EXPLAINS
HIS TIME ZONES
THE WORLD IS DIVIDED INTO 24 TIME ZONES
THE UNITED STATES IS DIVIDED INTO 4 TIME ZONES
RAILROADS SPUR OTHER
INDUSTRIES
The rapid growth of the
railroad industry
influenced the iron, coal,
steel, lumber, and glass
businesses as they tried to
keep up with the railroads
demand for materials
 The spread of the railroads
also led to the growth of
towns, new markets, and
opportunity for profiteers

RAILROADS LED TO GROWTH
OF CITIES
Many of today’s
major cities owe
their legacy to the
railroad
 Chicago,
Minneapolis,
Denver, and Seattle
all grew up thanks
to the railroad

“MY KIND OF TOWN”
PULLMAN: A FACTORY & TOWN
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THE TOWN
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GEORGE
PULLMAN
In 1880, George Pullman built
a factory for manufacturing
sleepers and other railroad
cars in Illinois
The nearby town Pullman
built for his employees was
modeled after early industrial
European towns
Pullman workers felt his
puritanical town was too
strict
When he lowered wages but
not rent – it led to a violent
strike in 1894
CREDIT MOBILIER SCANDAL
Stockholders of Union
Pacific Railroad formed a
construction company in
1864
 Stockholders then gave
contracts to the company
to lay track at 3 times the
actual costs and pocketed
the difference
 They donated shares of the
stock to 20 Republican
members of Congress in
1867

POSTER FOR BOGUS
CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
THE GRANGE AND THE RAILROADS
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GRANGERS PUT A
STOP TO RAILROAD
CORRUPTION

Farmers were especially
affected by corruption in the
railroad industry
Grangers (a farmers
organization) protested land
deals, price fixing, and
charging different rates to
different customers
Granger Laws were then
passed protecting farmers
States were given regulation
control of railroads by the
Courts
INTERSTATE COMMERCE ACT
In 1887, the Federal
government re-established
their control over railroad
activities
 Congress passed the
Interstate Commerce Act
and established a 5member Interstate
Commerce Commission
(ICC)
 The ICC struggled to gain
power until 1906

1887 – CONGRESS
PASSED THE ICA