American Industry 1865-1900



American Industry 1865-1900

1869 Transcontinental Railroad Completed

Robber Barons – Businessmen like Andrew Carnegie (steel), John D. Rockefeller (Oil) and J.P. Morgan (Banking) controlled most of the Big Business and money in the United States.

Carnegie used an integrated means of production called a Vertical Consolidation. He controlled all aspects of his Steel business from the Iron Mine, to the Railroad, to the Distribution centers. He would undercut competition’s prices and force them out of business.

Rockefeller created a monopoly by using a technique called Horizontal consolidation, in which his Standard Oil Company bought out other oil companies and dominated the Oil Industry.

Robber Barons believed in Social Darwinism. Their Tactics led to the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887 and the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890. These acts controlled the railroads and outlawed monopolies.

Inventions/innovations during this time included: The Light bulb, The Telephone, standardized time, the Pullman Railroad Car and, suspension bridges.

Union membership grew and there were also several large strikes:

Railroad Strike of 1877 which began over wage cuts at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, The Haymarket Riot (Chicago 1886) which began as a rally to endorse a national 8 hour day and turned into a riot when a bomb was thrown into a crowd of policemen. The Homestead Strike 1892 (Pennsylvania) was a result of Carnegie’s partner Henry Frick ordering a wage cut. He called in the Pinkertons to break the strike. The Pullman Strike 1894 (Pullman, Illinois) occurred in the company town owned by George Pullman. During the Depression of 1893 Pullman order a 25-40% wage cut and laid off many workers. Founder of the American Railway Union – Eugene V. Debs called for a general nationwide strike of all rail workers. 120,000 workers struck across the U.S. Due to disruptions in mail service, Pres. Grover Cleveland ordered the Army to force the workers back to work.

Moving West and Closing the Frontier

3 reasons – The Railroad, The Morrill Land Grant Act and the Homestead Act

The Morrill Land Grant Act: 140 million acres of land given to state governments for private sales to fund agricultural colleges.

The Homestead Act: Gave 160 acres to settlers willing to farm the land for 5 years. All they had to do was build a house.

Exodusters: Name given to migration of African Americans to the west seeking to take advantage of the new land policies.

Native Americans: This became the time for their final destruction. Continually moved further west to make room for the encroaching Americans, several important events took place. In 1864, Col. Chivington led a massacre of 450 men, women and children at Sand Creek in Colorado (The Sand Creek Massacre). They had been guaranteed safety by the U.S. army. Another event occurred at Little Big Horn in 1876, where the famous General Custer met a large group of Sioux led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse. Along with Custer, 260 of his men were killed. At Wounded Knee South Dakota (1890), over 200 Sioux were gunned down while performing a ritual Ghost Dance.

Helen Hunt Jackson wrote A Century of Dishonor and exposed many of these events.

In the late 1800 the Populist movement began. It arose from a group of farmers called the Grange. They wanted the federal government to regulate railroad rates and paper money to be based on silver instead of gold. They hoped that more money in circulation would lead to inflation and higher prices for their crops. Their leader was William Jennings Bryan. He unsuccessfully runs for president in 1896. While Populism died out its’ goals continued and become part of the Progressive Movement in the early 1900s.

Politics, Immigration and Urban Life

Coined the Gilded Age by Mark Twain the late 1800’s was a time of uneven wealth and many social problems.

Laissez Faire – A lack of government policies controlling business.

Spoils System- Also called Patronage faithful supporters were given government jobs by elected officials regardless of qualifications.

Political Parties became more clearly defined. Democrats were typically the party of the less privileged: laborers, immigrants, planters etc.

Pres. Garfield was assassinated (1881) by a disappointed Republican office seeker. His successor, Chester A. Arthur, used the assassination to push the Pendleton Act through Congress in 1883. It called for competitive exams for all government workers outlawed patronage.

The Interstate Commerce Act (1887) was passed to regulate the railroads and set rates.

The Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1890 outlawed unlawful business combinations (monopolies).

Following a severe economic depression Republican William McKinley was elected president in 1896. The economy rebounded with the return to the gold standard and McKinley easily won reelection in 1900. In, 1901, McKinley was assassinated by anarchist Leon Czolgosz. Theodore Roosevelt assumed the Presidency.

The New Immigrants arrived primarily through Ellis Island in New York and Angel Island in San Francisco. Between 1890 and 1920 approx. 10 Million Eastern and Southern European Immigrants came to the U.S. (The Old Immigrants arrived prior to 1890).

Building innovation, immigration, and African American migration from the south all caused a tremendous growth in American cities. Ghettos developed as ethnic neighborhoods, and Political Bosses ruled the major cities. William March “Boss” Tweed ruled New York’s political machine known as Tammany Hall.

Reforms

Big city corruption led to varying reforms.

The Women’s Christian Temperance Union was the largest women’s organization in the U.S. and it led the drive for prohibition.

With no government assistance for the needy the Social Gospel movement developed. Led primarily by women, it sought to apply the gospel of Jesus to everyday society.

Settlement Houses were a major part of this movement. Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr started Hull House (1889) in Chicago. These were home for homeless immigrants and became community centers in poor neighborhoods. Lillian Wald started the Henry Street Settlement in New York

Social and Cultural Changes

Public Schools became more common at the turn of the 20th Century. Religious Schools became popular as a way for immigrants to “get an education” and maintain their unique culture.

Railroad tycoon Leland Stanford founded Stanford University (1885).

Vassar College in NY became the first women’s college (1865).

African American education had two vastly different opinions.

Booker T. Washington founded Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. He wanted African Americans to learn productive trades that would be useful in the White community (1895 Atlanta Exposition).

W.E.B. Du Bois disagreed with Washington and felt that African Americans should educate themselves to compete and to lead (Niagara Movement). He becomes one of the founders of the NAACP.

With more education and new employment opportunities brought on by technology, women take on a greater role in society. It will eventually lead to suffrage in 1920.

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