INTRODUCTION I. THE SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION II. THE ...

OUTLINE

Chapter 16

America¡¯s Gilded

Age,

1870-1890

This chapter examines the changes that

industrialization brought to American

society during the final decades of the

19th century. A growing industrial

economy presented new challenges to

those who owned businesses and to

those who worked in factories.

INTRODUCTION

I. THE SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

II. THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE WEST

III. POLITICS IN THE GILDED AGE

IV. FREEDOM IN THE GILDED AGE

V. LABOR AND THE REPUBLIC

INTRODUCTION

STORY:

In 1886 American¡¯s celebrated the

opening of the Statue of Liberty in

New York Harbor. The statue was

a gift to America from France, and

it soon became the symbol of

American freedom especially for

the millions who immigrated to

this country during the Gilded Age.

But the Gilded Age was also a time

of great tension between those who

increasingly argued that freedom

ought to mean more than civic

rights. The great question of the

age, according to Eric Foner, was

¡°What are the social conditions

that make freedom possible?¡¯

THEMES:

1. Industrialization produced new conditions in American society that

forced a rethinking of the meaning of freedom.

2. The settlement of the American West during this time period was part of

the process of capitalist expansion taking place in the East.

3. The middle class and the working class had responses to the changes

brought about by industrialization, but the political system of the Gilded

Age could not effectively direct reform.

I. THE SECOND INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

FOCUS QUESTION: How did the United States become a mature

industrial society in the decades after the Civil War?

A. The Industrial Economy

1. By 1913, the United States produced onethird of the world¡¯s industrial output

2. The 1880 census showed for the first time

that a majority of the work force engaged in

non-farming jobs

3. Growth of cities were vital for financing

industrialization

a. Great Lakes region

i. Pittsburgh

ii. Chicago

B. The National Market

1. The railroad made possible what is

sometimes called the second industrial

revolution

2. The growing population formed an everexpanding market for the mass production,

mass distribution, and mass marketing of

goods

C. The Spirit of Innovation

1. Scientific breakthroughs poured forth

from Thomas A. Edison

ID & S

Second

Industrial

Revolution

STUDY HINT

You should be able

to identify how

markets and

innovation

stimulated

industrialization.

D. Competition and Consolidation

1. Depression plagued the economy between

1873 and 1897

2. Businesses engaged in ruthless

competition

3. To avoid cutthroat competition, more and

more corporations battled to control entire

industries

a. Between 1897 and 1904, 4,000 firms

vanished into larger corporations

E. Captains of Industry

1. The railroad pioneered modern techniques

of business organization

a. Thomas Scott of Pennsylvania Railroad

2. Andrew Carnegie worked for Scott at

Pennsylvania Railroad

3. By the 1890s, Carnegie dominated the

steel industry

a. Vertical integration

4. Carnegie¡¯s life reflected his desire to

succeed and his desire to give back to society

5. John D. Rockefeller dominated the oil

industry

a. Horizontal integration

6. ¡°Captains of industry¡± versus ¡°Robber

Barons¡±

ID & S

Andrew

Carnegie

ID & S

Vertigal

Integration

ID & S

Horizontal

Integration

F. Workers¡¯ Freedom in an

Industrial Age

1. For a minority of workers, the rapidly

expanding industrial system created new

forms of freedom

2. For most workers, economic insecurity

remained a basic fact of life

3. Between 1880 and 1900, an average of

35,000 workers perished each year in factory

and mine accidents, the highest rate in the

industrial world

4. Women were part of the working class

G. Sunshine and Shadow

1. Class divisions became more and more

visible

2. Many of the wealthiest Americans

consciously pursued an aristocratic lifestyle

a. Thorstein Veblen on ¡°conspicuous

consumption¡±

3. The working class lived in desperate

conditions

STUDY HINT

You should be able

to identify some of

the advantages that

industrialization

brought to workers

and some of the

disadvantages.

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