Unit 3B: The Industrial Age

Unit 2: The West and The Gilded Age (Industrial Age)(1870-1901)Part I: The Gilded Age Defined and Major InventionsGilded Age DefinedA period marked by:A transformation from an agricultural society to more of an industrial one. Huge growing number of factories and businesses in the Northeast region of the US and eventually will spread to the South and West of the US as well. State and federal govts siding more with business owners and not workers and/or labor unions. Workers (including children) being paid low wages, working long hours and having dangerous job conditions. Rich people using extreme extravagance to flaunt their wealth.A huge and growing gap between the very few rich and the millions of poor.The government did not regulate businesses much (if any) and took an approach known as laissez-faire which means that our govt let business alone and didnt regulate it or give it rules to follow.

Major Gilded Age InventionsThe typewriter by Christopher Sholes (1867)The telephone by Alexander Graham Bell (1876)Two years later there were over 50,000 phones in service. The Electric light bulb by Thomas Edison (1879)Allows factories the ability to work better during the night. Skyscrapers by Louis Sullivan (1891) Flight by Orville and Wibur Wright (1903)Bells 1st Phone and Edisons 1st Light Bulb

Wright Brothers 1st plane

Wainwright Building in downtown STL. Built in 1891 About 200 ft. tall.

Empire State Building. Built in 1931 1250 ft. tall

World Trade Center Towers Built in 1970.1370 ft. Tall.

Burj Dubai Building in Dubai. Built in 2009. 2717 ft. tall.Tallest building in the world.

Summarize HereFocus QuestionWhat is the Gilded age and what role do inventions play? Part II Robber Barons and Big Industries EmergeBusiness Owners Exploit the SystemMany business owners became known as robber barons during the Gilded Age because they used unfair business practices, paid their workers very low wages and eliminated all competition to build huge amounts of wealth and power. Many robber barons formed monopolies/trusts which by eliminating or buying competing businesses allowed them to control the production and sale of one product so that they could control the price and supply of that product.The robber barons of the Gilded Age would end up becoming some of the wealthiest people in US History. Robber barons did everything in their power to not allow their workers to form unions or strike and many of them will even hire strikebreakers (paid thugs to go in and physically end a strike which usually led to bloodshed and sometimes even people being killed). Steel and CarnegieSteel becomes an important resource for industrialism because it is used in railroads, bridges, buildings and machines.The Steel Industry becomes a huge money making and job creating part of the US economy and the city of Pittsburgh in the Northeast region of the US becomes the center of steel production. The man who will produce most of the USs steel by creating a monopoly and becoming a robber baron is Andrew Carnegie.In order to build his monopoly Carnegie used two methods:he purchased companies that supplied his company with materials which is called vertical integration. He purchased competitor steel companies so his company had no competition which is called horizontal integration. Steel Factory in Pittsburgh

Andrew Carnegie

Railroads and GouldFrom 1860 to 1890 railroad tracks grew from 30,000 miles to 180,000 miles. The Railroad Industry became a huge money making industry (all over the US but especially in the West region) from the creation of railroad tracks to the thousands who worked for railroad companies once complete. Many of the workers who build the tracks were Chinese immigrants (in the west) and Civil War veterans (in the east).Cities such as Chicago, Denver, and Seattle owe much of their growth to railroads.The robber baron who will control much of the nations railroads and create a monopoly over the use of railroads will be Jay Gould. His railroad companies soon began to control everything in the West region and many farmers of the Great Plains (large flat farming region of the US located between the Midwest and the Rocky Mountains) grew in opposition to his company controlling land and charging to high of prices. Jay Gould

Oil and RockefellerThe Oil Industry became profitable even before the automobile was invented because it was used for fuel source in most lanterns. Oil is discovered mostly in the South and West of the US and booms occurred in Oklahoma, Texas and California. Oil was so valuable it became known as, black gold. John D. Rockefeller was the robber baron that would amass the largest fortune in US History by creating a trust/monopoly called Standard Oil Company which would eventually control all US oil production and sales. Oil Derrick (1922) Oklahoma

John D. Rockefeller

Summarize HereFocus QuestionWhich industries became the foundation for the Gilded Age, and who are the robber barons associated with each? What role did these men play in society? Part III Politics of the Industrial AgeElection of 1876Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was elected in 1876, and he:Ended Reconstruction (remember unit 1?) Tried to end the spoils system which was when Presidents gave government jobs to all of people in their political party whether they were good for the job or not.Supported business owners by breaking up the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 when he ordered the army in to end the strike by physically forcing the striking workers back to work. It was the first time the military was used to breakup a strike and 70 strikers were killed. Rutherford B. Hayes

Other Presidents of the Gilded Age1880-1898In 1880, a Republican James Garfield was elected but early in his tenure he was assassinated.After Garfields death, Chester A. Arthur (also Republican) became President and he did a lot to end the spoils system with the passing of the Pendleton Civil Service Act which based government employees promotions to federal positions on what they knew about their job and not on who they knew.In 1884 and again in 1892, a Democrat (the only Democrat elected from 1860-1912) named Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms in which he tried (but failed) to lower tariffs (which are taxes on goods made in a foreign country and sold in the US, aka imports). Republican Presidents kept tariffs high to protect US business owners. In 1888, Republican Benjamin Harrison was elected with support from business owners and he passed even higher tariffs to protect US business owners. James A. Garfield

Garfields Assassination

Chester A. Arthur

Cleveland and Harrison

Summarize HereFocus QuestionHow did the politics of the Gilded Age effect society?Part IV Workers Try to RespondGilded Age Working ConditionsIndustrial workers of the Gilded Age:Were paid very little for their jobs.Worked extremely long hours sometimes 10-16 hour days and sometimes 6-7 days a week.Included men, women (paid less than men) and child labor (kids ages 8 and up, paid even less then women and usually didnt attend school). Many of were immigrants who had recently come to the US for job opportunities. Were often injured during their job because of dangerous machines and very few safety precautions.Lived mostly in urban areas in horrible living conditions, many times in tenement buildings. Workers RespondLabor Unions are organizations of workers that meet to discuss what kind of pay and working conditions they think they deserve for the job that they do and how to earn them. Labor unions try to achieve better pay, shorter working hours and safer working conditions by:meeting with business owners, using arbitration (the process of resolving a dispute using a 3rd party that both of the disputing parties agree upon). and if needed, by going on strike (protesting against a business instead of working). During the Gilded Age labor unions will form but almost none of them will have success earning what they want because business owners and the government both did not want them to. When workers went on strike during the Gilded Age it usually resulted in them getting beaten (sometimes killed) and earning none of the benefits they desired.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Homestead Strikebreakers after a violent battle with workers

Gilded Age Labor LeadersSamuel Gompers created the first craft union which are unions that only people who know a certain skill can join. Eugene V. Debs first attempted to form an industrial union which was a union for non skilled workers. Mother Jones become a major spokesperson for the outlawing of child labor in the US.

Eugene V. Debs

Mother Jones

Summarize HereFocus QuestionHow did workers respond to the problems of the Gilded Age?Part V: The West Settling the West (The Frontier)During the 1800s the US believed in a philosophy called Manifest Destiny which was the expansion of US territory out west (called the frontier) and the movement of people from the east to the west, some even believed it to be Gods will that the US expand west.Settlers will move out west from the east because of the Homestead Act which gave free land to people willing to move out west (mostly to the Great Plains region). To attract more people out west the US builds the Transcontinental Railroad (1867) which went all the way across the country and connected the east and west coasts for first time. The Exodusters moved west and were thousands of southern African-Americans who left the Jim Crow South for the Great Plains (mainly Kansas) which they heard was more open-minded.

Native American Policies Out WestAt first the entire Great Plains was given to Native Americans to live on as a reservation (land set aside by the govt to be managed and run by Native Americans as they wanted). As settlers moved out west in greater numbers they realized that they wanted some of the land Native Americans were living on so Native Americans were pushed onto smaller and smaller reservations. Congress then passed the Dawes Act which made Native American reservation lands able to be privately owned as a way in which to try and assimilate Native Americans fully into American culture. Really, who benefited were whites and railroad companies (who could both buy up any surplus tribal land not used by Native Americans). The govt begins to realize that Native Americans are probably going to have to adopt more of an American culture and forget their old ways which means to assimilate.

Transcontinental Railroads Completion Promontory Point, Utah

Summarize HereFocus QuestionWhat groups of Americans moved out to the West and for what reasons?How did this movement affect the Native Americans already living there?

Part VI: The Populist MovementThe Populist MovementPopulism is a political movement that becomes the Populist Party and was started by farmers (mostly of the Great Plains) which fights for farmers economic rights especially in response to railroad companies which took advantage of many farmers by controlling land. There were many political battles between the agricultural rural people out West (the Populists) and the industrial urban business owners of the East (like the railroad robber barons). Populists demanded, currency inflation (when the value of money goes down because prices rise) through bimetallism which would occur if the government allowed silver and gold to be the backing for American money, instead of just gold. They would not achieve this. Populists also wanted more of a direct say in the govt by the people which is why they proposed the referendum, recall and initative all of these would allow regular citizens to do what only elected officials could do. They got this. Much of the Populist movement dies when a Democrat named William Jennings Bryan (who also promoted bimetallism) loses to a Republican named William McKinley in the elections of 1896 and 1900.

1890 Populist Party Meeting of mostly Great Plains Farmers

Populists (green states) vote for their own candidate in 1892

Bryan and McKinley

Summarize HereFocus QuestionWho were the Populists and what were they demanding?

Part VII Legacy of the Gilded AgeGilded Age LegacyThe 1st President to side with workers more then owners was Teddy Roosevelt in the early 1900s which signifies one way the Gilded Age ended. Teddy Roosevelt will also succeed in breaking up many business monopolies during his tenure (another way the Gilded Age ended). During the Gilded Age there was a small upper class, a somewhat small middle class and a huge lower class but labor unions and govt regulation will eventually lead to the rise of a large middle class (and a smaller lower class) but it would take decades. During the Gilded Age people will believe in social darwinism which means that individuals should survive on their own work and ability. The strongest of which will be the powerful and wealthy. Fixing the problems of the growing urban poor working class will become one of the major themes of our next unit (Progressivism). The one theme of the Gilded Age that will be constant through the rest of American History is that our nation will be an INDUSTRIAL one. Summarize HereFocus QuestionAfter the Gilded Age, what type of economy does the US mostly have?