Expanding Industry

Natural Resources

Oil reserves accessed via steam-drill Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and

Texas all have reserves Petroleum refineries emerge in Cleveland and

Pittsburgh – transform oil into kerosene Originally dispose of gasoline, byproduct of the refining

Iron also valuable Converted to steel via “Bessemer process”

Inject air into molten iron to remove carbon and impurities

Steel crucial to expanding railroads as well as other industrial uses

Also for city construction – bridges, invention of skyscraper

Inventions

Incandescent light bulb – Thomas A. EdisonElectricity – George Westinghouse (AC

power)Typewriter – Christopher SholesTelephone – Alexander Graham Bell

Phone and Typewriter are instrumental in bringing women into the workplace

Railroads

Transcontinental rail lines being constructedMany immigrants and desperate Civil War vets put their

lives on the line to build the rail lines Accidents, disease, treacherous terrain, and hostile natives

injure/kill thousandsWith fast travel now available, need to synchronize the

watches of people in various locations (so noon would no longer necessarily be exactly when the sun was directly overhead wherever you were) establish “railroad time” – current system of time zones

Expansion promotes trade and specialization – much like National Road and steamboat travel did previously

Promotes the growth of new communities/cities along the busy rail routes

Big Business

Andrew Carnegie – Steel Vertical integration – control each stage of the

industry (raw materials, manufacturing, distribution) Horizontal integration – control as many companies

in the same industry as youJohn D. Rockefeller – Oil

Standard Oil – operates as a trust – Standard Oil and other oil producers operate as a de facto corporation (without formal merger)

Frederick Weyerhaeuser – Timber I threw him in because I used to work at a lumber

yard, so he’s near and dear to my heart

Responses to big business

Sherman Antitrust Act – makes formation of trusts (like Rockefeller’s) illegal Interferes with fair trade Virtually impossible to enforce

Labor Unions Factory work = long hours, dangerous conditions, low

wages Workers only real power is in uniting together and

striking for better conditions