Upload
sophie-atkins
View
220
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Industrialization
The Rise of Big Business in America
America had abundant natural resources:
• coal
• oil
• iron ore
• water
America had new technologies
• factory system
• steam engine
• railroads and steamships
• new machines and tools
• interchangeable parts
America had good transportation and cheap labor
• canals, steamships, and railroads
• greatly improved the ability to transport both raw materials and finished products
• large families and the arrival of immigrants meant a huge population that needed work
Economic Environment
• Investment Capital: Local and International investors saw a bright future for American Industry (many investors had made their money through the old Triangle Trade)
• Laissez-Faire: the government did not get involved in setting prices and wages – the market was allowed to control this through “supply and demand” forces
Federal Government Support• High tariffs
• Gave away lands to railroad companies to promote railroad development
• Sold lands to mining companies for less than real value
• Stayed out of most of the affairs of business – allowed “free enterprise” to take place
Social AttitudesSocial Darwinism:• the ideas of “survival of the fittest” as
applied to the business community
Horatio Alger Myth:• Stories that featured the dream of a poor boy rising to become a wealthy businessman
Characteristics of big businessCorporations:• corporations are businesses that have many investors owning
shares of the business• shareholders hope to receive a share of the profits at a future time• losses are spread out to only what a shareholder owns• this increased capital investment in American industry
Trusts:• a group of corporations in a related field, such as oil, or railroads• they were later made illegal
Department Stores:• putting several small stores together under one roof – more efficient
shopping
Mail order catalogs:• Sears and Montgomery Ward opened up department store shopping
to rural areas
ROBBER BARONS
• Andrew Carnegie (steel)
• John Rockefeller (oil)
• Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroads, steel)
• JP Morgan (banking)
• Henry Ford (automobiles)
IMMIGRATION
Impact of Big Business
Why they came:• for jobs and better housing.
• visions of improved opportunities and prosperity
Where they went:
• Cities in the north (immigrants tended to settle in ethnic neighborhoods in the port city of where their boat landed)
Impact of Big Business Cont’d…
Influx of foreign immigrants• “Old” Immigration: Early 1800’s – mostly from
N & W Europe• “New” Immigration: Late 1800’s – mostly from
S & E Europe and also from Asia
Problems • crowded tenement apartment buildings • crime• corruption in political sectors
Immigration to US 1820-1990
What is an “American”?
Ellis and Angel Islands
• Immigrants coming from Europe were processed at Ellis Island in NYC
• Immigrants coming from Asia were processed at Angel Island in San Francisco
• Is America a Melting Pot (a place where cultures blend) or a Salad Bowl (a place where people retain their culture/identity but share common traits)?
• Many immigrants assimilated (blended) into American society by studying English and how to be an American citizen
Melting Pot or Salad Bowl?
Work and the Workers
• long hours (12-16 hour days)
• low pay
• unsafe conditions – machines, factories, mines
• replaceable workers
Factory Working Conditions
Child Labor• kids were used when possible because business
owners could pay them less• conditions were more dangerous to kids that
often had difficulties operating machines and working the long hours
Two wage earners
• Women began working outside the homeNew job opportunities for women
– Factories (textile factories):
• factory work for women was usually limited to textiles– Domestic:
• jobs as house cleaners, cooks, and nannies were prevalent
• usually done in homes of the wealthy, and sometimes the new middle class homes– Clerical:
• new inventions, such as the typewriter and telephone opened up new job opportunities for women
Abuses of Big Business
• Monopolies: attempts by companies to eliminate competition and “corner the market” for a certain business sector
• Influence on government: contributions to campaigns and candidates at a state and federal level in hopes to gain favorable legislation
• Anti-organized labor: government sided with management against unions at this time
• Unsafe products: companies often took advantage of lack of regulations on products
America Responds to Big Business
Populist Movement
• Farmers who wanted changes in national politics that would make their situation easier
The Grange
• originally organized as a social organization for farming families
• eventually turned into a powerful lobbying organization for pro-farmer legislation
• developed into a co-op for agricultural communities to help regulate farm product prices
The Granger Movement• pressed Congress to pass laws to regulate the railroads
and the prices they charged farmers• developed co-ops to store and distribute agricultural
products in order to better control prices of farm products
Interstate Commerce Act (1887)
• first federal government regulation of big business
• marks an end to the established concept of unquestioned “laissez-faire”
• created the Interstate Commerce Commission – monitor and regulate interstate businesses – especially railroads – and began to end the abuses in this industry
The Growth of Labor UnionsKnights of Labor
• led many general reforms: 8 hour days, end to child labor, equal pay for women
• declined in power after a few unsuccessful strikes and competition from the A.F. of L.A.F. of L.
• American Federation of Labor – led first by Samuel Gompers (1886 -1924)
• fought hard for basic rights and conditions for workers
• became very popular – but did not welcome women, immigrants, or African-Americans
Objectives of Labor Unions
• Better wages for workers
• Better working conditions: less hours and safer conditions
• Better associated benefits like health care, sick days, vacation time
Important Leaders of Labor
Samuel Gompers: early leader
of the A.F. of L.
Eugene Debs: leader of the American Railway Union organizer of the Pullman Strike
Conflict and StruggleTools of Management
• Yellow-dog contracts: owners required workers to sign oaths to not join a union
• Detectives were often hired to search out union organizers – then fire them
• Lock-outs prevented workers from working – and getting paid!
• Owners often hired replacement workers (scabs) during a strike
• Black lists: owners often shared names of troublemakers – wouldn’t hire them
Tools of Unions
• Mediation – third party representatives used to negotiate contracts
• Strikes – organized action of not reporting for work by employees
• Picket – standing near business with signs to call attention to unfair conditions
Major Strikes
Homestead (1892):• workers at a Carnegie Steel Plant in
Homestead, PA went on strike to protest a large wage cut
• management brought in security to protect the plant and continue work
• violence erupted and some people were killed and many wounded
• workers gave in and only a few of them got their jobs back
• a major setback for unions – especially in the steel industry
Pullman
• striking workers of railway-car makers clogged up the railways in much of the country
• President Cleveland sent in federal troops to keep the trains moving because they carried U.S. mail
• The Supreme Court case of U.S. v. Debs decided the federal government had a right to support the “general welfare” of the American people
Other Labor Unions (Mid-1900’s)
CIO: Congress of Industrial Organizations• organized skilled and unskilled laborers in
various industries• American Railway Union, United Mine Workers
AFL-CIO merger:• 1955 – two largest labor unions in America
merged to form an even more powerful labor organization – became largest in the world