THE INCORPORATION OF AMERICA

1865 – 1900

The Rise of Industry, the Triumph of Business

Revolutions in technology: American inventors filed over a half a million patents since the end of the Civil War (Bell, Edison, Ford…)

Railroads: the US had the most extensive transportation system in the world, distributing goods and resources to the ever-growing urban populations, creating a national market

The US produced $2 billion worth of goods in 1865, it increased to $13 by 1900! The US now produced 1/3 of the world’s industrial goods

This second industrial revolution was based on the application of new technology to increase labor productivity and the volume of goods: machines, factory managers, and workers created a system of continuous production

Assembly line production began with the meat-packing industry, and then spread throughout all industries

Expanding the Market for Goods

New techniques for marketing and merchandising distributed the growing volume of goods

Advertising firms helped companies reach customers RFD (Rural Free Delivery) enabled the mail-order

cataloguers like Sears and Montgomery Wards to thrive, basically you could by anything off that catalogue!

Chain stores like Woolworths achieved economy of scale selling inexpensive goods at lower prices than smaller independent stores

Department stores like Fields, Macy’s replaced the specialty shops, and became shopping palaces that were elegantly designed, and gave retail a regal distinction

Integration, Combination, and Merger

Business leaders tried to gain control over the economy and to enlarge the commercial empire—major economic setbacks in the late 19th century wiped out the weaker competitors and enabled the survivors to grow to unprecedented levels

Vertical integration: firms gained control of production at every step of the way (from obtaining the resources to transporting the finished product)—the United Fruit Company

Horizontal integration (or combination) : firms gained control over the entire market—John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil

The Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) tried to restore competition by outlawing monopolies but it was manipulated to inhibit the unionization of the workforce (more on that later…)

The Gospel of Wealth

Simply, the Protestant ethic of hard work and perseverance in pursuit of wealth; the leaders of the new industries saw their successes as an indication of their own personal virtues

Andrew Carnegie (steel), John D. Rockefeller (oil), Cornelius Vanderbilt (railroads), and JP Morgan (banking) would be classed as either “Captains of Industry” or “Robber Barons”

Carnegie, whose Gospel of Wealth essay highlighted his Protestant ideals and argued that one’s wealth should be used for the good of the community

Many of these corporate giants donated to the building of parks, libraries, concert halls, museums, and universities

Social Darwinism By 1892, there were more than 4,000 millionaires in America ;

though most began their careers with positions of wealth, the “self-made man” was genuine (Carnegie and Rockefeller); however hard work and ingenuity sometimes took a backseat to ruthlessness and corruption

The ideology of individualism, combined with the new popular social theory, Social Darwinism, arguing only the fittest individuals survived and flourished in the marketplace and society, justified/legitimized the actions of these tycoons

Theory was developed by Herbert Spencer, and further championed by William Graham Sumner in his essay What Social Classes Owe to Each Other (1883), and his book, Folkways (1906)

The “success story” was largely promoted in the novels of Horatio Alger, who fueled the “Rags to Riches” motif that focused on the virtuous hero who rose up from poverty with a little hard work and luck to achieve respectability, comfort, and maybe some fortune

This motif would help entice many immigrants to come to America, seeking similar successes

The Wage System

Frederick Winslow Taylor (Taylorism): pioneered scientific management; increase employer’s control of workplace, reorganizing their production by subdividing tasks, speeding up production, making workers as interchangeable as machine parts; an efficiently trained workforce, combined with machines, could greatly increase production

In the late 19th century, the number of American wage workers grew dramatically

The new industries needed a vast supply of workers: immigrants met this demand

Factory work was hazardous and tedious (10-12 hr. days) Women workers moved into clerical positions created by the

advent of the telephone and typewriter, and into retail services Racism kept African Americans and the Chinese (Chinese

Exclusion Act of 1882) out of most skilled positions

The Knights of Labor

Founded in 1869 and led by Terence V. Powderly, sought to bring together wage earners, regardless of skill

Fought to restrict child labor, create co-ops (the sharing of profits)

The 8-hr. workday movement (Ira Steward)

Workers that were excluded from craft unions (unskilled workers, African Americans, and women) joined the KOL

Haymarket Riot

May 4, 1886, Chicago: 1500 people gathered at Haymarket Square to protest Chicago police killing 4 strikers the previous day (strike was promoting the 8-hr. workday)

A bomb exploded and a policemen and a few strikers were killed; the police fired into the crowd

Blamed on anarchists, the police arrested hundreds, 8 men were tried for murder: four were hanged and the others remained in jail until they were pardoned in 1893

This event ended the Knights of Labor

The American Federation of Labor

Led by Samuel Gompers, the AFL organized skilled workers within the wage system

It did not organize unskilled workers, women, or minorities

Focused on short-term goals of higher wages, shorted hours, and collective bargaining

The AFL became a respectable union, working with local government, gaining small strides for the laborer; and promoted Labor Day as a national holiday in 1894

The New South

Southerners like Henry Grady envisioned a South that would take advantage of the region’s resources and become a manufacturing center

Northern investors bought up much of the South’s manufacturing and natural resources, eliminating the southern competition

By the 1920s, northern investors held much of the South’s wealth, including major textile mills, and the southern industry produced the raw materials for northern consumption

The perpetuated the imbalance between the North and South, and though the South industrialized, it can be argued that they became the nation’s “internal colony”

Southern Labor

Most southern factories were white-only or rigidly segregated; African Americans were allowed low-paying job with railroads, as AA women typically worked as domestic servants

Wages were much lower for southerners, and only made worse by widespread utilization of child labor and convict labor

The Piedmont Communities (southern Virginia through northern Alabama) developed into a textile-producing center with many small industrial towns (mill villages)

By 1900, the Piedmont region surpassed New England in the production of yarn and cloth

The Industrial City

After the Civil War, manufacturing moved to the city

Millions of people followed these jobs, making the US a true urban nation Migrants came from rural areas Immigrants accounted for most of urban

growth Immigrants came seeking new economic

opportunities and tended to live near their countrymen and worked in similar trades

The Urban Landscape

Due to rapid urbanization, architects transformed cities with their elaborate buildings, efficient public works, and public transportation systems that worked the grid-system

Wealthy neighborhoods boasted mansions, townhomes, and brownstones, as streetcars and subways altered the spatial layout of the cities and stretched out into the “sub-urbs” for those living on the periphery of cities

The Brooklyn Bridge (1883) rose as a testament to American ingenuity, elaborately designed and practical in purpose

Yet, most working class people were jammed into tenements

Cities and the Environment

Pollution, overcrowding, inadequate sanitation led to varieties of diseases including cholera and typhoid fever

Cleaning up the urban environment meant building sewage treatment plants, establishing garbage dump-sites in rural areas nearby, and the polluting of rivers and lakes

Conspicuous Consumption

The growth of consumer goods and services led to sweeping changes in American behavior and beliefs: the upper classes created a style of “conspicuous consumption” that overtly displayed their wealth and prestige They patronized the arts by funding galleries,

museums, symphonies…in their cities They built mansions of unheard proportions and

engaged in new elite sports (golf, tennis, polo) Women adorned themselves with jewels and furs Mark Twain satirized this era as the “Gilded Age”

Self-Improvement, the Middle Class, and Pop Culture in the “Gay ‘90s”

A new “middle class” developed during the post-Civil War era, which included the new “salaried” employees like managers, technicians, clerks, and others who worked in the complex system of corporations and government

The establishment of suburbs was due to the expanding mass-transit systems that provided this new middle class with space and privacy, despite a long commute to work

Middle class women devoted themselves to the home The new middle class embraced this culture, focusing on

leisure activities, exercise, and the idea of self-improvement: Large cities created park systems that accommodated areas for

cultural activities and athletic contests Ragtime, vaudeville, and sports united the middle and working

classes, and helped establish a new “popular culture” in America Baseball emerged as the “National Pastime” becoming not only the

most popular sport, but big business

Life in the Streets

Despite the conspicuous consumption of the wealthy, and the self-improvement ideal of the middle class, the working class felt disenchanted in this new society Chinese and African Americans were prevented from living

outside of certain neighborhoods, or European groups clustered into close-knitted communities, or ghettos (ethnic neighborhoods like Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Warsaw, Germantown)

Attempted to imitate the middle class customs of dress and consumption (often overtly elaborate)

Immigrant cultures freely mixed with other cultures to shape the emerging popular culture of urban America: ragtime music, sports, et al.

Amusement parks offered attractions for mass audiences looking for wholesome fun and getaways from urban drudgery: Coney Island, Riverview

Education

Though only a small number of people attended high school or college, business and civic leaders stimulated the ideology of universal free schooling, and America’s school system grew rapidly at all levels

Supported by federal land grants, state universities and colleges developed into their modern form: Professional education was an important growth area,

as was vocational education Women benefited by gaining a greater access to

colleges (Women’s Educational and Industrial Union, Vassar)

African American Education

African American colleges and vocational schools were founded after the Civil War during Reconstruction (Atlanta , Fisk, and Hampton)

Booker T. Washington founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama promoting African Americans to concentrate on vocational training, and to resist the liberal arts: He encouraged African Americans to learn practical,

moral, and industrial trades Tuskegee focused on teacher training, and was so

effective that the majority of black schools were staffed with black educators