do now: according to dictionary.com “gilded” means:having a pleasing or showy appearance that...

Do Now:

• According to dictionary.com “gilded” means: having a pleasing or showy appearance that conceals something of little worth

• So why do you think we call this period in US History (1870-1900) the Gilded Age?

Key Questions…

• During the Gilded Age,

• who benefited and who suffered?

• what advancements were made?

• where did movement occur?

• when did the era start and end?

• why did many move to the U.S. in general and cities in particular?

• how did large business owners become profitable?

IndustrializationIndustrialization

Herringbone Key Questions…answered• During the Gilded Age,

• who benefited and who suffered? • Business owners benefited (growing wealthy), consumers benefited (cheap products

available), workers suffered (low wages, poor/dangerous working conditions)

• what advancements were made?• Advancements were in areas like railroads, steel, oil, electricity, & communication

• where did movement occur?• Many workers and families immigrated from Europe and Asia, and many

Americans moved from rural to urban areas

• when did the era start and end? • The Gilded Age lasted from the 1870s to the early 1900s

• why did many move to the U.S. in general and cities in particular? • Immigration to the United States and migration to cities was driven by jobs

• how did large business owners become profitable?• Owners sometimes monopolized industries or bought out the competition


Gilded Age Key TermGilded Age Key TermQUESTION: Did the Gilded Age prove that capitalism works or that capitalism fails?

The Gilded Age – The era of U.S. Industrial Revolution where immigrants and migrants flocked to big cities, where business and inventions flourished, and workers’ rights issues came to the forefront. Capitalism was proven to be a complete success; as seen in the growth and inventiveness created by a free market economy. But capitalism had also proven to be filled with numerous flaws; as seen by poor working conditions, and unprecedented wealth gap between owners and workers.


Ideology of Capitalism1) A natural aristocracy controlled the American

economy for the benefit of all.2) Politicians, unlike businessmen, were not subject

to natural selection.3) If the state interfered with the economy it would

upset natural selection.4) Slums and poverty were the unfortunate but

inevitable results of the competitive struggle.5) The stewardship of wealth obliged the rich to

help the poor.

Background on the Industrial RevolutionBackground on the Industrial Revolution

(1700s)Industrial

Revolution in

EnglandEngland with textiles,

machines in factories, canals,

railways, etc.

(1800s)Industrial

Revolution in

BelgiumBelgium,

FranceFrance &

GermanyGermany

(mid 1800s)Industrial

Revolution in the

UnitedUnited States States (1870s)

Industrial Revolution in

JapanJapan

(1400s-1800s)Agricultural

Revolution in

EnglandEngland with advancement in fertilizer, crop rotation, and

using machines in farming like

thrashers, tractors & Jethro Tull’s Seed Drill


Impact of Gilded Age & Big Business

* * Positive EffectsPositive Effects

* wide variety of goods for * wide variety of goods for consumers consumers

* new jobs created* new jobs created

* wealthy people help fund * wealthy people help fund charities, libraries & charities, libraries & universitiesuniversities

* Increase in Education as * Increase in Education as literacy rates went from 80% literacy rates went from 80% (1870) to 95% (1920)(1870) to 95% (1920)

* * Negative EffectsNegative Effects * low wages/poor * low wages/poor

working conditionsworking conditions* monopolies keep prices * monopolies keep prices

high, small companies high, small companies can’t competecan’t compete

* prosperity followed by * prosperity followed by hard timeshard times

* Many children were * Many children were forced to work dangerous forced to work dangerous jobsjobs


Daily Life in 1865-no indoor lighting or

lighting at night

-rise & setting of the sun set the days work

-no refrigeration, food cannot last without salt or other preservatives

-slow long distance communication

Daily Life by the 1900s- Artificial lighting was available

everywhere

-work can take place at any time; day or night

-refrigeration for train cars and then home kitchens

-Instant information over long distances (telegraph, telephone, film)


Industrialization – The process of growing industry and all of its corollaries (urbanization, concentration of wealth, expansion of business, innovation, etc.)

Advancements in STEEL, OIL-REFINING, RAILROADS, ELECTRICITY, and COMMUNICATION helped the United States grow into a major industrial country.


STEEL

• BESSEMER PROCESS (1890): A process for making steel (lighter, stronger, easier to make)

• Limestone + coke + iron ore = slag & steel

• Made mass production of steel possible

• Led to new age of American buildings and growth


HENRY BESSEMER

STEEL


What are some things built with steel at this time?

RR tracks (mid 1800s)Brooklyn Bridge (1883)

Empire State Building (1931)Golden Gate

Bridge (1936)


STEEL

Statue of Liberty (1886)


OIL-REFINING

Kerosene had long been a useful byproduct of oil. Kerosene was used to provide indoor and outdoor lighting in most major U.S. cities. In order to power many of the machines used in factories during the Industrial Revolution, oil was in high demand. As companies like Ford started to mass-produce automobiles at affordable prices, demand for oil skyrocketed.


OIL-REFININGThe most successful name in the oil industry was John

D. Rockefeller. His wealth would have easily surpassed the richest modern men in today’s dollars. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company had a monopoly on the competition for a time, as seen in the cartoon below. The company has since broken into several smaller companies, including Exxon-Mobile.

RAILROADS


Prior to the development of railroads, land travel in the United States was slow, inefficient and sometimes dangerous. To move people or materials, options included wagons or trailers towed by horses, oxen or other livestock. The advent of railroads meant safer, faster and cheaper travel for passengers. But more importantly, it allowed for faster and cheaper transportation of large quantities of goods to almost anywhere in the country.

Transcontinental Railroad: a section of railway completed in 1869 spanning the North American continent. This was only 20 years after the Gold Rush which brought people across the country in wagons.

- Shipping, postal and transportation costs dropped significantly. Why?

Central Pacific R.R. West East West East

Union Pacific R.R


RAILROADS

ELECTRICITY


Thomas Edison is famous as the inventor of the light bulb and many other devices. He was also a pioneer of the broad use of electricity. The expansion of electricity led to new jobs, not only in the field of electricity (installing power lines, power plants, producing light bulbs, etc.), but for all industries who could now provide lighting indoors and have workers continue working after sunset.

ELECTRICITY


AC vs. DC

. Alternating Current vs. Direct Current .

George Westinghouse vs. J.P. Morgan .

. Nikola Tesla vs. Thomas Edison .

Higher voltage vs. lower voltage

Eventual winner vs. eventual loser

COMMUNICATIONSSamuel Morse (1844)

Morse Code

Telegraph boom

Alexander Graham Bell First telephone (1876)

(By 1900 1.5 million phones in use)

ThenNow


Morse Code & the Telegraph


COMMUNICATIONS

One of the 1st movies made: The Great Train Robbery

COMMUNICATIONSEdison Studios (NY) is also credited with creating one of the earliest and most innovative motion pictures in history. Director Edwin S. Porter shot his 11-minute film called The Great Train Robbery in 1903 using never-before-seen techniques like moving cameras and on-location scenes. This gave birth to a decade of popular 5-cent admission motion pictures called ‘Nickelodeons’.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BINBZE5XFR4

do now: according to dictionary.com “gilded” means:having a pleasing or showy appearance that...

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gilded age key term

large business owners

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ideology of capitalism

poor working conditions

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