Industrial America in the Late 19th Century

Corporate consolidation of industry

• Transformation of farming, mining, and ranching industries by Big Business

Corporate consolidation of industry

• Carnegie Steel• U.S. Steel Corporation– First Billion dollar

company – Largest company in the

world– Controlled 3/5’s of

nation’s steel business

Corporate consolidation of industry

• Standard Oil Trust• John D. Rockefeller– Controlled 90% of oil

industry– Employed horizontal

consolidation– Power of Trust and illegal

rebates allowed Rockefeller to do this

Corporate consolidation of industry

• Cornelius and William Vanderbilt largely consolidated the railroad industries after Panic of 1893

• “The public be damned”

Effects of technological development on the worker and workplace

• Big Business transformed labor controllers of machines

• Effects• Output increased• Wages remained

stagnant due to large labor force

• Work to Clock

Effects of technological development on the worker and workplace

• Terrible Working Conditions

• Low Pay• Heat/Cold• Little Protections• Child Labor• Unequal Pay

Labor and Unions

• National Labor Union• Knights of Labor• American Federation of

Labor• Fought for better

working conditions• Diverse Groups with

different goals

Strikes

• Railroad Strike 1877• Haymarket Affair• Homestead Strike 1892• Pullman Strike 1894

Public Opinion

• Divided over labor unions

• However, vast majority of Americans against radicalism, anarchists, and violent strikes

National Politics and the Influence of Corporate Power

• Many felt that industrialists had too much power on government

• Middle Class and poor saw trusts as too powerful

What a Funny Little Government

Antitrust Legislation

• Interstate Commerce Act 1887– Regulated railroads

• Sherman antitrust Act 1890– Made trusts illegal– Only applied to

commerce

• “A DOG WITH NO TEETH AINT GONNA HURT YOU WHEN SHE/HE BITES!”

– Mr. Tessalone

Overall Impact

• Industrial Empires• Support of Laissez-Faire

Capitalism• Social Darwinism• Gospel of Wealth• Innovations make

peoples lives easier

• Robber Barons• Need for government

regulation• Social Gospel• People disconnected

from products• Terrible working

conditions• Strikes and Unions