Postwar Industrialization, Labor Unions and

Populists

“The Gilded Age”1877-1910From the Orange Book

Rise of industrialism in the United States and the interplay of business and politics

Theme of the Gilded Age:

The Age of Railroads Railroads encourage growth

◦Local reliable travel, westward expansion possible

◦ Gov’t subsidies and land grants such as the Pacific Railway Act

Government makes land grants/loans and subsidies to railroads to help them build◦Helped settle the west- (Homestead Act)◦Develop the country and increase trade

Gov’t Encourages Growth:

Transcontinental Railroad1869Central Pacific:

(west) Chinese immigrants

Union Pacific: (east) Irish immigrants, Civil war vets

Dangerous job (accidents, disease)

Were expected to continue to give up their lands

Government moved many to reservations

Some laws passed to assimilate the Natives- “act white”

Effect on Native Americans

3 Factors leading to 2nd Industrial Revolution:

1.Natural Resources2.Creative Ideas- government supported (patents)

3.Growing Markets- increase in labor (immigration, migration)

A New Industrial Age

Coal resources in U.S.

Oil resources in U.S.

Black Gold◦Edwin L. Drake: uses steam engine to drill for oil (1859)

The Expansion of Industry

Bessemer Steel Process◦ Put air into iron to

remove carbon steel◦ Stronger, durable, rust

resistant New uses for steel

◦ Railroads, barbed wire, farm machines

◦ Construction: Brooklyn Bridge, skyscrapers

Natural Resources Fuel Industrialization

Thomas Edison◦1880: patents incandescent light bulb

◦Creates system for electrical production and distribution

◦http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Edison_patents

Inventions Promote Change

Electricity changes business

Becomes available to homes◦Encourages invention of

appliances (improve living)

Allows manufacturers to locate plants anywhere (no longer dependent on water)

Inventions

Inventions Change Lifestyles

Christopher SholesTypewriter, 1867

Alexander Graham BellTelephone, 1876

New Towns and Markets Iron, coal, steel, lumber, glass industries grow to meet demand from railroad building

Railroads link isolated towns, promote trade & interdependence

New towns grow along railroad lines

Railroad Time RRs connected U.S. but time was still determined by towns

1883 U.S. towns adopt time zones

Opportunities and Opportunists George M. Pullman

◦Build railcar factory on Illinois prairie (1880)

◦Provides housing, doctors, shops, sports field for workers

◦Company tightly controls residents to ensure stable work force (no drinking, loitering)

Pullman Car

Pullman, Illinois

The Grange and the Railroads Railroad Abuses

◦Farmers angry over being overcharged for transportation prices

Granger Laws◦The Grange (a farmers’ organization)

presses for laws protecting farmers’ interests

◦Sets principal that federal government can regulate private industry to benefit public interest

Interstate Commerce ActPublic outrage leads to Interstate Commerce Act of 1887◦Federal government can supervise railroads

◦Establishes Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)

Henry Ford

Mass production of Cars

Robber Barons: business men/bankers who dominated industries and built up huge fortunes

Andrew CarnegieU.S. Steel

John D. RockefellerStandard Oil Company

Cornelius VanderbiltRailroads

J.P. MorganBanking/Finance

Business Boom Bypasses the SouthSouth recovering from Civil War, hindered by lack of capital ($)

North owns 90% of stock in RRDuke family

◦ Duke Power, Duke University, American Tobacco

Rockefeller’s worth:$663.4 billion

Carnegie’s worth:$298.3 billion

Gate’s worth:$73 billion

Compared to

Bill Gates

http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/

Robber Barons’ Legacies

Biltmore House

125,000 acres!6 years to complete

4 acres of floor space-250 rooms-

-34 bedrooms--43 bathrooms--65 fireplaces-

-Pool, gym, and bowling alley in the

basement-

Clothing of the 1880s

“What a funny little government”

Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth” “Gospel of Wealth” ◦ Carnegie’s ideas on how the wealthy should use their

moneyCarnegie says: rich should be involved with

philanthropy- describes the danger of allowing large sums of money to be passed into the hands of persons or organizations ill-equipped mentally or emotionally to cope with them.

-the wealthy entrepreneur must assume the responsibility of distributing his fortune in a way that it will be put to good use, and not wasted on frivolous expenditure

-Urges the rich to administer surplus wealth for the good of the people

Have you been paying attention?

1. John D. Rockefeller became a magnate of the:a. Oil industryb. Steel industryc. Railroad industryd. Cotton industry

2. Which of the following men became rich and powerful as a finance capitalist who exerted influence over a number of different types of businesses?

a. Andrew Carnegieb. Buck Dukec. J.D. Rockefellerd. J.P. Morgan

New Business Strategies Carnegie searches for

ways to make better products more cheaply

He hires talented staff, offers company stock, promotes competition

New Business Strategies Vertical Integration

◦ Buy out suppliers to control materials

Horizontal Integration◦ Merge with competing

companies Carnegie controls

almost entire steel industry

Vertical Integration

New Business StrategiesHorizontal Integration

Iron Ore

Steel Plant

Steel Industry

U.S. SteelSteel Co. A Steel Co. B

Social Darwinism Best-adapted will survive (survival of the fittest)

Economists used Social Darwinism to justify laissez faire (government shouldn’t interfere with business)

Social Darwinism ideals: the rich were the natural rulers – justified neglect of the poor in the name of “race progress” – emphasis on competition

Sherman Antitrust Act Sherman Antitrust Act (1896)

◦ Made trusts illegal if they interfere with free trade◦ Not enforced: prosecuting companies difficult

“The Bosses of the Senate”

Labor Unions Emerge Exploitation and unsafe conditions unite

workers across regions◦ 12 hour days, 6 days a week◦ Repetitive, mind-dulling tasks◦ No vacation, sick leave, injury compensation

Most family members work (including children)

Women/children had jobs that require few skills and received lowest pay

Child Labor

Early Labor Organization p. 118 National Labor Union (NLU)(1866)- first large scale national organization◦ 1868 NLU gets Congress to give 8 hour work day to

civil servants Local chapters of NLU reject blacks Colored

National Labor Union forms Noble Order of the Knights of Labor-1869◦Open to women, blacks, unskilled◦Support 8 hour work day, equal pay,

arbitration

Craft UnionsSkilled workersSamuel Gompers helps

found American Federation of Labor (AFL) 1886Uses collective bargaining

for better wages, hours, conditions

Strikes successfully, wins higher pay, shorter workweek

Industrial Unions Industrial unions include skilled, unskilled workers in an industry

Eugene V. Debs forms American Railway Union, uses strikes

Believed gov’t should be more involved in the economy- gov’t should regulate and make more decisions about what and how items are produced

Wealth should be shared

Socialists:

Socialism and the IWW Some labor activists turn to socialism

◦Wanted government control of business◦Wanted equal distribution of wealth

Industrial Workers of the World (IWW)- 1905◦Organized by radical unionists, socialists

(included African Americans)◦Industrial unions gave unskilled workers

dignity, solidarity

Strikes Turn Violent Great Strike of 1877

◦Baltimore & Ohio Railroad strike spreads to other lines

◦Governors says impeding interstate commerce

◦Federal troops intervene

Strikes Turn ViolentHaymarket Affair

3,000 gather at Chicago’s Haymarket Square, protest police brutality

Violence ensues, 8 charged with inciting riot, convicted

Public opinion turns against labor movement

Strikes Turn Violent Homestead Strike

◦1892 Carnegie Steel workers strike over pay cuts

◦National Guard reopens plant

◦Steelworkers don’t remobilize for 45 years

Strikes Turn Violent Pullman Company

Strike◦ Pullman lays off 3,000

and cuts wages but not rent

◦ Pullman refuses arbitration

◦ Federal troops sent◦ Most workers fired,

many blacklisted

Economic Distress Farmers were in huge debt:

◦ Price of crops while price of RR transportation Greenbacks (paper currency) taken out of

circulation after the Civil War◦ Farmers wanted more money in circulation

FrontBack

Populism Farmers joined to form the Grange

◦ Oliver Hudson Kelley fought for farmers◦ http://www.nationalgrange.org/

Populist Party (“People’s Party”) Populism◦ Movement giving power to the common

people◦ Impact: realized true change must come

through political power

What the Populist Party Supported: Circulation of greenbacks Bimetallism- use gold and silver to back

the currency Increased government regulation of

business (railroads/warehouses) 8 hour work day Graduated income tax Election reform

◦ Direct election

What does it mean?

Have you been paying attention?1. Which of the following BEST describes

reasons for joining the grange?a. The grange provided a means by which farmers could

protect their interests collectivelyb. The grange was a political movement which farmers and

low income workers felt represented their needsc. The grange gave a voice to railroad industrialists who felt

unfairly criticized by angry farmersd. The grange provided a place where farmers could fight to

protect laissez-faire economics

Silverites

Bimetallism (currency backed by gold AND silver)

Would create more money

Stimulate economy Mostly Democrats

Gold would create more stable/expensive money

Mostly Republicans

Silver or Gold?

Gold Bugs

Have you been paying attention?1. Which of the following was a problem faced

by farmers in the late 1800s?a. Falling railroad prices interfered with their ability to

ship products.b. High farm prices caused financial problems because

few people could afford their productsc. Overproduction of agricultural products led to falling

farm prices and made it hard to make a profitd. Because there was too much money in circulation it

was impossible for farmers to get the price they needed for their goods

1896 Election

•William McKinleyRepublican

•William Jennings BryanDemocrat(endorsed by Populists)

Winner: William McKinley

1896 Election Populism collapses but proves that the powerless (common person) can organize and have political impact

Have you been paying attention? Why did Populism appeal to the common

man?

What is bimetallism and why did farmers support it?

Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” Speech“You come to tell us and tell us that the great

cities are in favor of the gold standard. I tell you that the great cities rest upon these broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms and your cities will spring back up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in this country…”

What point is Bryan trying to make about the importance of farms in the U.S.?

“If they dare to come out and in the open defend the gold standard as a good thing, we shall fight them to the uttermost, having behind us the producing masses of the nation and the world. Having behind us the commercial interests and the laboring interests and all the toiling masses, we shall answer their demands for a gold standard by saying to them: You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.”

What image is Bryan trying to create and why?

What does this

image convey?

Political Cartoons