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Economic Growth
A Second Industrial Revolution
Before the Civil War America was primarily an agricultural nation
By 1913 the United States produced 1/3 of world's industrial output
A Second Industrial Revolution
Industry and Urbanization
Most manufacturing took place in industrial cities
Industry and Urbanization
Textiles
First wave of factories began earlier in the century
Textiles
Textile mills were the first factories in America
Scale
Productivity increased exponentially
Scale
Heavy Industries
Steel, oil, railroads
Vertical integration - own all parts of production
Gustavas Swift - refridgerated railroad car
Heavy Industries
Horizontal integration - own all rivals
Standard Oil - bought up 100 oil companies
Carnegie - both vertical and horizontal integration in steel industry
Skyscrapers
Structural steel replaced Bessemer steel - Carnegie refitted all his plants for the process
Home Insurance Building Chicago - 1885
Skyscrapers
Price of steel drops
Titans of Industry
Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie
Titans of Industry
Railroads
Unified America and changed the economy
90% of steel went to railroads
From 1870-1890 railroad mileage doubled
Railroads
Railroads needed capital for long-term projects - made up most of stocks in the country at this time
Railroad companies would water stocks and overbuild
Complexity of railroads led to the formation of accounting/data departments
Menlo Park
Thomas Edison's lab - 1876 - first modern research lab
Menlo Park
1882 - lights up Wall Street
1888 - designed first electric streetcar system for Richmond
Corporation
First appeared in 1820s - roads, canals, railroads
Legal status similar to that of a citizen - but cannot die
Corporation
Limited liability - debt falls to corporation not those who created corporation - encourages risk
Corporations grew in 1870s - sold shares as investment
Interstate Commerce Commission - 1887
Easier to regulate railroads than other corporations
Interstate Commerce Commission - 1887
Trusts
A company can hold the assets of another company but looks like an independent company
1890 - Sherman Anti-trust Act
Trusts
Holding Company - owns other companies - allowed in New Jersey and Standard Oil moves there
Factory Work
Continuous flow
Factory Work
Taylorism - study movements of workers, design factories and tasks to maximize prductivity
Workers lost sense of autonomy
Consumer
Cost of getting goods to consumer greatly reduced
Era of the large department store
Consumer
Panics - 1873 & 1893
Normal ups and downs of the business cycle - volatile
Little regulations of business at this time - states would relax rules to draw businesses there
Banks were not insured
Panics - 1873 & 1893
Jay Cooke & Company tried to dump Northern Pacific Railway Bonds
89 Railroads failed - NYSE closed for 10 days - 500,000 unemployed
Muckrackers
McClure's Magazine - Ida Tarbell
Muckrackers
Labor Movement Beginnings
Between 1870 - 1900, the United States became an industrial power
Produced 1/3 of world's manufactured goods
Labor Movement Beginnings
Factory workers were 1/4 of workforce, agricultural workers less than a 1/3
Unions
American Federation of Labor (AFL) - 1886
Lobbied mainly for rights of skilled workers - did little for factory workers
Unions
Labor movement was still small in the Nineteenth Century
Politics of the Gilded Age
Federal government is not as strong as it was during the Civil War/Reconstruction era
The Gilded Age
Various groups in society attempt to influence government
High voter turnout in elections
Lacking of Personality
President was not expected to promote the party's agenda
Lacking of Personality
Congress was much stronger during the late 1800s than today
Republican platform
State action to help the economy
Republican platform
Protect industries
Moral issues - Protestant public virtue
Democratic Platform
Less federal intervention in economy, morality, etc.
Democratic Platform
Popular with immigrants, Catholics, and Southern Whites
Election of 1880
Garfield assassinated by disgruntled office seeker
Chester Arthur becomes president - so pleasant that he is not asked to run in 1884
Election of 1880
Election of 1884
Cleveland runs an anti-corruption candidate
Only Democrat besides Wilson to hold Presidency between 1861 - 1933
Election of 1884
Vetoes 2/3 of bills that come across his desk
Election of 1888
Congress
Veteran's Benefits
Coxey's Army - marched on Washington in 1894
Veteran's Benefits
Spoils System
Political influence was shared by granting government jobs - patronage system
Garfield assassinated by disgruntled office seeker
Spoils System
Pendleton Act 1883 - government jobs based on merit (exam) - established the modern bureaucracy
From here forward, direct money becomes the way to influence the political system
Tariffs
McKinley Tariff 1890 - raised import taxes 50%
Tariffs
Raised the prices of goods - Congress lowered the tariff again in 1894
Monetary System
1890 Sherman Silver Purchase Act - Federal government was to purchase twice as much silver as before
Monetary System
Silver continued to be the most important political issue for Westerners
Moralism
Nativism
Tremendous growth in immigration from 1870-1890
Rise in anti-Catholicism
Nativism
American Protection Association - anti-immigrant group that grew to over 2 million members in early 1890s
Prohibition
State laws begin to pass to limit alcohol sales and consumption
Prohibition
Blue laws specifically target Catholic workers
Election of 1884 - Democratic Party seen as party of "Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion"
Populism
Role of rural America in society shrinking
Populism
Drought, predatory creditors, and global competition combined to lead to massive foreclosures on farms in 1889
Tom Watson
Farmers Alliance Congressman founded the Georgia Populist Party in 1892
Subtreasury plan - wanted Federal government to build silos and warehouse to hold crops until prices rose
Tom Watson
Originally wanted blacks and whites to unite against elites - later attacked blacks, Catholics and Jews in his political rhetoric
William Jennings Bryan
20 percent unemployment in 1893
Cross of Gold
William Jennings Bryan
The Wizard of Oz
Industrial Work
Two Americas
Industrial Work
Politics
Populists wanted to bring farmers, miners, and industrial workers together under one political party
Politics
However, industrial workers were suspect of William Jennings Bryan
Who reaps the benefits of the industrial boom?
Skill or factory
Time clocks, rule books at the factory, machines determine human actions
Skill or factory
Safety
35k worker deaths a year - half a million injured in industrial accidents
Safety
Accidents were considered the worker's fault - no compensation or benefits
Injured workers often begged outside gates of factories
Skilled Workers
Own your own tools - carpenter, bricklayer, cigar maker, hat maker, etc.
Skilled Workers
Skilled workers could demand greater pay while many factory workers were easily replaceable
Machines moved more skilled workers to factory work
Unskilled Workers
Yellowdog contract - workers asked to sign away rights to ask for more money
Blacklist -
Unskilled Workers
Informal actions: Blue Mondays and slowdowns
Increased amount of dissatisfaction
Child Labor
2 million child workers in 1900 - no child labor laws
Child Labor
National Child Labor Committee formed in 1904
Lewis Hine - 1908
Women in the Workforce
Often temporary workers in textiles, laundries
Women in the Workforce
Only 5% of married women work outside the home - often African American women
Unions
Fraternal orders - secret society, rituals, initiations
Knights of Labor 1869 - founded as a fraternal order, Protestant only
Unions
Terence Powderly - Greenback Labor Party - became the mayor of Scranton, PA
Powderly became the leader of the Knights of Labor in 1879
Membership grew to 700,000 by 1886 - embraces skilled, unskilled, all races, women
AFL - American Federation of Labor
Samuel Gompers - more heirarchical than Knights of Labor
AFL
More comfortable with strikes than Powderly
Molly Maguires
Radical Irish coal miners - originated from a secret society
Violence and intimidation campaign against mine owners
Molly Maguires
Infiltrated by a Pinkerton detective
Twenty members executed by hanging in Pennsylvania in 1887-88
Lack of Success
Only 10% of workers belonged to a union in 1900
Lack of Success
Most workers would choose to self-identify with their ethnic group
Individualism prevalent among workers
Government was usually on the side of property owners
Strikes
Disagreement among union organizers whether to use a strike as a negotiating tool
Strikes
Sometimes organizing would happen without unions
Great Strike of 1877
Baltimore and Ohio RR cuts wages by 20%
Depot seized in Martinsburg, WV on July 14
Sympathy strikes: newsboys, coal stackers
Great Strike of 1877
President Hays sends in troops
2/3 of railroads in the country goes on strike
Lasts 45 days - 100 dead, 10 million in property damage just in Pittsburg
Haymarket Affair
Economic slowdown from 1882-1886
Anarchist and socialist groups grew in number during the slowdown
Haymarket Affair
Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions set May 1, 1886 as strike date for eight hour work day - 300-500k workers participated
Chicago - May 4 - someone threw a bomb at the police - seven were killed
Homestead Strike 1892
Carnegie owned steel plant in Pennsylvania - workers did not agree to 25% reduced wages and management locks them out
All workers go to strike - townspeople take over the plant
Homestead Strike 1892
Pinkerton Agency has become an anti-labor force - larger number of reservists than the US Army at this time
Governor sends in militia and owners bring in new workers on trains
Immigration
The labor movement gained little ground in the late 1800s because immigrants provided a steady stream of new workers
Immigration
1870-1890 - 8 million immigrants
1890-1920 - 18.2 million more
Ports of Entry
Ellis Island - twelve million immigrants processed before it was closed in 1954
Angel Island - San Francisco Bay
Ports of Entry
Reasons for Leaving
Advances in transportation
Population boom in Europe
Reasons for Leaving
Technological advances in agriculture reduced the need for farm workers
Political upheaval was especially difficult for Eastern European Jews
"Pull" of Jobs
Railroads and factories advertised in Europe for settlers and workers
"Pull" of Jobs
New Immigration
After 1890, immigrants were more "foreign" looking than previous waves
After 1880, except for Japanese, few expected to work on farms
New Immigration
Half worked for a few years and returned - some making multiple trips
Cities
Jobs were in the cities and possibly contacts from the Old Country
Most immigrants lived in diverse neighborhoods - Chinese were the exception
Cities
25% infant mortality rate
Immigrants began to have influence in cities - an Irish mayor was elected in New York in 1880 and Boston in 1884
Immigrant Groups
Most came by ship - steerage class
Ellis Island 1892-1954 - 12 million immigrants passed through
Immigrant Groups
All were suspect to inspection upon arrival
Irish
Mostly unskilled workers - primarily live in cities in the East
Stereotypes actually grow because Irish are gaining power in some cities
Irish
The Catholic Church helps new immigrants transition into society
German
Settled primarily in mid-West in smaller towns
More skilled laborers
German
Many were Protestant so were accepted more easily than the Irish
Generally maintained culture and language
Scandinavian
Mostly farmers - upper mid-West
Scandinavian
Slavic
Unskilled, about half are iliterate
Slavic
Did not realize an ethnic identity until they attempt to assimilate in America
Italian
Northeastern cities
Agricultural laborers who go back and forth
Italian
Immigrants identified with their village, not as Italian
Jewish
Often the poorest immigrants but most are skilled - tailors, carpenters, merchants, etc.
Jewish
Most arrive with no intention of going back - avoidance of pogroms in Russia
10 percent of total immigration during this period
West Coast
Chinese - escaping political unrest, worked on railroad, often under labor contracts
Labor groups often initiated violence toward Chinese immigrants
West Coast
1882 - Chinese Exclusion Act
Japanese and Mexican immigrants moved into Western states in smaller numbers
Anglo-Saxon Norms
Pressure to assimilate - lose traditions from the old country
Anglo-Saxon Norms
Easier for children to assimilate
Neighborhoods would be place to maintain culture