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Transcript

Happenings of the

Gilded Age

A Brief Summary of Inventions,

Movements, and More

Founding of Standard Oil

January 10th, 1870

On January 10 of 1870, Standard Oil Company was founded by John D. Rockefeller, and American Business was changed forever. Standard Oil was one of the main users of new business strategies during the next 50 years, and were one of the main reasons for anti-trust legislation being passed.

1870

Invention of the Telephone

March 10th, 1876

Alexander Graham Bell invents the telehpone, which goes on to revolutionize communication in the next decades. This specifically helped large business communicate more effectively and thus make more money.

1876

Mechanical Harvester Invented

December 19, 1881

Cyrus McCormick invents the mechnical harvester, which allows the agricultural industry to become more efficient. The invention made harvesting much faster, allowing farms to employ fewer laborers. This pushed many of those laborers into cities due to job loss.

1881

American Federation of Labor Founded

December 8th, 1886

The American Federation of Labor, which was a collection of craft unions, is founded. This is the first wide-spanning organization of working men in American, and lead to the development of larger unions.

1886

Sherman Anti-Trust Act Passed

June 10th, 1890

The passing of the Sherman Anti-Trust act was a major step in reigning in business in late 19th century America. This legislation allowed Congress to start breaking up trusts with too much economic power, allowing the market to be more free.

1890

Homestead Strike

May of 1892

Carnegie Steel Company abolished it's sliding-scale pay format, refusing to negotiate with unions. This lead to a combined strike and lock-out by the workers, which lasted four months. Carnegie ultimately hired the Pinkertons to deal with the strike, and lead to Carnegie Steel being nonunion for forty years.

1892

J.P. Morgan's U.S. Steel

April 1st, 1901

J.P. Morgan's holding comapny, United States Steel, is chartered by New Jersey, marking a new age of corporations in America. As the first billion-dollar corporation, U.S. Steel paved the way for most other large businesses that came after it. U.S. steel controlled around 60 percent of the Steel business and was the first sign of how much power bankers could hold.

1901

Upton Sinclair's The Jungle Published

February 26th, 1906

Upton Sinclair publishes The Jungle, and exploration into meat-packing work and immigrant life in Chicago at the time. The book provides shocking revelations about conditions in some plants and sparks general outrage, which leads to both the Meat Inspection Act and the founding of the FDA.

1906

US vs. Standard Oil

1911

A case that came before the Supreme Court about wether or not Standard Oil Co. violated the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. This was the culmination of many years of accusations about Mr. Rockefeller's business practices, and lead to the finding that Standard Oil did, in fact, violate the Anti-Trust Act. This was one of the biggest Trust-busts of the early 20th century.

1911

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

March 25th, 1911

146 people died in the confines of their workplace when the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory caught fire. Many of the exits were blocked or locked from the outside as an attempt to prevent unauthorized breaks or theft. The realization that those blocked exits lead to that many fatalities spurred the Federal Government into action, passing workplace safety laws and updating the fire code.

1911

Essay Question

My opinion veers more toward the shiny apple and rotten core. Sure, this era brought industry, jobs, and inventions to America, but it also brought an age of greed that lead to many unessecary deaths and injuries, both in accidents and strikes. All in all, this time period had its good parts, but the bad parts far outweigh those in my opinion.

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