Economic Growth And Development (1865-1890) Flashcards
What was the economy in agricultural like in 1865?
-50% population lived in rural areas
-10 million poeple lived in farms
-1862 homestead act made 1000 acres of land avalible for settlers
-farms were small
-markets developed
-increase in large scale commercial gain
-there was encouragement for agricultural colleges
What became problematic for agriculture development?
People became dependant on banks for money as they didn’t have control on prices for seeds and equipment. Which was further damaged by financial panic
What was the panic of 1873?
-the agriculture industry depended on loans. Although despite this the banks did not have enough money and went broke causing a nationwide financial crisis
-the stock market prices began to collapse
Banks had failed which badly affected enterprise
(Caused by rapid economic expansion)
What was agricultural development like in the northeast? (5)
• was expanding markets in growing towns & cities which boost agricultural
• 1880 Chicago was a hub for shipping meat production, cereals to urban northern east and provide timber for construction on Great Plains
•Wisconsin had large dairy production
• railroad monopolies set freight rates high
• the agriculture was depended on the market
What was the agricultural development like in the south of America?
• ‘king cotton’ still dominated economy
• reconstruction didn’t remove traditional southern belief structure and old elites still ruled
• whites bans African Americans unable to buy land (black struggle to keep land)
•African Americans struggled to get there loans and crops to the direct market without being controlled by big businesses
•railroad expansion
• cotton tobacco and sugar were kept as major commodities for exports
• trade exports in Alabama and Louisiana
•immigrants didn’t settle in south as much as the economy was lagging
What was the economy like in urbanization in 1865?
-lots of rural space was sparsely populated
-industrial development lagged behind world
-north and east Uber going modern industrial capitalism (before 1861)
-civil war helped progress economic development
How and why was there economic growth in American urbanization?
-accelerated from industrialization, mass immigration & transportation progress
-Helped cities west of Mississippi & north of Ohio create new markets, new business opportunities and vast mobile work force
Chicago populace increase from 109,000 (1860) to 1099,000 (1890)
Sam Francisco increase from 57, 000
(1860) to 299,000 (1890)
How was there economic growth in American industrialization?
-boom in extractive industries (coal, iron, copper, oil)
-oil wells developed in Pennsylvania (1859) spread to New York
-new techniques in manufacturing steel developed (rolling mills)
-pushed by Thomas Edison
-(1867) technological improvement in refrigeration assisted expansion of breweries & meat packaging
-slowed down by (1873) panic, but this removed innefficant business. So by (1877). Economy had more expansion
-developed railroad, oil, and steel industry’s?
How did the railroad industry receive economic growth?
(1865) 35,000 miles of track in US. (1893) almost 200,000 miles of track in US (transcontinental
Linked New York, to Chicago and Pennsylvania
(1869) union pacific railroad complete
(1883) northen pacific railroad complete
Railroads influence determined if bigs cities or small towns would survive
-‘Railroad barrens’ :established local monopolies , l bought vast estates, controlled local politics and freight rates
-vital for supplying factories with raw materials & distributing finished products
-Cornelius Vanderbilt influence
Who was Cornelius Vanderbilt?
-Dutch immigrant
-dominated rail traffic out of New York city and its connections
-consolidated New York and central Hudson River railroad into big integrated networks
-(1877) , had amassed nearly £100 million. When Son William succeeded him
How was there economic growth in America in the steel industry?
-(1875) American steel production was 360,000 tons. (1900) annual steel production 60 million tons
[growth rate 7% a year]
-steel was vital for railroad development & machinery in oil
-(1880) steelmakers shift to Bessemer process which caused mass production of quality of steel
-(1890) further steel production caused by technical advances & discovery of high grade iron ore in Lake Superior
-Andrew Carnegie influence
Who was Andrew Carnegie?
• had poor Scottish background
•worked in railroads (jobs as superintendent and personal telegrapher of Pittsburg railroad division)
• constructed first steel works in Pennsylvania mid 1870s
• established Carnegie steel company (1892)
• sold out US steel (1901) which became first £1 billion corporation
How was there economic growth in the oil industry?
• oil wells developed in Pennsylvania (Appalachian basin)
• Cleveland city , major forty for refining oil
• development involve with motor oil powering factories. & kerosine for heating & lighting
• John D Rockefeller influence
Who was John D Rockefeller?
•abolitionist
• founded standard oil company in (1870)
• (1865 also bought out his partner to gain full control of Cleveland oil refinery
• (1872) “Cleveland massacre” he horizontally integrated 22/26 main competitors
• (1882) established standard oil trust.
(1880s) 85% of oil refining in the world controlled by standard oil.
[considered richest man at time of his death, 1937]
What we’re cartels and trusts significance for economic growth?
-corporations and combinations who controlled key markets and politicians
-had outward show of mansions of fifth avenue in New York
-(1881) Samuel insult arrived from England. Worked in Edison telegraph company and set up Edison electric company that became a big monopoly in General Electric by (1892)
-also JP Morgan
