Industrial America Flashcards
What event marked the beginning of the Second Industrial Revolution?
1844 Samuel Morse sent telegraph message
What was the Second Industrial Revolution?
Years after the Civil War, US became an industrial powerhouse because inventors and scientists backed by business leaders ushered in a technological revolution that changed people’s daily lives.
Daily Life in 1865
Indoor lighting started to exist, but rise and set of sun determined day. Candles and oil lamps lit when affordable. Ice was available but expensive. Mail from east took days to reach Midwest.
Patent
License that gave an inventor the exclusive right to make, use, and sell an invention for a set period of time.
1860: the government’s Patent and Trademark Office issued 500,000 patents.
By ####, US standard of living was:
1900
Highest in world
US had growing industrial productivity:
Amount of goods and services created in a given time period
Thomas Edison
Had a goal to create affordable in home lighting. Developed light bulb 1880, refined the filament to make it practical for home use.
Also developed the idea of a central power station and power plants arose.
George Westinghouse
Improved lighting so it could be sent over long distances, practical for home use.
Companies like what and what were formed to help…
General Electric and Westinghouse Electric spread the use of electricity
What was possible now that factories had electricity?
Electric sewing machine
What was possible now that homes had electricity?
Refrigerator
Oil used to be… But the new idea was…
Used to be taken from whale fat or seeped in large pits. New idea was to drill oil.
Edwin L Drake
In 1858, PA Rock and Oil Company sent Drake to drill for oil using steam powered engine. He struck oil in 1859.
Oil refineries, which transformed crude oil into kerosene, sprang up. It’s byproduct gasoline later used for automobiles.
Alexander Graham Bell
Bell came to Boston from Scotland and invented the talking telegraph in 1876. Set up American Telephone & Telegraph Company which built long distance telephone lines.
What was the company formed by several telegraph companies?
Western Union Telegraph Company
Transcontinental Railroad
Railway extending from coast to coast. Prior travel stopped at Mississippi River, now went to California.
Railroads gave a big boost over:
Steam powered ships
Problems with train travel
Costly
Dangerous
No signals
Unreliable brakes
Who worked on the railroads?
Irish in the east, Chinese in the west, met in the middle
Railroads built with federal aid were _______ than private railroads
Less efficient
James J Hills’s Great Northern Railroad had ______ rates and _______ profits.
Lower rates
Higher profits
When was the national system of time zones adopted?
1883
Importance of Railroads
Key in revolutionizing business and industry in US
- Faster means of transporting goods
- Lower costs of production
- Creation of national markets
- Model for big business
- Stimulation of other industries
What industries exploded because of railroads?
Steel, oil, meat packing, grain, lumber
New process for making steel developed by:
Henry Bessemer of England and William Kelly of Kentucky
Steel produced by:
Melting iron
Adding carbon
Removing impurities
Bessemer Process made it ______ and _______ to remove impurities
Easier
Cheaper
Steel is what than iron?
Lighter
Stronger
More flexible
Bessemer Process allowed for:
Mass production of steel
New age of building began
Brooklyn Bridge by John A Roebling was a symbol of this with its electric light bulbs
Robber Barons
Suggests business leaders built their fortunes by stealing from the public.
Drained country of national resources, persuaded public officials to bend laws their way, drove competitors to ruin
Captains of industry
Served nation in a positive way.
Increased supply of goods, expanded markets, raised productivity, raised standard of living, built museums/libraries/universities
John D Rockefeller
1863: built oil refinery in Cleveland, Ohio
1870: formed Standard Oil Company
Horizontal Consolidation: bringing together many firms in same business by buying competitors
Rockefeller’s charity
Gave over $500 million to establish charities and institutions to benefit humanity.
Helped found UChicago
Founded Rockefeller Foundation to give aid to institutions working in public health, art, social research
Andrew Carnegie
Bessemer Process convinced Carnegie that steel would replace iron.
1889: Carnegie Steel Plant in Pittsburgh grew into Carnegie Steel Company and eventually US Steel.
Vertical Consolidation: bought all phases of production, including shipping and rail lines. As company expanded, prices decreased.
Carnegie donated ##% of his fortune to ________, gave away $?
80% to education
$350 million
Social Darwinism
Based off of Darwin’s theory of natural selection, only the fittest survive so society shouldn’t interfere with private business. As a result, the government didn’t tax business profits.
Gospel of Wealth
By Carnegie
People should be free to make as much money as they can, give it away if you’re lucky enough to make it.
Big Business
Different from earlier forms because:
- Large pools of capital: necessary to operate such a business
- Wider geographic span: with help of railroads and telegraph
- Broader range of operations: controlling all stages of productions
- Revised role of ownership: businesses so large owners hired managers
- New methods of management: needed an accounting department
Monopolies
Complete control of product/service by buying out or driving out competitors. By the late 1800s government passed laws to limit.
Cartel
Despite laws to limit monopolies, political leaders refused to attack business leaders. Companies formed cartels: loose association of businesses that make same product. Idea= limit supply of product and keep prices high.
State laws prohibited one company from _____ ______ of another or _______ ___.
Owning stock
Buying out
Trust
Rockefeller’s lawyer had idea: Standard Oil and allies agreed to combine operations in 1882.
Agreed to turn over assets to Board of Trustees, promised a share of profits of new organization. Board controlled by Rockefeller, managed 40 companies as a single unit called a trust. Didn’t officially merge=didn’t violate laws
Sherman Antitrust Act
1890
Outlawed any combination of companies that restrained interstate trade or commerce. Ineffective for 15 years because courts were mostly pro-business and enforced infrequently.
