Period 6 Flashcards
Industrialization
The large-scale introduction
Key Inventions
-Use of electricity: cheap and efficient source of power; becomes a main power source in factories; factories don’t need to be by a water source for power
-light bulb: extends the work day, which increased production
-Besemer Process
Besemer Process
a process that produces steel by purifying iron
-Expanded our capabilities to build exponentially (used to build skyscrapers, bridges, and railroads)
Natural Resources
-Oil, Coal, and Iron were used in industrialization
-The US was large so it had more natural resources within its borders than other countries
Push factors away from home countries (Europe)
-Lack of jobs
-Famine (Irish Potato)
-Religious persecution
-war
Pull factors to the US
-Democracy
-Class mobility
-Educational opportunities
Nativism
resentment, discrimination, and violence against immigrants because of job competition
Impact of having a lot of workers
A lot of workers meant that people were replaceable. This caused workers to have to stand out to be employed. The working conditions decreased because business owners could find someone else to do their job without having to pay as much.
Gilded
covered with gold on the outside, but a cheap material on the inside
When was the Gilded Age?
1870s-1900s
Gilded Age Meaning
On the outside, the country seemed to be growing tremendously, but all of that growth was overshadowing the corruption and poverty underneath
Cornelius Vanderbilt
-Made his fortune initially in steamships, but sold his entire company to invest in railroads.
Andrew Carnegie
-vertical integration
-Owner of US Steel Company
-a poor Irish immigrant to a rich man with a monopoly company
-gave away %90 of his wealth
-gave to help higher education
-Founding a university, music hall, over 2,500 libraries
John D. Rockefeller
-Horizontal integration (oil companies)
-Created the horizontally integrated monopoly of Standard Oil by focusing on buying out oil refineries that would purify crude oil into kerosene before being sold to the public.
J.P. Morgan
-Bought Carnegie’s Steel company
-Bailed out the US government in 1893
-Inherited a $12 million fortune from his father, but grew it to more than $40 billion
-banking financier
-railroad magnate
-steel producer
vertical integration
buying all the businesses in the chain of production
Ex: Coffee Plantations -> Processing plant->roasting plant->packaging plant->starbucks coffee
-Andrew Carnegie’s US Steel Company
horizontal integration
buying all the businesses at one step in the chain of production
Ex: disney owns hulu, abc, pixar, espn, marvel, starwars, national geographic, etc.
-John D. Rockefeller, oil production
What did captains of industry do?
Positively contributed to the country and attained masses of personal wealth
-ex: Increased productivity, expanding markets, providing more jobs, or acts of philanthropy
robber baron
Used to describe a powerful 19th-century businessman or banker who used questionable or unethical business practices to become powerful or wealthy
Livingston Avenue Bridge
Vanderbilt controlled the Livingston Avenue Bridge and because he was upset with business negotiations he shut it down. It was the only way for railroads to go through so it stopped transportation and set back other businesses. They were forced to
Homestead Strike (1892)
Workers at Carnegie Steel in Pennsylvania strike. Carnegie sends a militia to scare the workers but they end up shooting the strikers. 9 workers died and many more were injured. The Pennsylvania State military interfered to control the situation ON THE SIDE OF THE BUSINESSES.
Laissez-faire
Hands-off government approach where the government did not regulate business and the economy. If they ever did become involved, it was usually the side of the business
Monopoly
When a single company achieves control of an entire market.
Trusts
When a group of companies acting together as bound by a legal agreement, often worked to reduce—or threatened to reduce—competition in an industry.
Pools
Agreements among competing companies to keep prices at a certain level
Political Machines
A network of corrupt people that pay off government officials to get favorable laws passes
-People in the city council are paid by a political boss to allow them to get government contracts
Political Corruption: Credit Mobilier Scandal
Fed Gov gave out contracts to help build railroads. THe construction companies making the railroads also secretly owned the companies providing the resources. They hiked up resource prices so that the government could pay for the resources more. THe government knew about this after resources. They made treaties to get the government and investigators to look the other way.
Industrialization economy shift
Agriculture based economy -> manufacturing economy
Why did the US experience growth in the workforce?
The United States experiences a population boom as immigration soared following the civil war
-More factories built -> more jobs
-Western territories were accessible to more people that wouldn’t have access to new land in Europe because they didn’t have space.
Forgettable Presidents
The Presidents during this time period in American history have been called “forgettable presidents” because they mostly left a blank slate on the nation’s political record.
Who was part of the People’s Party/Populists
They were mostly farmers that experienced extreme debt. The industry was growing so businessmen had reliable and consistent income, however, the farmers’ incomes were impacted by price drops in their crops. They supported bimetallism.
Why might a farmer support bimetallism?
With more money around, it would cause inflation and a dollar would be worth less. Therefore, it would be easier for them to pay back their debt.
Goals of the Populist Party
-anti-trust legislation,
-greater federal regulation of the private industry
-stronger support for the nation’s agricultural and working classes.
-Institution of a secret ballot
-Banking reform
-A graduated income tax
COmpromise of 1877
Ended military reconstruction
Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)
separate but equal
