Industrial Expansion United States History Mrs OShea Economic

Industrial Expansion United States History Mrs. O’Shea

Economic Growth p. 803 - 805 • Shortage of labor = efficient, labor saving machinery • “Dramatic changes in productivity” • High tariffs placed on foreign products • Electric Power • Transportation improvements • Communication improvements • Scientific Process – research

Transcontinental Railroad • Pacific Railway Act – 1862 • Union Pacific and Central Pacific met Promontory Point, Utah • Financed by federal land grants and selling of railroad bonds

Technological Revolution • • • Electricity Improvements Oil – drilling Railroads Improvements Telegraph Telephone Steel

Social Darwinism Charles Darwin – survival of the fittest Social Darwinism – apply Darwin’s ideas to society “Fit” = succeed and become rich = Employers “Weak” = Employees

Laissez-Faire – let do “the functions of the state should be limited to internal police and foreign protection — no public education, no limitation of hours of labor, no welfare legislation. ” Spencer, who published Social Statistics in 1865, also included the Darwinian principle of survival of the fittest to his dog-eat-dog ideology Does this go along with the ideas behind social Darwinism?

Monopoly vs. Oligopoly – market dominated by a few large, profitable companies Examples: Breakfast Cereals Cars Monopoly – market dominated by one company Examples: Apple Microsoft

Robber Barons or Captains of Industry Robber Baron • cruel and ruthless businessmen who would stop at nothing to achieve great wealth • accused of exploiting workers and forcing horrible working conditions and unfair labor practices upon them Captain of Industry • ingenious leaders who transformed American economy with their business skills • praised for their philanthropy (charity)

f o n i a Capt ry What t s u d In Carnegie – Rockefeller – do you Rob ber think? Baron

Unions • Became a means for expressing workers’ demands to employers • Shorter work hours • Higher wages • Better working conditions

Labor Unrest: 1870 -1900

Collective Bargaining – negotiate as a group (power in numbers) Scabs – workers called in to replace striking workers

Employers Reactions 1. Forbidding union meetings 2. Firing union organizers 3. Yellow dog contracts – I will not participate in union activities 4. Refusing collective bargaining 5. Refusing to recognize union representatives

European Immigrants • Came through Ellis Island • 1892 -1924 – 17 million immigrants were processed http: //memory. loc. gov/learn/features/immig/irish. html

Physical and Mental Test

Asian Immigrants • Angel Island • 1910 -1940 – 50, 000 Chinese Immigrants

Tenement Slum Living

Tenement Life • Run down buildings • Overcrowded- An entire family living in one room; multiple families living on the same floor • Little light or ventilation • Horrible sanitation: No garbage pick-up; no plumbing, smelly • Conditions caused disease that was easily spread

Dumbbell Tenement

Triangle Shirtwaist Co. Fire • • 1911 - New York City, 10 -story building Doors locked from the outside One fire escape- rusted and collapsed Workers jumped to their deaths or perished in the smoke and flames • 146 workers died

Against big business or monopolies 1, 3, 9 Effects of distribution of wealth 2, 7, 8, 6 Support of Business – Support of Social Darwinism 4, 5

Muckrakers • Derogatory name: “earn their livelihood by telling scandalous falsehoods about honest men” • Many brought attention to tragic truth: – – – – Living conditions Working conditions Business Practices Child Labor Conditions of food processing factories Corruption in government Prison Conditions

Federal Reform • Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act (Roosevelt influenced by the Jungle) • Constitutional Amendments – 16 th = Federal income taxes – 17 th = Direct election of senators – 18 th = Abolition of alcohol Chicago Meat Inspectors 1906

City (Municipal) Reforms established public health programs enforced tenement codes took over utilities services (gas, water, electricity) provided free kindergarten State Reforms reformed election process – held primary elections developed workers’ accident insurance and compensation abolished child labor set minimum wages Federal Reforms Broke up trusts Developed Interstate Commerce Commission Pure Food and Drug Act Established a Department of Labor Established the U. S. Forest Service - set aside land for National Parks 16 th, 17 th and 18 th Amendments

Beginnings of the Suffrage Movement First formally demanded right to vote at Seneca Falls Convention (1848) – Not allowed to vote – Husbands had legal power over their wives – Working women paid only a fraction of what men earned – Women had no means to gain an education since no college would accept women students – Women were robbed of their self-confidence and self-respect, and were made totally dependent on men

Anti-Suffrage Movement

Nineteenth Amendment • 1920 • Extended the right to vote to women