Second Industrial Revolution l l Age of Inventions

Second Industrial Revolution l l Age of Inventions Rise of Big Business Labor Unions The Populist Movement

What fueled Industrial Rev? Know All l Abundance of resources. New Inventions Growing urban population that provided markets for products.

Age of Inventions l All inventors received a patent – a guarantee to protect an inventor’s rights to make, use, or sell the invention.

Henry Bessemer l l Bessemer Process – a method of steelmaking that burned off the impurities in molten iron with a blast of hot air. More steel produced in a day. Used steel for cans in storing food, rail lines, skyscrapers, and other buildings.

Oil – used for fuel and light l l Edwin Drake – used steam engine to drill for oil in Titusville, PA. Started oil boom there and more prospectors or “wildcats”. Mc. Coy – invented a lubricating cup that fed oil to parts of a machine while it was running. Helped machines run more smoothly and quickly. Where we get wanting “the Real Mc. Coy”.

Railroads. helped to unite and expand the country. l l l Reliable form of transportation. Rail lines were longer; had been 100 miles. First transcontinental RR – finished when Central Pacific and Union Pacific RR connected at Promonotory, Utah in 1869.

RR continued. . . l l Westinghouse – developed the compressed-air-brake. Double sets of tracks allowed passing of trains. Standard gauge, width of tracks, made rail transportation faster and cheaper. Stimulated urban growth.

Horseless Carriage l l l Had been developed in 1770; used steam engine. Innovations in oil refining led Nikolaus Otto to invent the first internal combustion engine powered by gasoline in 1876. 1893 – Charles and J. Frank Duryea built first practical motorcar in U. S.

Airplanes l l l Orville and Wilbur Wright of Ohio. Used small gasoline engines. Orville made first piloted flight in 1903 in Kitty Hawk, NC – 12 seconds and 120 feet.

Telegraph l l l Developed by Samuel F. B. Morse as a means of communicating over wires with electricity. Led to Western Union. Established offices in train stations and strung telegraph wire on poles alongside RR lines.

Telephone l l l Patented by Bell in March 1876. Businesses found this “talking telegraph” indispensable. Required operators which gave women job opportunities.

Typewriter l l l Developed by Sholes in 1867 for $12, 000 – his partner got over $1 mil in royalties. Sold patent to E. Remington and Sons in 1873 for $12, 000. Gave rise to typing pools, which increased job opportunities for women also.

Edison l l l Advances in electricity, lightbulbs, phonographs, and early motionpicture cameras. Opened workshop in Menlo Park, NJ. Improved Bell’s telephone. l l Held more than 1000 patents when he died. Opened first electric power plants in NYC in 1882 using direct current, DC, electricity. Could only deliver electricity in a small area.

Edison’s Inventions

Transformer l l Westinghouse and Tesla developed a transformer that could transmit highvoltage alternating current, AC, over long distances. Led to electric streetcars.

Big Business l l l Capitalism – economic system that called for private businesses to run most industries; competition determines how much goods cost and workers are paid. Laissez-Faire (473) Free enterprise – belief that economy will prosper if businesses are free of gov’t interference and allowed to compete in free market.

Critics of Free Enterprise l l l Said it was unjust to working class. Karl Marx favored Communism, or no individual ownership. Social Darwinism – society progressed through natural competition. l Means the “fittest” businesses would succeed and the “unfit” would fail. Helping the poor would slow progress.

Corporation owned by stockholders l Advantages l l Raise large sums of money. Stockholders have limited liability. Not dependent on a specific owner for existence. Problems led to. . . l l Trust – group of companies that is controlled by a single group of business leaders Monopolies (475)

Carnegie l l Entered the Steel Industry. Attracted talented people to his company. Success in making better products cheaper. Led to vertical integration (476).

Rockefeller l l l Founder of Standard Oil Company. Also used vertical integration. Expanded by using horizontal integration (477).

Railroad Giants l l Vanderbilt – Pioneer of rail travel. Helped provide a more efficient service. Ran competitors out of business. Pullman – designed and manufactured railroad cars that made long distance rail travel more comfortable.

Mass Marketing l l How? - Brand names, packaging, and advertising Mail-order companies like Montgomery Ward and Sears and Roebuck sold variety of goods through catalogs. Department stores catered to demands of urban market. (Macy’s) Chain stores (Woolworths)

Government and Business l l Sherman Antitrust Act – outlawed all monopolies and trusts that restrained trade. 10% of population controlled 75% of the wealth!

New Working Class l Most jobs were filled by immigrants. l Nearly all textile workers were native born whites. African Am got few jobs and/or the worst jobs. l l Female workers doubled b/w 1870 -1890. l 20% of Am children 10 -15 worked for wages.

Working Conditions – l l Long hours, low pay More difficult for unskilled workers. Little effort was made to improve conditions and safety. Employers even controlled life outside of work.

Knights of Labor l l Led by Powderly Attract both skilled and unskilled workers, and those excluded from other unions. Opposed Chinese workers. , but included blacks and women. Fought for temperance, 8 hour day, equal pay for equal work, and end child labor.

Great Upheaval l l 1886 – intense year of strikes and violent labor confrontations. Examples. . .

Haymarket Riot l Most violent of all strikes. l Peaceful at start until police arrived and bomb exploded. Led to vocal opponents of Knights of Labor. l

Yellow-dog contracts l l Signed by workers promising not join unions. Workers still went on strike. Public supported employers b/c of violence of strikes.

AFL l l Founded by Samuel Gompers. Organized independent craft unions into a group that worked to advance the interests of skilled workers.

Homestead Strike l In 1892 at Carnegie Steel over a wage cut. l 16 people killed when workers were locked out and strikers shot at and killed replacements. State militia called out to help management. Plant reopened with non-union workers and larger pay cut. Some strikers were blacklisted. l l

Pullman Strike l l l Pullman cut wages, but did not lower rent or prices. Government ordered the strike to end b/c it prevented to delivery of mail. President had to call in troops.

Farmers’ Problem(s) l l l Had to plant more crops and raise more animals for growing population, but prices fell as supply exceeded demand. Profits dropped – could not repay loans/lost farms. Losing money.

National Grange l l l Farmers organized to improve situation. Founded by Oliver Kelly to tackle economic and political issues. Main focus – forcing states to regulate railroad freight and grain storage rates.

Interstate Commerce Act l Prohibited railroads from giving secret rebates to large shippers or charging more for short hauls than long hauls.

Farmer Alliance l Organized cooperatives to buy equipment and to market farm products, lobbied for tougher bank regulations, graduated income tax.

Money Question l l l Alliance Movement favored printing greenbacks. 1873 – Congress went away from silver to gold to limit money supply. Farmers wanted silver, but did not get it.

Populist Party l Founded by Alliance members, farmers, labor leaders, and reformers. l Platform (3) – graduated income tax, bank regulation, gov’t ownership of RR, coinage of silver, shorter workday, immigration restrictions.

Election of 1896 l Mc. Kinley (R) defeats Bryan (D). l Populist supported Bryan. l Election and improvements of farmers brought an end to Populist Party.