The Rise of Industrial America

1865- 1900

Shandon D. Kelleher

Argument

The rise of industry in America after the Civil War brought the nation up to par with many

competing countries, while also plaguing it with class divisions, corruption of power, and

concentration of wealth. It also brought upon new economic ideologies, as well as

modernization in technology and transportation and an increased standard of living.

Question to Ponder…

How did America becomes the leading industrial power in the world?

Railroads

• After Civil War RR mileage increase 5x!• American RR Association divides country into 4

time zones

Railroads

• Connecting the continent• Federal Land grants – Why would the constructions of

RR be viewed positively by the federal gov’t?• Transcontinental Railroad

Railroads

• Panic of 1893• Creation of Monopolies and Corruption in RR– J.P. Morgan– Granger Laws– Federal Interstate Commerce Act of 1886

Industrial Empires

Steel

• Vertical Integration

Oil

Horizontal Integration

Antitrust Movements

• Sherman Antitrust Act 1890• United States vs. E.C. Knight co.

Laissez- Faire Economy

• Adam Smith• Social Darwinism• Gospel of Wealth

Gospel of Wealth• We start, then, with a condition of affairs under which the best

interests of the race are promoted, but which inevitably gives wealth to the few. Thus far, accepting conditions as they exist, the situation can be surveyed and pronounced good. The question then arises-and, if the foregoing be correct, it is the only question with which we have to deal-What is the proper mode of administering wealth after the laws upon which civilization is founded have thrown it into the hands of the few? And it is of this great question that I believe I offer the true solution. It will be understood that fortunes are here spoken of, not moderate sums saved by many years of effort, the returns from which are required for the comfortable maintenance and education of families. This is not wealth, but only competence, which it should be the aim of all to acquire.

Innovation and Technology

Telegraph

Transatlantic Cable

Alexander Graham Bell

Thomas Edison & George Westinghouse

Impacts of Industrialization• R.H. Macy and Marshall Field- large department stores in NY

and CHI• Frank Woolworth’s Five and Ten Cent Store- brings

nationwide chains • Sears, Roebuck and Montgomery Ward- mail order

companies

Impacts of Industrialization

• Increase standard of living• Class division• Concentration of wealth

Horatio Alger Myth• People idolized self made men like Carnegie• Horatio Alger Jr. wrote novels that glorified the “self made” man

Struggles of Organized Labor

• Management typically “won” in strike disputes• Beginning of Labor Unions– National Labor Union (1866)– Knight of Labor (1886)– American Federation of Labor (1869)• Samuel Gompers

Struggles of Organized Labor

• Great Railroad Strike• Homestead Strike• Pullman Strike– Eugene Debs

Conclusion

• The industrialization brought upon by railroads, inventions, and new American social and economic ideologies not only transformed the landscape of the United States but also the structure of American social classes and the distribution of the wealth.