Industrialization

• Conditions for rapid industrialization– abundance of cheap natural resources– large pool of labor– government support without interference– government stability– large domestic market

Railroads contribution to industrialization

• Railroads 1865 to 1916 U.S. lays 200k miles of track

• required large amounts of lumber

• employed thousands

• new forms of business

• local, state, and federal government support

Railroads

– Problems of growth• Severe competition

• special rates

• volume discounts and rebates

• consolidation

Bessemer Process

1850s Bessemer Process by Henry Bessemer made mass production possible

• Bessemer process was process for refining steel

• Steel replaced iron in manufacturing, agricultural tools, rails, and in architecture

J.P. Morgan

• Banker

• dislikes “wasteful”competition

• Helps refinance railroads & takes control– fixes costs, decreases debt– Result was decrease in competition– by 1900, 7 companies own 2/3 of

mileage

Robber Barons

• Term to describe businessmen during this time period

• Refers to them as “robber barons” because of the way they ran the businesses

Andrew Carnegie

• 1872 enters steel business

• Steel industry required a large amount of capital

• 1901 Carnegie sells to J.P Morgan and becomes U.S. Steel Corporation

• U.S. Steel is the 1st billion dollar business

J.D. Rockefeller• Kerosene used for

inexpensive lighting

• 1859 first oil well, Penn.

• 1863 John D. Rockefeller created Standard Oil

• Establishes “Standard Oil Trust” to manage businesses

Inventions

• Many inventions during this time– Alexander Graham Bell &

Telephone (1876)– Thomas Edison & light bulb– Elisha Otis & Elevator– George Eastman & the Camera– Electricity for light and power

(1882)

A.G. Bell

T. Edison

E. Otis

“Chain” Department Stores• Marshall Fields

• Sears

Woolworth’s

Labor• All different types of people working

• Increase in wages and educational services

• Accidents common

• Work increasingly impersonal

Unions

• Knights of Labor

• American Federation of Labor (1886)

• Strikes

– 1880-1900 23,000 strikes & 6.6 million workers

– Haymarket Riot