U.S. History I

Topic 9.2“Big Business Rises”

2.1-2.9Clockwise from top left:

Standard Oil, Vanderbilt Mansion, Monopoly Board Game, J.P. Morgan Chase Building

The Corporation• Corporation: Many people “share” ownership of

ONE company• Monopoly: Complete control of a product or

service• Cartel: Businesses agree to make same product

and limit supply to drive up prices. (OPEC-oil, De Beers-diamonds)

• J.D. Rockefeller: Standard Oil/ Controlled Railroads to “corner” oil market

• J.P. Morgan: Developed research labs• Cornelius Vanderbilt: Railroad tycoon: N.Y. to

Chicago direct rail line.

Vertical/Horizontal Integration• Horizontal Integration:

Consolidate many firms into one business (Super Company)

** Was IllegalTrust: Companies assign

stock to board of TRUSTEES who get paid with stock profits (Made Horizontal Integration Legal)

Vertical Integration: Control ALL businesses involved in product development (Monopoly: Own the Board)

Andrew Carnegie: U.S. Steel/Pittsburgh, PA

The Big Business Debate

• Support: “Captains of Industry”

• 1. Efficient• 2. Lower Prices• 3. Provided Jobs• 4. Made U.S.

Powerful• 5. Philanthropists:

Helped fellow man

• Against: “Robber Barons”

• 1. Unfair Advantages• 2. Drove Small

businesses out• 3. No Competition• 4. Monopolies would

RAISE prices• 5. “Swindle” Poor

Big Business Debate

Social Darwinism

• Charles Darwin: On the Origin of Species- Animals evolved through Natural Selection- “Survival of the fittest”- Social Darwinism: Wealth was a measure of

one’s value and those who had it were “fit” Those who do not should “adapt”

- * Many used theory as a way to discriminate against minorities and other “poverty-stricken” Americans and Immigrants because of their “unfitness”

Government Regulations

• Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC): Could monitor railroads that cross state lines. Then refer records to Congress to address “unfairness”

• Sherman Anti-trust Act: Outlawed Trusts/Monopolies that limited trade among several states

• Read Wealth: Page 113: Andrew Carnegie

U.S. History I

The Organized Labor Movement

Topic 9.3

2.1-2.9

Worker Hardships• Immigrants and poor exploited

by big business: (Low Wages)• Long Days: (12 Hour/ 6 Days

per week)• Unsafe conditions:

Sweatshops: Small, hot, dark, and dirty: Triangle Shirt waste Co. NYC (Top)

• Children exploited (20% 10-16 Employed 1890’s)

• Company Towns: Pullman Town-Chicago (Bottom) Isolated communities owned by company

• Company Stores: Workers forced to shop at company owned stores that overcharged them

• http://www.ernieford.com/SixteenTons.htm

Labor Unions Form• Collective Bargaining:

negotiating with employer as a group: Strikes used to force negotiation (Top Left)

• Socialism: Favors PUBLIC control of property/ Opposite of Capitalism (Private Ownership) (Karl Marx: Communist Manifesto)

• Knights of Labor: Industrial Union: Uriah Stephens

• 1881: Terence Powderly : Became president (Bottom)

• American Federation of Labor: Samuel Gompers: “Skilled worker” Union (Top)

Strikes Rock the Nation• Railroad Strike of 1877:

First major strike in U.S. History (Wages): Government sided w/ Business and Violence Erupted

• Haymarket Riot: 1886: Chicago: Knights of Labor (Fair Wages/ 8 HR Work Day)

• Anarchists: Anti-government: Joined protest: Bomb Exploded: Dozens Killed/ Including Police

Strikes Rock the Nation

• Homestead Strike: Pennsylvania: U.S. Steel (protest wage cuts during depression)

• Pinkerton: Private “Strike Breaking” Police Force (intimidate workers)

*Anarchist tried to assassinate Henry Frick: (Carnegie’s Partner)

*Government Sided w/ Business

Strikes Rock the Nation• Pullman Strike: 1893:

Pullman Palace Car Company: Chicago

• Eugene Debs: American Railway Union President

*Workers blocked trains from running during strike.

*Pullman attached MAIL CARS to his

*Grover Cleveland sent troops to end strike

*Eugene Debs arrested for “federal offense”

Effects on Labor Movement• Trend: general course

of events• Government trend

was to side with business

• Socialism spread through U.S.

• Eugene Debs: Ran for President in 1900

• *Radical ideas continued to spread because of Industrial worker’s “perception” of unfairness

DID YOU KNOW?

• During a coal miner’s strike in 1921, miners in West Virginia (Battle of Blair Mountain) wore red handkerchiefs around their necks to show unity.

• They were nicknamed “rednecks”!

• …Oh yeah… and the color red is usually associated with Communism (Marxism), too!