Industrialization -1865-1910: Overview
Civil War - boom in manufacturing
Age of great technology achievements
Rise of giant industries & monopolies
RR’s built - connect US "island communities"
Labor availability: immigration into urban manufacturing hubs
Industrialization: 1865-1900
big American Industrial Revolution:
(ex. GNP up 44% between 1873 & 1883)
concurrent to other nations: Germany, France, Japan, (not GB)
government law, philosophy for industrial expansion
Use of vast natural resources for industry
technology facilitates industrial growth
Railroad Expansion
1865: 35,000 miles of RR track; 1900: 192,556 miles of RR track
Corrupt deals made in Congress: RR’s granted land alongside tracks in exchange for stock, bribes to Congressmen
Use of Irish, Chinese laborers to build trans-continental RR
Promontory Point - 1869 - continents connected
Industrial Revolution:
Key statistics
1870 1890
Clothing (millions of $$) 230 589
flour (millions of barrels) 47.9 83.3
paper (millions of tons) 386 935
tobacco (millions of lbs.) 102 253
lumber (millions of feet) 12.7 27
copper (millions of tons) 21.7 87.1
Growth of Large Monopolies
Application of laissez-faire philosophy: hands-off approach by govt.
Social Darwinism is popular
huge, controlling monopolies are created: Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan (robber barons?)
"trusts" emerge: oil, banking, steel: smaller companies owned by larger "holding" companies
vertical & horizontal integration: means of achieving & maintaining monopolies
RR problems & reform, 1880’s
Rate fixing, kickbacks, exorbitant rural shipping rates lead to pressure, reform in late 1880’s
large companies favored over small shippers
connections forged between steel, oil, telegraph industries & RR’s
1187: creation of Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
ICC: early Progressive legislation: fed. govt. to control interstate RR trade
Social effects of
Industrial Revolution
Creates more material wealth for millions of Americans
est. of a large & urban working class
est. of a large & dynamic commercial middle class & consumer culture
opens up more opportunities for many (inc. women & new immigrants)
leads to labor consciousness-organized labor to emerge
increases class consciousness: rich & poor