Topic 2 Overview

The Gilded Age:

 1870 – 1890
- Mark Twain coined the term, “Gilded Age: to describe this period
- Gilded meant that it appeared to be golden on the outside but that it was not
truly golden
- In this era, “robber barons” or powerful business owners grew rich and
monopolies developed but the vast majority of Americans were laborers or
workers
- Workers were exploited, often overworked and underpaid
- Unions or organization of workers struggled to increase wages and promote
safer working conditions
- Millions of the “new immigrants” arrived to work in factories
- As American became a more industrialized society, many problems developed
“…no country can be well governed unless its citizens as a body keep
religiously before their minds that they are the guardians of the law and that
the law officers are only the machinery for its execution, nothing more.”
~ Mark Twain

The Industrial Revolution:

 The Industrial Revolution began in Great Britain in the mid-1700s, and reached the
United States in the early 1800s
 New inventions [Elias Howe: sewing machine; Alexander Graham Bell: telephone;
Thomas A. Edison: electric light bulb; Orville and Wilbur Wright: airplane] were
created
 New ideas introduced new ways of making goods and meeting people’s needs
 Instead of producing goods by hand at home, people worked in factories
 Goods were produced faster and thus could be sold at lower prices
 Water power or steam engines powered the machines in factories
 As goods became cheaper, demand increased, creating more jobs
 Cities grew as people moved into them in order find work
 Movement to cities is called urbanization
 However, cities were often unprepared for so many new arrivals
 Unsanitary conditions often developed in these unprepared cities
Industrialization and Its Impact on Workers:
 Industrial working conditions in the late 19th century were often quite hazardous
 Safeguards around machinery were inadequate
 Thousands of workers were injured or killed in accidents each year
 Workers faced a six-day work week of 10 to 14 hours per day
 Pay averaged from $3 to $12 weekly
 Industrial workers could be fired for any reason
 There was no unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, health insurance
or old-age insurance

Urbanization and the “New Immigrants”:

 Urbanization refers to movement to cities
 “New immigrants” often settled in cities
 “New immigrants” were unfamiliar with American customs, lived in crowded
apartments, and worked as unskilled laborers for long hours at low pay
 They often faced hostility and discrimination from native-born Americans and from
other ethnic groups
 Many of the New Immigrants settled with others of the same nationality in
neighborhoods known as ghettos
 A ghetto is a section of a city in which members of a minority group live especially
because of social, legal, or economic pressure
 However, this isolated many “new immigrants” from mainstream American life
 While some attended night school to learn English, most were too busy working or
caring for families to learn a new language or culture
 It was left to their children to learn English and become familiar with American
customs
 In this way, immigrant children were eventually assimilated or “Americanized.”
 Topic 2.1 Notes
Name : ____ Period ________

Topic 2.1 suggested reading for home work pages 100-108 student text book.

Guiding Question: What were the causes of the second Industrial revolution?
(3 sentences minimum)
A.G.Q Leave enough space for your answer of 2-3 sentences.
Gilded Age:
 Because of the lavish lifestyles of those who became rich from industry, the period
from 1856 to 1900 became known as the Gilded Age
- Gilded means covered in gold but not fully golden!

Entrepreneur:
 An individual who brings together land, labor, and capital to create a new business
Capitalism: Individuals are free to own and control their own business to make a profit.
Laissez-faire:
 “Let them do as they [business] as they please”
 The idea that government should not intervene in the market
 Businesses should not be regulated or controlled by government

The growth of industry after the civil war was fueled by a vast supply of natural resources
and a swelling labor pool. (timber, iron, immigrants)

Push and Pull Factors of Immigration: Pushed to America by: political

upheaval/revolution, religious discrimination, crop failures. Pulled to America by:
Economic opportunity, cheap land, religious freedom, stable or fair government.

The south lagged behind in the industrial revolution because they lacked an educated
workforce, had to be repaired from war, and lacked capital investors.

Innovation: The process of bringing new methods, products or ideas into use.

 Thomas Edison = at his lab in Menlo park, he invented the light bulb
 George Westinghouse = Developed technology to send electricity over long
distances. Also invented the airbrake system for trains
 Alexander Bell = telephone
 Gugielmo Marconi = invented the wireless telegraph and radio.
 Henry Bessemer = Bessemer process for making steel.
 Gustavous Swift = refrigerated railroad cars.
 Mass production = producing a large number of products quickly
Effects of industrialization: Time zones were established because of the railroads. Electric
streetcars and subways spurred the growth of suburbs. American exports dominated
international markets. Because farms needed fewer workers, people migrated to the city
for work. Industrial waste and land mismanagement was a problem. Congress then set
aside protected lands that would eventually become part of the National Park service.
 Topic 2.2 Notes
Name : ____ Period ________

Topic 2.2 suggested reading for home work pages 109-114 student text book.

Guiding Question: Why would one person use the term “robber baron” and another captain
on industry to describe the same person?
A.G.Q Leave enough space for your answer of 2-3 sentences.
Robber Barons:
 Entrepreneurs who used ruthless (cruel) tactics to destroy competition and to keep
down worker’s wages
- Monopolists!
- Examples: Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller
Andrew Carnegie:
 A famous entrepreneur in Gilded Age
- 1835-1919; worked his way up from a penniless Scottish immigrant
- His steel mills ruthlessly undercut all competition; his workers put in 12-hour
shifts at low wages - Carnegie hired thugs to crush any attempt to unionize
John D. Rockefeller:
 1839-1937; formed the Standard Oil Company in 1870
- Rockefeller forced railroad companies to give him special, secret rates for
shipping his oil, while they charged his competitors higher prices
Trusts:
 Act like monopolies
- A monopoly occurs when a single seller dominates a market – no competition,
higher prices
Social Darwinism:
 Loosely applied Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution to economics
- Taking Darwin’s suggestions of the survival of the fittest as the determinant in
evolution, Social Darwinists believed that those on top in the business world
were there because they were the fittest
- The rich had survived the battle of the marketplace because they were the best
- Believed that the strong must dominate weaker groups
- Encouraged laissez-faire or that the government not intervene in the market
“The Gospel of Wealth”:
 Andrew Carnegie’s belief that the rich should use their wealth to benefit society
- Encouraging charitable contributions and philanthropy (the desire to promote
the welfare of others, expressed especially by the generous donation of money to
good causes)
-
- Captains of Industry: Many business leaders like Carnegie, Rockefeller, and
Vanderbuilt were also philanthropists. They established museums, libraries,
and universities, believing that such instutitions gave the disadvantages a chance
to rise to wealth.

The Interstate Commerce Act:

 1887
- This new federal law prohibited unfair practices by railroads, such as charging
more money for shorter routes
Sherman Anti-Trust Act:
 1890
- Was passed to check the spread of monopolies
- It outlawed unfair monopolistic practices that stifled competition
Horizontal integration: Eliminate the competition, 6 companies become 1. You buy your
competitors.

Vertical integration: Integration of all the business componets into one stream. From
owing the raw materials, distribution networks, and retail space.
 Topic 2.3 Notes

Name : ____ Period ________

Topic 2.3 suggested reading for homework pages 114-121 student textbook.

Guiding Question: How did industrialization influence labor conditions and contribute to the
start of the labor movement?
A.G.Q Leave enough space for your answer of 2-3 sentences.

Treatment of Workers in Early Years of Industrial Revolution:

 Safeguards around machinery were inadequate
- Thousands of workers were injured or killed in accidents each year
 Workers faced a six-day work week of 10 to 14 hours per day
 Low wages
 Industrial workers could be fired for any reason
 There was no unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation, health insurance
or old-age insurance
Company Towns: many immigrants/laborers were forced to live in isolated towns. These
towns and all the lodging and stores were owned by the business. This resulted in wage
slavery. Many company town managers’ reinforced ethnic competition and distrust among
the men.

Unions:
 An organization of workers that promotes safer working conditions, higher wages,
and fewer hours of work (“eight hours for work; eight hours for sleep; eight hours
for what we will”)
 Collective bargaining: Factory workers tried to gain more power by negotiating
with management as a group.
 Socialism: a movement that favors societal, not private ownership of a factories
wealth. Then the wealth could be distributed equally to all.
 Business owners tried to keep unions form being effective by citing the Sherman
Antitrust Act, claiming they disrupt free contract and trade. The courts usually
sided with the side of business.
 Labor activists borrowed ideals from socialism to demand social reform.
The Knights of Labor:
 1869
- One large national union, recruited women and African Americans.
- Skilled and unskilled workers of any trade
- Under leadership of Terrence Powderly.
- Called for eight-hour day and graduated income tax
- Sought large-scale manufacturing cooperatives where workers would take a
share of the profits.
- Wanted to replace capitalism with a workers collective/ socialism.
- Collapsed after a general strike for an eight-hour day failed in Chicago. Then
the Haymarket Massacre occurred.
- Many Knights joined the new rival organization the A.F.L
The Haymarket Affair:
 1886
- Occurred when labor leaders were blamed when a bomb exploded at a
demonstration of striking workers at Haymarket Square in Chicago
- Seven police were killed; eight anarchists were later arrested
- Four were found guilty and hung, yet no one was found guilty of throwing the
bomb
- The Riot left an unfortunate legacy. The Knights of labor fizzled out as people
shed away from radicalism and became suspicious of union activity.
The American Federation of Labor (AFL):
 1881
- Founded by Samuel Gompers
- Only skilled workers, excluded women
- Consisted of associations of skilled workers joined together into a federation
 Cigar-makers association + Carpenters association + etc. = AFL
- Goals limited to higher wages, safer working conditions, 8-hour work day
 Bread and Butter unionism
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire:
 1911
- Occurred in New York City sweatshop or factory in which workers work long
hours for low wages in unsafe working conditions
- 145 women died because the factory doors had been bolted shut from the outside
 Most of the workers were immigrants
- Soon after the fire, Congress passed legislation favorable to unions

Urbanization:
 The movement of people from rural areas to cities
- An important result of industrialization
- Cities grew so quickly that municipal authorities could not deal with their
problems
 Large families were crowded into tenements or single-room apartments
without heat or lighting
Political Bosses like Boss Tweed:
 Cities were often run by corrupt “political machines” people who controlled local
and county governments.
- Political bosses provided jobs and services for immigrants and the poor, in
exchange for their votes
 William Marcy “Boss” Tweed was the leader of New York City’s corrupt
Tammany Hall political organization during the 1860s and early 1870s
 Tweed became a powerful figure in Tammany Hall – New York
City’s Democratic political machine
 He openly bought votes, encouraged judicial corruption, extracted
millions from city contracts, and dominated New York City
politics
 Topic 2.4 Notes
Name : ____ Period ________

Topic 2.4 suggested reading for home work pages 122-126 student text book.

Guiding Question: What challenges did immigrants face trying to establish a new life in
America?
A.G.Q Leave enough space for your answer of 2-3 sentences.

“Old Immigrants”:
 Up until 1880, most immigrants to the USA had come from Northern Europe
- In general, these “Old Immigrants” were Protestant, except for Irish Catholics,
and most spoke English

“New Immigrants”:
 Immigration patterns changed in the 1880s
- Railroads and steamships made the voyage to America more affordable
- Most “New Immigrants” came from Southern and Eastern Europe, especially
Poland, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Greece, and Russia
- They were Catholics and Jewish, spoke no English, were poor, and dressed
differently from Northern Europeans
- They helped propel the American Economic engine. And shape the evolving
American culture.
- Asian immigrants also arrived.
-
Urbanization: The movement to cities by people to live and work.

Steerage: Steamships made the voyage to America. Most immigrants traveled in steerage,
the worst accommodations on the ship. (lower deck, no private cabins)

Ellis Island: The New York Harbor for immigration. Mostly European immigrants

Angel Island: The West Coast’s center for immigration. Usually Chinese immigrants.

Americanization: In many cities, volunteer institutions known as settlement houses helped

newcomers learn English and dress American.
Ghettos:
 A ghetto is a quarter/section of a city in which members of a minority group live
especially because of social, legal, or economic pressure.
- However, this isolated minority groups from mainstream American life
Assimilation:
 To assimilate is to learn the ways of another culture
- The children of the “new immigrants” attended public schools and learned
English and American culture
 They assimilated

Melting Pot Theory:

 A theory of immigration that states when different types of people live together, they
gradually create one community. (Asian immigrants were left out of the pot)
Cultural Pluralism:
 A different theory of immigration that states that different groups can live together
in a society but still maintain different traditions and interests
Nativism:
 Anti-immigrant sentiment
- As the “New” immigration increased, nativist hostility mounted
- Nativists called for restricted immigration
- They argued that “New Immigrants” were inferior to “true” Americans – white,
Anglo-Saxon and Protestant
Chinese Exclusion Act:
 1882
- The first major law restricting immigration to the United States
- It was enacted in response to economic fears, especially on the West Coast,
where native-born Americans attributed unemployment and declining wages to
Chinese workers whom they also viewed as racially inferior
- Effectively halted Chinese immigration for ten years and prohibited Chinese
from becoming US citizens
The Gentlemen’s Agreement:
 1907
- Japanese government promised to limit future Japanese immigration