The Gilded Age Industrialization of America' 18701900

1
The Gilded Age (Industrialization of America).
1870-1900

• September 2006

2
The Gilded Age (Industrialization of America).
1870-1900

• Did the industrialization of America bring
  prosperity?
• America moved to the city in large numbers when
  capital became available for men to invest into
  factories and the need for more labor required
  immigration laws to be relaxed. America had its
  first millionaires from the robber barons that
  eventually formed large trusts and holding
  companies that not only provided jobs, but a
  middle class of consumers.
• How can this be compared to what is happening in
  China, Taiwan, and India today? Are these nations
  going to experience the same type of growth?
• Most of these nations are currently expanding at
  a rapid pace. They have yet to experience the
  labor movements and the social and cultural
  revolutions that America experienced during the
  gilded and progressive eras.

3
September- the Gilded Age (Industrialization of
America). 1870-1900

• How did the robber barons get rich and powerful?
• Exploiting weak government and new factory
  methods, robber barons used horizontal and
  vertical integration to control the production
  and sales of their products, which eventually led
  to trusts and monopolies to form to eliminate
  competition.
• Who are the modern day robber barons?
• The Wal-mart family franchise, Bill Gates
  Microsoft, and various other industries that use
  every available source to get their products in
  the hands of all consumers, they are ruthless at
  eliminating the competition.

4
September- the Gilded Age (Industrialization of
America). 1870-1900

• What inventions were the most important to
  the making of the gilded age?
• Telephone, camera, printing press advances, train
  improvements, skyscrapers, bridges all
  contributed to faster communication and
  transportation.
• This is the period that formed the greatest
  nation in the world. What did they do right and
  what could we do to duplicate it?
• Learning how to be efficient and giving the
  consumer what they wanted at a great price. This
  continues to be a challenge, with higher labor
  costs, production costs and shipping the goods to
  where people want the items. Corporations have
  moved to nations where labor and environmental
  regulations are cheaper and more favorable in
  producing cost effective products.

5
September- the Gilded Age (Industrialization of
America). 1870-1900

• What were the biggest mistakes made during this
  period?
• The biggest mistakes made during the gilded age
  was ignoring the environment, taking advantage of
  the people (women, children, immigrants) who
  worked in the factories and being above the law
  by using politicians to control their
  competition.
• Why is America so isolated from the world during
  this period?
• America was always afraid of entanglement with
  overseas affairs, since the days of George
  Washington, when he warned the new nation to
  avoid complicated alliances. America had a stable
  government, economy and other nations were
  experiencing internal conflicts that dealt with
  civil rights of its own citizens.

6
September- the Gilded Age (Industrialization of
America). 1870-1900

• Will other nations of the world experience
  similar problems as they go through their own
  industrialization period?
• This is bound to happen as workers demand more
  from the employers, protections by the government
  and more citizens learn how to voice protests
  without getting jailed or killed.
• This is commonly referred to as the era of The
  Rise of Big Business. Trusts, monopolies, greed,
  wealth, poverty, inventions in electricity,
  communication, transportation, weak governments,
  discrimination toward blacks, women, immigrants,
  poor, children, Indians, all change America
  forever. America does not follow the same recipe
  as Europe in its growth and prosperity.

7
September- the Gilded Age (Industrialization of
America). 1870-1900

• Government- Federalism, weak government
  enforcement of protective laws and political
  corruption bring on the progressive era.
• Economic- jobs, cheap labor, agrarian south,
  industrial north, cities develop, barb wire and
  trains, OIL, STEEL, RAILROADS, TOBACCO monopolies
  are the forces that drive the gilded age.
  Available capital (money to invest) is the key to
  American success.
• Culture- Religions, immigrant and poverty
  problems, race and gender abuses, not to mention
  child labor, farmer movements and education
  concerns all change America.

8
September- the Gilded Age (Industrialization of
America). 1870-1900

• Geography- Freedmen ignored on the farms in the
  south, Indians exterminated, conquering the
  continent with Railroads cause the cities to
  expand out and up. Cities spring up away from
  major ports, waterways and rivers due to the
  ability to run electricity inland and run
  factories.
• Historical- mending relationships north and south
  by ending Reconstruction causes black and white
  strained relationships. Then problems start with
  native and immigrant, red and white, big business
  brings about new concerns and problems that do
  not have easy solutions. How did Europe and Asia
  deal differently with these same problems? People
  left there and came to America. Wars developed
  over natural resources, political ideology and
  alliances.