Quick Question

1
Quick Question

• When you hear
• Darwinism
• what comes to mind?

2
The Rise of Industry

• Laissez-Faire Capitalism
• 1865-1900

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The Growth of Railroads

• Eastern rails were consolidated in the early part
  of the 19th Century. The western rails were
  constructed in concert with the expansion of the
  frontier.
• The federal government promoted the growth of
  rails through land grants. Railroads received
  170 million acres of public land
• These led to widespread corruption including the
  Credit Mobilier scandal
• Railroads occasionally owned up to half of all
  land in the Western states

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Industrial Empires

• Financier J.P. Morgan helped to consolidate the
  railroads during the Panic of 1893
• He bought up a significant portion of the 1/4th
  of all rails that went bankrupt
• The steel industry was consolidated by Andrew
  Carnegie US Steel became the worlds first
  billion dollar corporation
• The oil industry was consolidated by John
  Rockefeller in the Standard Oil Trust

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The Rise of Laissez-Faire

• Laissez Faire capitalism advocated for a hands
  off approach to regulating business
• Social Darwinism was thought to rule the world of
  business, those most able would rise to the top
• Another attempt to justify consolidation was the
  Gospel of Wealth. This said that wealth was the
  clearest sign of Gods favor for your hard work

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Impact of Industrialization

• Concentration of Wealth
• A few industrialists became fabulously wealthy
• The Horatio Alger Myth portrayed hard working
  young individuals that made it rich through
  diligence. This was just a myth.
• The expanding middle class
• Corporations created the need for salaried,
  white-collar workers as well, these individuals
  increased the demand for basic services
• Working women
• 1 in 5 adult women were in the workforce in 1900

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The Struggle of Organized Labor

• Industry used many tactics to squelch organized
  labor including
• Lockouts, Blacklists, Yellow-dog contracts and
  Court injunctions
• Organized labor rose in the post Civil War period
• National Labor Union- the first attempt to
  organize all workers it was gone by 1877
• Knights of Labor- organized in secret in 1869,
  they went public in 1881. Open to women and
  blacks
• American Federation of Labor- Samuel Gompers led
  this union of skilled workers
• Labor unrest of the time included the Haymarket
  Bombing, the Great Railroad Strike, the Homestead
  Strike and the Pullman Strike