Industrial Capitalism in the U.S.

Key Concept 6.1

• Technological advances, large-scale production methods, and new markets spurred industrial capitalism in the U.S.

Large-Scale Industrial Production

• It was supported by technological change, expanding international communication, and pro-growth government policies.
• Dams and irrigation aided Western farms facing harsh conditions.
• Increased farm equipment led to the decline of small, marginal farms.
• Increased production caused deflation by lowering prices for wheat, cotton, and other crops.
• Railroads created a national market and time zones.
  • The government subsidized railroads through loans and land grants.
• United States Steel became the world's largest enterprise.
  • Steel was more durable than iron.
• Standard Oil's low prices led to the organization of trusts.
• Telegraph and global communication internationalized markets and prices.
• Edison's electric lightbulb enabled lighting for cities, electric cars, subways, and machinery.
• Packaged food, large department stores, and advertising fostered a consumer culture.
• The overall standard of living increased, but economic divisions became sharp.

Economy and Labor Perspectives During Downturns

• The mining boom caused a crisis concerning gold and silver value plus environmental damage.
• Some Southerners advocated a self-sufficient economy based on modern capitalism.
  • Henry Grady coined "New South," pushing economic diversity and laissez-faire capitalism.
• Northern finance dominated the Southern economy, with profits flowing to northern entities.
• Southern industrial workers earned less and worked longer hours.
• The sharecropping and tenant farming system tied farmers to the land via debt.
• Railroad loans led to corruption and hasty construction.
• In 1893, railroad bankruptcies led bankers to consolidate railroads, increasing efficiency.
• The middle class feared unchecked trusts, leading Congress to pass the Sherman Antitrust Act, prohibiting contracts in the form of trusts.
• Laissez-faire capitalism meant the government was not involved in the economy.
• Social Darwinism justified applying Darwin's natural selection theories to business.
• The Gospel of Wealth justified wealth and philanthropy via religion, particularly by Rockefeller.
• Management used strategies to defeat unions and suppress strikes.
• The Great Railroad Strike involved wage cuts which spread across 11 states and was suppressed by federal troops.
• The National Labor Union tried to organize all workers, advocated for equal rights, monetary reform, and worker cooperatives.
  • It had a victory of an 8-hour day.
• The Knights of Labor became unpopular after the Haymarket Square bombing.
• The American Federation of Labor emphasized higher wages and improved working conditions.
• The Homestead Strike included wage cuts and a lockout.
  • It set back the union movement in the steel industry.
• The Supreme Court allowed injunctions to break up of unions during the Pullman Strike.

Agriculture Consolidation and Farmer Responses

• New production and transportation systems enabled consolidation, spurring farmer responses amid instability.
• The National Grange Movement defended members against middlemen, trusts, and railroads.
  • It established cooperatives and regulated railroad/elevator rates.
• Wabash v. Illinois stated that individual states could not regulate interstate commerce.
• Farmer alliances aimed for economic and political action.
• Many reform ideas from the Grange and Farmers alliances were integrated into the Populist movement.

Key Concept 6.2

• Industrialization-related migrations transformed urban and rural areas socially and culturally.

International and Internal Migrations Impact

• Inequalities inspired reformers amid increased urban and rural populations.
• Plessy v. Ferguson upheld "separate but equal accommodations," supporting segregation laws.
  • Devices like literacy tests and poll taxes were used to restrict Black people from voting.
• "New Immigrants" from Greece, Italy, and Russia were poor and unaccustomed to democracy.
  • They settled in ethnic enclaves for job opportunities.
• Contract Labor Laws of 1885 restricted temporary workers to protect American workers.
• A literacy test for immigrants passed in 1917.
  • Efforts to restrict immigration were backed by labor unions, nativists, and social Darwinists.
• The influx of migrants from rural areas to cities happened for economic opportunities.
• Mass transportation segregated urban workers by income.
• Overcrowding and filthy tenements in cities caused disease spread.
• Ethnic neighborhoods allowed groups to maintain their culture.

Westward Migration and Conflict

• Larger migrant numbers sought land/opportunity in the West, sparking competition and violence.
• Mines employed skilled immigrants from Europe, Latin America, and China.
• Hostility led to the Miner's tax ($20 a month for foreign miners).
• The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 restricted immigration based on race and nationality.
• Seeking the West's resources damaged the environment.
• Gold/silver rushes caused immigration to the West, specifically in Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, and South Dakota.
• Rich strikes created boomtowns that often became ghost towns.
• The Homestead Act offered 160 acres of free land to encourage Western farming.
• The Reservation Policy assigned Plains tribes reservations with defined boundaries.
  • Most Plains tribes refused to restrict their movements.
  • This led to conflicts with American settlers and the U.S. troops.
• The Indian Appropriation Act of 1871 ended recognition of tribes as independent nations.
• The Ghost Dance represented Natives' last effort to resist government controls.
• The Battle/Massacre of Wounded Knee killed 200+ Natives and marked the end of the Indian Wars.
• The Dawes Act of 1887 broke up tribal organizations to assimilate Natives.
  • Former reservation land sold off to white settlers.
  • Disease and poverty reduced the Native population to 200,000 people.

Key Concept 6.3

• The "Gilded Age" saw cultural and intellectual movements alongside political debates on economic and social policies.

Cultural and Intellectual Movements

• Active political campaigns and high voter turnout resulted from party loyalty.
• The idea of a suburban house was created by Frederick Law Olmsted.
• Disease and pollution inspired reformers to seek water purification, waste disposal, lighting, police, and zoning laws.
  • The "City Beautiful" movement in the 1890s included public parks and cultural attractions.
• Settlement houses aimed to relieve poverty by providing social services.
  • Jane Addams' Hull House taught English, early childhood education, industrial arts, and established music schools.
• The Social Gospel emphasized applying Christian principles to social problems.
• Family size decreased as children became an economic liability.
• There were increased children in school plus tax-supported high schools.
• Du Bois advocated for equal access to higher education for Black individuals
• Advances in social sciences boosted progressive legislation and reform in the 20th century.
• Reduced work hours, transportation improvements, advertising, and declining Puritan values promoted leisure activities.
  • This included collegiate and professional spectator sports growth.

Social Changes and Political Debates

• Republicans supported pro-business economics and high protective tariffs.
• Democrats supported state's rights and limited federal powers.
• Hayes vetoed efforts to restrict Chinese immigrants.
• The Pendleton Act of 1881 established a Civil Service Commission that selected federal job applicants by examination.
• There was debate over expanding the money supply.
  • Debtors wanted "easy" money to borrow and repay loans.
  • Bankers wanted "sound" money backed by gold to hold value against inflation.
• The Specie Resumption Act withdrew greenbacks from circulation, leading to a Greenback party forming.
• Tariffs provided more than half of federal revenue in the 1890s.
• Republican-controlled presidencies and Congress enacted the McKinley Tariff, Sherman Antitrust Act, Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890.
• The Populist Party wanted to address economic power in bankers and trusts.
  • It increased common voter power through direct elections of senators and initiative/referendums.
  • It advocated unlimited coinage of silver, a graduated income tax, public ownership of railroads/telephone systems, and federal warehouses for farmers.
• The Panic of 1893 involved a stock market crash and bankruptcy.

Causes and Effects of Westward Settlement: 1877-1898

• Mechanization increased farming with machines.
  • For example, reapers and combine harvesters replaced manual planting and harvesting.
• Farmers planted/harvested more to double corn and wheat production.
• There were increased small farmers, but prices for corn/wheat decreased.
• Mechanized farmers thrived as industrial trusts charged high prices for manufactured goods.
• Railroad problems involved high service prices.
• The National Grange Movement brought isolated farmers together for socialization and political action.
• Midwestern states passed laws regulating abusive railroad rates for farmers, known as granger laws.
• The Commerce Act of 1886 made railroad rates reasonable and just.
• The Interstate Commerce Commission regulated the railroad industry.
• The federal government saw railroads as an opportunity for mass migration to the West.
• The Pacific Railroad Acts granted land to companies building a transcontinental railroad.
  • Promontory Summit, Utah was the location of the meeting of the rails connecting the east and west in 1869.
  • Additional transcontinental railroads were completed with government land grants.
• The Homestead Act of 1862 granted 160 acres out west for farming and settlement.
  • Insufficient for sustainability, leading to farmers going bust.
• Gold and silver discoveries caused Westward Migration.
  • For example, there was the California Gold Rush in 1848 and gold discovered in Pikes Peak in 1869.
  • The boomtowns sprang up for migrants and grew diverse in the West.

Settling the American Frontier : 1877-1898

• Americans went West for independence and self-sufficiency.
• The Frontier closed by settlement caused by homestead and transcontinental developments.
• The cattle were brought to Great Plains for trade.
• "Sodbusters" were homesteaders who cut through the soil with plows.
  • Some got land, and others acquired it from railroad companies.
• The Frontier was settled after the Oklahoma Territory opened after Indian removal in the 1830s.
• Oklahoma's designation as an Indian territory made settlement unimaginable for white individuals up until this point.
• Frederick Jackson Turner said frontier closing caused concern, for frontier suppressions could be troubling .
• Lands were populated by indigenous people which was a problem for movement.
• The reservation system involved indigenous peoples living on specific land with restrictions.
  • Buffalo herds were followed, however, they were killed by workers and passengers on the railway.
  • Reservations became government wards as part of assimilation.
• People resisted such movement which led to violence like the Sioux Wars in 1886.
  • The federal government then made more treaties that restricted indigneous natives.
  • Additionally, gold made settlers to want to take the land.
• The Indian Appropriation Act of 1871 nullified prior treaties which led to comanche wars, and sioux wars.
• US armed forces along with settler pressure extracted a heavy toll on the indigenous folk.
• The legislative Dawes Act of 1887 abandoned such reservation systems and carved out 160 acre segments for individual settlement which resulted in assimilation attempts.
  • Assimilation included education, vocational training and christianization of indigenous peoples.
• The Ghost Dance movement resulted of this action.
  • Ghost dances would be an act of calling upon their ancestors to resist removal.
  • The Battle of Wounded Knee in Dakota was the final stand for armed native resistance.

Continuity and Change in the "New South": 1877-1898

• Henry Grady envisioned industrial growth for the South after the war as the economy suffered.
  • Southern cities grew and developed faster than any other place.
  • Agricultural machines did not develop much which relied on plantations for labor.
  • Sharecropping became a common system which often evolved to a new form of slavery as poor whites and freedmen were indebted to the landowners.
• However, the New south was not a new land especially with segregation.
  • The Compromise of 1877 ended Southern reconstruction after troops were withdrawn upholding any prior laws and changes, and segregation grew.

Jim Crow and Plessy V. Ferguson

• Insistence grew especially with Jim Crow laws requiring societal segregation.
• The Plessy V. Ferguson case questioned the law as it related to a citizen who was of 7/8 white and 1/8 Black origins.
  • This citizen sat on a whites only railcar which resulted in his arrest after refusal to move.
  • Under the courts, segregation was deemed as constitutional and facilities were mandated to be equal as well as "separate but equal".
• The KKK emerged as a vigilante group imposing racial terror and a means of social control for freedmen
  • Lynch mobs murdered over 1000 Black people int he 1890s.
• Black reformers fought for political and social equality as a result of mass violence and discrimination.
  • Ida B Wells fought against lynchings and Jim Crow.
  • Henry Turner migrated to Liberia to establish Black settlements.
• Booker Washington was a former slave who did call for political equality. He was an advocate of self sufficient living though and called for power to come in time with economic leverage.

The Gilded Age and Industrialization

• Industrialization shifted the American model from local to global with mass produced products being sold worldwide.
• Railways improved distribution on a national level which meant more mass production and consumption.
  • Railroads were built from the influx of steel
  • government funding and land subsidies helped railway companies
• Henry Bessemer patented the process for steel development.
  • the Bessemer process helped mass produce quality steel
• coal became a major source of power though Oil would later surpassed coal as the main source of power.
• Samuel Morse helped communication travel farther.
  • International markets were soon established with telegraphs and transatlantic cables allowing for international trading.
• Alexander Bell contributed to the telephone industry, helping to build a world as well as an industry of trade.

The Rise of Industrial Capitalism

• Industrialism involves mass production and consumption which defined the gilded age.
• Small businesses often failed from corporations such as oil refineries and railroad tycoons.
• John D. Rockefeller controlled the oil industry, Andrew Carnegie helped grow the Steel.
• Americans did not have much of a focus or want for taking new land but oversea territories brought profit through new markets.
• Laissez Faire policies were enacted but that meant labor was exploited.
• Social Darwinism took play and created some very strong empires and the belief that they should eat the weak.
• The Gospel of Wealth said the wealthy had a duty from god to better society. Carnegie for example would build libraries and act on philanthropy.

Labor in the gilded age

• There became a larger divide between rich and poor with wealthy owners flaunting their wealth.
• As mass production of food grew the average class standard grew
• Long working hours with poor conditions meant many workers did not have any stability to their jobs as they could be fired at anytime so labor unions sought to create reform in such manner.
• The Great Railroad Strike came as railroad wages were cut and spread amongst 11 states.
  • The President sent troupes to restore the peace as 100 died.
• railroads were then unionized and they came to negotiate
• The Pullman Strike in Chicago spurred after George Pullman cut salaries
• The Knights of Labor would be founded public in 1881 with a focus on labor and equality.
  • child labor laws was another focus for it sought to better conditions for children in factories and dangerous business.
• After the Haymarket Riot and anarchist bombing, the reputation of the Knights of Labor fell through though.
• The American Federation of Labor led by Samuel Gompers also had an emergence and sought similar changes that would lead to wealth and stability.

Immigration and Migration of the Gilded Age

• Growing population led to great expansion and the rise of ethnic enclaves.
• Industrial centers shifted to urban areas with ethnic pockets.
• There was a rise of immigrants as well with the need of cheap labor.

Immigration

• There was a rise of immigrants as well with the need of cheap labor.

Responses to Immigration

• There were a lot of mixed feelings between the old and new settlers.

Development of the Middle Class

• There was an emergence of the middle class through corporate success.
• Through this emergence there was also cultural growth.

Reform in the Gilded Age

• Many struggled with the government being involved in the Laissez faire system.
• Socialism started with the help of Eugene V. Debs.
• There was a call for reform to fix this age.

Woman's Suffrage

• Woman sought for consumption and stability.

Controversies

• Many struggled with money and how it was handled.

Period 7

• Imperialism as a whole grew due to expansion.
• There were Racial motivations for expansion that were for or against it.

Spanish American War

• Cuba sought land from the United States.