Wealth and Poverty in the Gilded Age and The Conquest of the West

Module 2

Industrial Revolution

1860-1890

the US became the main powerhouse of the age in the new world, spurring on new changes regarding class and wealth. People moved from overseas and farms for work opportunities in factories

Railroad

the main reason for the sudden boom of industrialization thanks to land grants

Captains of Industry are also known as

Robber Barons

competitive market place led to those set on consolidating and beating/earning out other companies

Andrew Carnegie and John D, Rockerfeller

corporation

limits investor liability and allows control of increasingly large and complex business organizations

vertical integration

control over ever phase of production from extraction to transportation to manufacturing to shipping → cutting out the middle man and running the entire business

horizontal integration

control multiple firms that produce the same product → buying out competitors and companies so you are the sole manufacture/provider of one product

The trust

board of trustees holds stock from multiple firms, running them as a single entity → consolidating of industry, a bunch of small businesses under one (grocery store)

the different forms of consolidation

corporation, vertical integration, horizontal integration, trusts

made it so smaller companies cannot compete

Sherman Antitrust Act (1890)

seeks to limit monopolies that stifle competition.

Laissez-faire

argued that government should not be involved in the market, allowing people to earn wealth without government involvement

• Adam Smith

Social Darwinism

survival of the economic fittest

• William Graham Sumner argued that those who are poor aren’t owed help from the wealthy or government

The Gospel of Wealth

wealth uplifts society through philanthropy

need the rich to help invest/move the betterment of society - give money to those who work hard while earning little

Gilded

small coating of precious metal to cover something less desirable

department stores

middle class resorted to consumerism buying mass produced furniture, clothes, books, etc.

de-skilling of labor

assembly line

forcing people who know how to complete a whole task/product to perform a single piece, no longer teaching the whole skill to knew generations.

• going from knowing how to build a whole dresser to only knobs

scientific management

developed by Frederick Taylor

studies time and efficiency to maximize factory productivity

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire 1911

women died in fire because they were locked in work to prevent them from leaving the job

why were women and children hired in manufacturing

cheaper labor

white collar labor

rise of middle management

inventions known as typewriter, adding machine, cash register all led to deskilling labor of tactical skills

positions increasingly filled by women

Great Railroad Strike 1877

protested their increased workload and diminished wages

knights of labor

welcomed all kinds of laborers including women and African Americans

• except asians

wanted better work conditions

• 8hr work day

• better pay

• no child labor

• safety standards

Haymarket 1886

nationwide strike wave in support of 8hr work day

bombs thrown at protest

eight anarchists are tried and convicted on flimsy evidence. four are executed and become martyrs

The Manifest Destiny

the destiny of the US to expand to the west until it fills the continent

settlers hoped to farm but found it not hospitable due to lack of trees, yearly rainfall, and Native Americans

homestead act

congress allots 160 acres of federal land to qualified settlers who agree to farm the land for five years

due to hard work and terrible living conditions, families left to go back to large cities leading to companies buying land and abandoned farms for consolidation

Gold Prospector

settlers searching for silver and gold

cause of mining towns which could vanish overnight

The Long Drive

cowboys would move cattle down before settlers began to fence in their own lands. Cattle raising turned from large ranches where cows were moved freely and wide spread to small cattle farms

• barbed wire

destruction of bison

caused by railroad owners

to clear path for trains

Plains Indian Wars

white settlers encroaches on indian lands, regularly break treaties and invade reservation lands. extend battle for control of land and resources

sand creek massacre

november 1864

Colorado militiamen led by John Chivington open fire on peaceful encampment of Cheyenne indians

270 killed

Little Bighorn

June 1876

george armstrong custer attacks the main encampment of sioux warriors led by sitting bull and crazy horse

custers men defeated — short lived victory for indians

the ghost dance

trying to bring back the bison and get rid of whites through a celebration of spirituality

massacre at wounded knee

ended the plains wars

US troops open fire on ghost dancers killing 250 indians

civilization

reformers disgusted with the treatment of indians and want to help them assimilate which only ends up destroying the native american culture

kill the indian save the man

what was the education like for assimilated native americans

boarding school was not a choice

change religion, names, and forced to learn trade

students were kept all year round, separated from their families.

goal was to eradicate traditional native culture in favor of white civilization

the dawes act

american insisting to native americans that land reform was the key to self sufficiency

allotment → dissolves tribal land holdings into 160 acre plots distributed to family heads

• but native americans cannot farm or know how to work the land so they are forced to sell the land that they got via allotment