FSOT: Industrialization

Railroads

Railroad construction in the United States increased dramatically in the early 1870s thanks to the Civil War.

One of the keys of America’s 19th century industrial success as it increased commerce (moving heavy freight and perishable goods across vast distances cheaply and quickly) and integrated the American market. It also gave us timezones which was created to make shipping and passenger transport more standard in 1883.

Railroads were also the first modern corporations — being large with multtiple employees that spanned the country.

Urbanization

The sudden increase in industrialization in the United States during the 19th and early 20th centuries saw millions of workers that were initially working on rural farms and in foriegn nations into US factory jobs in industrial cities across the North.

Immigration

Helped grow America’s population from 40 million in 1870 to 76 million in 1900; also helped the US turn from an agarian rural economy to an industrial urban economy.

Immigrants went to burgeoning cities such as New York City and the industrial heartland regions such as Pittsburgh, Chicago, and Cleveland.

Labor movements

The American Federation of Labor is the largest federation of labor unions in the United States; it was founded in 1866 after the Haymarket Riot; they were more moderate and cared only about pay, hours, and safety.

However, there were some violent uprisings of workers against corporation including the Homestead Steel Strike of 1892 and the Pullman Rail Strike in 1894.

Industrial capitalism

Marks the period after the Civil War when the United States grew into a global manufacturing giant powered by private investment and mechanized factories.

Progressive Era

A period of intense social and political reform in the United States between the 1890s and the 1920s created to fix problems caused by rapid industrialization, urbanization, and corporate monopolies. Reforms included the role of muckrakers (investigative journalism), labor laws, political democracy (such as the 17th and 19th amendments) and government regulation (anti-trust laws)

Antitrust movement

Emerged during the late 19th century as a direct public and legislative reaction to the unchecked monopolies and corporate "trusts" created by the Second Industrial Revolution

Robber barons

A derogatory term used to describe powerful 19th-century American industrialists and financiers who amassed huge fortunes through unethical business practices, monopolies, and the exploitation of workers.

Vertical Integration

A business strategy where a single company controlled every step of the production process, from raw materials to final distribution.

Horizontal Integration

A business strategy where a company bought out or merged with its competitors in the same industry to control a specific stage of production.

Industrial workers

Despite the drop in proces and better standard of living, workers faced job insecurity and “booms” and “busts” of economic growth due to a growth in immigrant workers.

Workers commonly worked nearly 60 hours per week with no pension or injury compensation. Such conditions led to unions both local and national.

What was the first union created in the US?

The Knights of Labor which was created in 1870; later damaged by the Haymarket Riot in 1886.

Haymarket Riot

A labor protest rally near Chicago’s Haymarket Square in 1886 that turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at police. At least eight people died as a result of the violence that day.

The riot was viewed as a setback for the organized labor movement in America, which was fighting for rights like the eight-hour workday.

Social Darwinism

An ideology that argued that economic competition and extreme wealth gaps were natural laws of "survival of the fittest”; They believed big companies were big because they were fitter and people had nothing to fear of monopolies. They also believed the the government shouldn’t regulate businesses or pass laws to help poor people as they were poor due to an inherent evolutionary flaw.

What were unions’ philopshy

Wanted the US and its citizens to imagine freedom more broadly arguing that without a more equal economic system, the US was becoming less and not more free despite the economic propserity and growth.

Trusts

Large monopolistic industrial combinations in the 19th and early 20 century.

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

A federal law passed in 1890 that bans monopolies and unfair business agreements that block free trade; initially attacked unions as an illegal combination of organizations that were impacting the market.

Muckrakers

Reform-minded journalists, writers, and photographers during the Progressive Era who exposed corruption, corporate monopolies, and social injustices.

Upton Sinclair

An author and muckraking journalist. His novel The Jungle directly inspired the Pure Food and Drug Act and the Federal Meat Inspection Act of 1906 by detailing the horrific, unsanitary conditions of the Chicago meatpacking industry.

The Industrial Workers of the World

A radical socialst union that advocated for rights of a larger swath of the US workforce, especially the immigrants who dominated unskilled labor.

Simon Patten

A progressive political economists who prophesized that industrialization would bring about a new civilization where everyone would benefit from the abundance; this optimism birthed a new mass consumption society.

17th Amendment

Allows for senators to be elected by the people rather than by state legislatures; taking power away from political parties and putting it in the hands of voters.

How did Progressives limit immigrants participation in the political process?

Through literacy tests and laws requiring people to register to vote. This suppressed voting generally declining voter turnout.

How did Progressives limit Black participation in the political process?

In the South, through Jim Crow laws, which bypassed the 15th Amendment by enforcing poll taxes and literacy requirements. Also seen in the Plessy v Ferguson ruling of “separate but equal.”