Industrialization (late 1800s - early 1900s)

Main reasons for industrial growth in the late 1800s:

US population was increasing rapidly, advances in transportation, advances in communication, new sources of energy, rise of corporations, and the open immigration policy

US population increase

helped by a revolution in agriculture which produced more food for more people

→ as the population increased, so did the demand for products — the economy got stronger

Advances in transportation

first the canal system, later on the railroads and automobiles

→ especially important for trade

Advances in communication

the telegraph, and, later, the telephone made communications over long distances much faster and easier

New sources of energy

oil and electricity made new kinds of factory production possible

Rise of corporations

huge groups of companies with lots of money

→ some became monopolies

Open immigration policy

the government’s way of feeding the industry’s need for labor

Important ideas associated with Industrialization:

laissez-faire capitalism and social Darwinism

laissez-faire capitalism

the idea that the government should be “hands-off” and not interfere with businesses

→ allowed businesses to do what they wanted — forming monopolies, using child labor, giving workers low pay and dangerous conditions, and selling unsafe food and medicine to the public

social Darwinism

known as “survival of the fittest”

→ used to justify large economic inequalities (big differences between the rich and poor)

Monopolies and trusts

these grew as a result of laissez-faire capitalism

→ headed by business leaders such as Andrew Carnegie (steel) and John D. Rockefeller (oil)

Robber Barons

business leaders who had unfair business practices

→ Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller

Labor Unions

formed by workers who suffered during industrialization

→ organizations of workers who united in order to have more power to fight the bosses

→ led to strikes and violence — Railroad Strike of 1877, the Haymarket Riot, the Homestead Strike, and the Pullman Strike

Populist Party

rose in the 1890s, mainly to protect the interests of farmers who were economically hurt by the railroad monopolies and corrupt banking practices

New Immigrants

people (industrial workers) from Southern and Eastern Europe

→ suffered a high amount of nativism (prejudice against immigrants)

Old immigrants

people from Northern and Western Europe

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

outlawed all immigration from China, for all reasons of race