APUSH Unit 6.1

6.1 The age of invention and economic growth

Thomas A. Edison's Workshop

  • Built in 1876 in Menlo Park, New Jersey

  • Produced important inventions of the century

  • Edison's greatest invention was the light bulb

  • Pioneer work in power plant development was immensely important

Light Bulb and Power Plants

  • Allowed for the extension of the workday (previously ended at sundown)

  • Wider availability of electricity

  • Created new uses for electricity for industry and home

Age of Invention

  • Last quarter of 19th century known as Age of Invention

  • Many technological advances made (e.g. Edison's)

  • Advances generated greater opportunities for mass production

Economic Growth

  • Economy grew at a tremendous rate

  • People known as "captains of industry" (or "robber barons") became extremely rich and powerful

  • Owned and controlled new manufacturing enterprises

Industrialization: introduction of faster machines in manufacturing leading to economies of scale and decreased cost per unit.

  • Assembly line production: employees performing repetitive tasks leading to increased efficiency but also dangerous working conditions and long working hours.

  • Corporate Consolidation: large businesses resulting from economies of scale and lack of government regulations, leading to monopolies and holding companies.

  • Horizontal Integration: combining smaller companies within the same industry to form a larger company through legal buyouts or illegal practices.

  • Vertical Integration: one company buys out all the factors of production from raw materials to finished product, still allowing competition in the marketplace.

  • Problems with Consolidation: required large amounts of money leading to financial panics and bank failures, public resentment, and government response in the form of antitrust legislation.

  • Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890: law forbidding "restraint of trade" combination, ambiguous wording leading to pro-business Supreme Court interpretation.

  • U.S. v. E. C. Knight Co. 1895: Court ruled that E. C. Knight, controlling 98% of the sugar refining plants, did not violate the Sherman Antitrust Act.

  • Gospel of Wealth: idea that wealth should be used for the betterment of society and not just for personal gain, advocated by Andrew Carnegie.

Factories and City Life

  • Factories were established in cities in the 19th century to reduce labor costs and maximize profits

  • Women and children were hired, as well as newly arrived immigrants in search of work

  • As a result, the cities suffered from poverty, crime, disease, and a lack of livable housing

  • Factories were dangerous, and there was no insurance or workmen's compensation

  • Middle class moved away to nicer neighborhoods, leaving mostly immigrants and migrants in the city

  • Majority of immigrants arrived from Southern and Eastern Europe starting from 1880

  • Ethnic neighborhoods, tenements were common, and minorities faced prejudice and limited job opportunities

  • Municipal governments were practically nonexistent, and services for the poor were provided by churches, private charities, and ethnic communities, or by corrupt political bosses

  • Bosses helped the poor find homes, jobs, apply for citizenship, and voting rights but at a high cost of criminal means

  • William "Boss" Tweed of Tammany Hall in New York City was a notorious political boss who embezzled millions of dollars through corruption

  • Widespread misery in cities led to the formation of labor unions to improve treatment of workers

  • Labor unions were considered radical and faced opposition from the government, businesses, and the courts

  • Knights of Labor was one of the first national labor unions, founded in 1869

  • Goals of the Knights of Labor included an 8-hour workday, equal pay for equal work, child labor laws, safety and sanitary codes, federal income tax, and more.

Knights of Labor

  • Advocated arbitration over strikes

  • Became increasingly violent in efforts to achieve goals

  • Popularity declined due to violence and association with political radicalism

  • Terrence Powderly, failed strikes, and Haymarket Square Riot contributed to decline

  • Public saw unions as subversive and violent

Homestead Steel Strike

  • Workers protested wage cut, refusal to form a union

  • Factory manager Henry Clay Frick locked out workers, hired replacements, and called in Pinkerton Detective force

  • Clash between Pinkertons and workers led to deaths and retreat of Pinkertons

  • Pennsylvania state militia ended strike, Frick hired new workers

Pullman Palace Car Factory Strike

  • Workers faced wage cut, increased housing costs

  • American Railway Union joined the strike, 250,000 railway workers walked off job, shutting down rail travel in 27 states

  • ARU president Eugene Debs refused to end strike despite court order

  • Debs convicted and jailed, became leader of American Socialist Party after release

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

  • Samuel Gompers, focused on bread and butter issues, higher wages and shorter workdays

  • Excluded unskilled workers, confederation of trade unions

  • Refused to accept immigrants, Black people, women among membership

Charitable Middle-Class Organizations

  • Lobbied local governments for building safety codes, better sanitation, public schools

  • Founded and lived in settlement houses in poor neighborhoods

  • Community centers providing schooling, childcare, cultural activities

  • Jane Addams, Hull House in Chicago, awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1931

Improvement of Life

  • Wealthy and middle class improved while poor suffered

  • Access to luxuries, leisure time, popular diversions like sports, theater, vaudeville, movies

  • Growth of newspaper industry with Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst

  • Sensational reporting, yellow journalism became popular.