MW

Industrialization, Gilded Age

  • Industrialization is not new, but it increased in the 1870s

    1. Due in part to the railroad (birthed in 1830-40)

      * meant to connect California (which became a state before the Great Plains)

    2. Changes in Labor

      * Previously, families farmed their land, run by their father

      • skilled, independent, and self-sufficient

      • industrialization means workers lost skills (in farming and such) and autonomy

        • this all combines to make skilled laborers in unskilled positions

      • answered to “visible hand” (laissez fare) = managers

      * industry meant some farmers had to abandon their land for industrial work in the cities

      • early labor came with little worker’s protections

      • workers united and striking

        • see “The Great Railroad Strike”

      • led to urban poor and overcrowded slums

  • RR, steel, tobacco, and oil were the biggest corporations

    1. demand for higher profits to please shareholders

    2. avoided monopolies by merging

  • Soon, the US outproduced Britain, France, and Germany, then produced more than them combined

  • Led to Economic Inequalities

    • by 1890 - 1%=1/4 of the nation’s assets

    • by 1900 - 10% = roughly 90%

    • Social Darwinism developed out of survival of the fittest

      • applied to society, the fittest meant economic success

        • state welfare and private charity encourages the weak

      • maybe applicable to elites, but not the masses

  • Complaints of labor

    • frequent unemployment, low pay, long hours, child labor, decreased wages

      • workers began unionizing and striking

        • particularly in RR and steel industries

        • often police, military, and Pinkertons called in = violence, giving striking a radical reputation

  • The Great Railroad Strike

    • The blend of Westernization and industrialization is the railroad

    • labor conflict in the US following a huge financial burst in the railroad universe

    • Rail line slashed wages, so the rail workers shut down railroad traffic (which was the heart of the US economy)

      • business leaders and political officials were not a fan of this

      • Workers also wanted an 8-hour workday and the abolishment of child labor

    • The Great Upheaval

      • The governor of Maryland called for state militia due to these strikes, and because local law enforcement was unhelpful.

      • Then federal troops were called. American soldiers were deployed to northern rail lines. Nearly 100 Americans died.