The Gilded Age and the Second Industrial Revolution

The Gilded Age (1870-1900)

  • A period of great wealth and prosperity for some, but with underlying problems (hence the term "Gilded Age" from Mark Twain).

  • "Not all that glitters is gold" - Shakespeare and SpongeBob reference.

Second Industrial Revolution

  • Fundamental Changes: Marks the creation of the modern world.

  • Key Differences from First Industrial Revolution:

    • First: Steam power and coal.

    • Second: Steel, diesel, gasoline, and electricity.

Factory System

  • Birth of the Factory System: Workers come to the work (unlike the domestic system).

  • Assembly Line: Developed by Henry Ford.

  • Advantages:

    • Faster and cheaper work.

    • Mass production of goods.

  • Disadvantages:

    • Long hours.

    • Monotonous and dangerous work.

    • Destruction of the artisan (e.g., cobblers replaced by machines).

  • Alienation: Workers are separated from each other, customers, and the final product.

Era of Steel

  • Bessemer Process: Developed by Henry Bessemer; crucial for steel production.

  • Steel: Most important metal of the last 150 years.

    • Enabled the rise and growth of cities.

    • Taller buildings.

    • Development of elevators.

    • Brooklyn Bridge.

Power and Energy

  • Improved steam engine.

  • Use of electricity.

  • Oil production.

  • Arguably nuclear power in the 20th century.

Changes in Agriculture

  • New devices for working the ground.

  • Scientific agriculture and stock breeding.

  • Rise of pesticides and fertilizers.

  • Impact:

    • Fewer people needed to grow food.

    • Migration from farms to cities.

    • Cycle: Less people on farms → more people in cities → increased demand for food → innovations to speed up production.

Changes in Communications

  • Telegraph: 1844

  • Telephone: 1876, invented by Alexander Graham Bell.

  • Transfer of voices across distances became possible.

  • Later developments: television, radio, wireless.

Transportation

  • Steamboats: Rise of large steamships, ocean liners (e.g., Titanic, Queen Mary).

  • Modern cruise ships are much larger than the Titanic.

  • Large ships powered by steam with screw propellers.

  • Railroads:

    • Railroads got bigger and faster.

    • Standardized rails across the country.

    • Facilitated meat production and shipping from ranches in the West to the East.

  • Internal Developments:

    • Trolley cars in cities.

    • Automobiles.

    • Vulcanized rubber invented by Charles Goodyear.

    • Henry Ford's assembly line made cars accessible to the masses.

  • Aviation:

    • 1903: Orville and Wilbur Wright's first flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

    • Lasted only 12 seconds but proved heavier-than-air flight was possible.

Rise of Modern Large Corporations

  • Factory Costs: Factories require significant capital.

  • Corporations and Stock: Corporations raise money by selling stock.

  • Limited Liability: Investors' liability is limited.

  • Conglomerations: Multiple corporations under one umbrella corporation.

  • International Corporations:

    • British East India Company.

    • Dutch East India Company.

    • United Fruit (a large global corporation).