HIST 1312 1st Edition Lecture 16 Outline of Last Lecture I The Transformation of the West a Farming in the Trans Mississippi West b The Cowboy and the Corporate West c Conflict on the Mormon Frontier d The Subjugation of the Plains Indians e Let Me Be a Free Man f Remaking Indian Life g The Dawes Act and Wounded Knee h Settler Societies and Global West Outline of Current Lecture II The Second Industrial Revolution a The Industrial Economy b Railroads and the National Market c The Spirit of Innovation d Competition and Consolidation e The Rise of Andrew Carnegie f The Triumph of John D Rockefeller g Workers Freedom in an Industrial Age Current Lecture These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute The Second Industrial Revolution Between the end of the Civil War and the early twentieth century the US underwent one of the most rapid and profound economic revolutions any country has ever experienced The Industrial Economy o The rapid expansion of factory production mining and railroad construction in all parts of the country except the South signaled the transition from Lincoln s America a world centered in the small farm and artisan workshop to a mature industrial society o 1913 US produced 1 3 of the world s industrial output more than Great Britain France and Germany combined o 1890 2 3 of Americans worked for wages rather than owning a farm business or craft shop o The heartland of what is sometimes called the second industrial revolution was the region around the Great Lakes with its factories producing iron and steel machinery chemicals and packaged foods o Pittsburgh had become the world s center of iron and steel manufacturing o Chicago by 1900 the nation s second largest city with 1 7 million inhabitants was home to factories producing steel and farm machinery and giant stockyards where cattle were processed into meat products for shipment east in refrigerated rail cars Railroads and the National Market o The railroad made possible the second industrial revolution o In 1883 the major companies divided the nation into the four time zones still in use today o The growing population formed an ever expanding market for the mass production mass distribution and mass marketing of goods essential elements of a modern industrial economy The Spirit of Innovation o The opening of the Atlantic cable in 1866 made it possible to send electronic telegraph messages instantaneously between the US and Europe o During the 1870s and 1880s the telephone typewriter and handheld camera came into use o Thomas Edison helped to establish entirely new industries that transformed private life public entertainment and economic activity Phonograph Lightbulb Motion picture A system for generating and distributing electric power Competition and Consolidation o The combination of a market flooded with goods and the federal monetary policies that removed money from the national economy led to a relentless fall in prices o The world economy suffered prolonged downturns in the 1870s and 1890s o Businesses engaged in ruthless competition o Railroads and other companies tried various means of bringing order to the chaotic marketplace They formed pools that divided the markets between supposedly competing firms and fixed prices They established trusts legal devices whereby the affairs of several rival companies were managed by a single director The Rise of Andrew Carnegie o During the depression that began in 1873 Andrew Carnegie set to establish a vertically integrated steel company that is one that controlled every phase of the business from raw materials to transportation manufacturing and distribution o Believing that the rich has a moral obligation to promote the advancement of society Carnegies denounced the worship of money and distributed much of his wealth to various philanthropies especially the creation of public libraries in towns throughout the country The Triumph of John D Rockefeller o Began his working career as a clerk for a Cleveland merchant and rose to dominate the oil industry o He drove out rival firms through cutthroat competition arranging secret deals with railroads companies and fixing prices and production quotas o By 1880s his Standard Oil Company controlled 90 percent of the nation s oil industry o Depending on one s point of view they were captains of industry whose energy and vision pushed the economy forward or robber barons who wielded power without any accountability in an unregulated marketplace Workers Freedom in an Industrial Age o For a minority of workers the rapidly expanding industrial system created new forms of freedom o A worker s economic independence now rested on technical skill rather than ownership of one s own shop and tools as in earlier times o For most worker however economic insecurity remained a basic fact of life o During the depressions of 1870s and 1890s millions of workers lost their jobs or were forced to accept reductions of pay o Much of the working class remained desperately poor and to survive needed income from all family members