HIST 106 2nd Edition Lecture 4 Outline of Last Lecture I Cowboys II End of Range III Farming IV Challenges in the West V End of the West Outline of Current Lecture I US behind in Industrialization II Reasons why Industrial growth began in the US III Railroads IV Cornelius Vanderbilt and his legacy V John D Rockefeller Current Lecture The US is way behind in industrial growth o Slavery in the south pushed the industrial growth behind because people in the south would rather use people than machines to help them with agriculture o The US had just gone through a war Wars are really bad for an economy because things are not progressing during the war they progress before the war because you are making materials for the war newer technologies for the war Reasons why industrial growth began in the US o Booming population A lot of the people young men were killed and there was a gender imbalance more women than men and the birth rate drops dramatically When there was an increase in the birth rate that means that there were more people to work and help industrial growth o Technological development The beginning of the steel oil and railroad industries as well as the invention of electricity o Government subsidies Without government subsidies there would not be a railway in the US Expanding the railway industry was extremely important to many people because the railroads helped transport goods all across the country for sale o Captains of industry barons Individuals that made it their goal and put all of their money into an industry in order to help that industry boom o Monopoly Monopolies really helped with industrialization which is weird because now we do not allow monopolies because they push out innovation During industrialization there was no industry so the monopolies helped the industrial growth however there is a tipping point which is a monopoly is bad because no one can get into the industry because the monopoly is so large Railroads o Railroads made it easy to sell product and get product to producers and allowed people to live closer to where their supplies are This is the beginning of large corporations that span the country because communication was a lot better The steel coal and wood industries because they were made out of these products and could deliver these products o 1865 35 000 miles of track All of these miles of track was mostly in the east of the US One of the projects that the government had after the civil war was to get a transcontinental railroad across the US o 1916 254 037 miles o First transcontinental railroad 1869 Railroad was built mainly by Chinese workers The government will grant free land to the railroads and will pay the railroad companies for the tracks that they build This was a HUGE incentive to build railroads because they got a lot of land for building the railroad Railroads were extremely profitable because they got free land and were able to sell the land around the railroad for a 100 profit o Credit Mobilier scandal of 1872 Credit Mobilier was the company that was building the railroad for the US Anes was trying to get support for the railroads and will give stock in Credit Mobilier to other congressmen for a really discounted price and will bribe the congressmen to take his side There was a lot of bribery going on and the Sun newspaper covered it and made it public There were no arrests and most of the congressmen involved in the scandal will get off spot free Consequences The creation of a civil service which was an exam to make sure that the government official can do things that government officials are supposed to do The employees of the civil service will be administering the tests as well as the sub secretaries will be appointed by the civil service Cornelius Commodore Vanderbilt o 1794 1877 o Pioneer in steamship industry Made this before the Civil War and made a fortune on this industry o By 1864 he sold all of his steamships and concentrated on the railroads He will end up owning most of the railway network in the northeast of the US Will pour tons and tons of money into developing in the railroad system and will become a shareholder in a lot of other railroad companies o From 1867 1877 he controlled 4500 miles of rail He makes most of his money back and will die one of the richest men in the US Vanderbilt Legacy o Vanderbilt University Donated 1 million to building the university o Grand central terminal In New York o Many many houses He lived in relative modesty in New York but when he left his money to his children they went and bought and made homes that were grand in size and in architecture John D Rockefeller o Founded standard oil in 1863 o By 1879 he controlled 90 of US oil production in 1897 o Rockefeller retired worth 900 million
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