HIST 2112 1st Edition Lecture 5 Outline of Last Lecture I The Southerners attempt to preserve slaver II The Indians Outline of Current Lecture I The Current Time and Why II Industrialism the most important development in U S history after reconstruction III American Business Before 1870 IV The Benefits of Industrialism vs The Dark Side of Industrialism The Benefits The Dark Side V The Benefits of Industrialism vs The Dark Side of Industrialism VI Important Business Techniques Techniques Other Helpful Developments VII The Gilded Age late 1880 s 90s Current Lecture I II The Current Time and Why The railroad and even other big companies are the ones that created time zone Before time zones time was decided by the local people based on local conditions They would usually have noon as the time when the sun was directly over city hall So time was slightly off in every town It was irrelevant to know what time it was in New York City if you were living in Atlanta However when the railroads were created the people needed to know the exact time when the train came into the station and when it left especially if you went from one train to another Industrialism the most important development in U S history after reconstruction The most important thing in America at this time was industrialism Industrialism the birth of big business the rise of high finance Industrialism changes o Where the people live o Where the people work o Wealth on an unimagined scale and with that wealth came power III IV V o Employers had a lot of power over their employees What is the nature of democracy What will democracy look like in the new industrialized American American Business Before 1870 In the 1830s we had textile mills in Massachusetts We have always been a business oriented country American businesses were small and independently known single proprietorship o Employed relatively small numbers of people The vast majority of workers labored on farms In 1850 the largest employer in America had 800 employees a typical company had 10 15 employees 50 years later in 1900 Carnegie Steel employed 20 000 people The Benefits of Industrialism vs The Dark Side of Industrialism The Benefits o Famine was very rare o Raises peoples wages o Offers the people opportunities The Dark Side o Pollution o Young kids working in the factories o Dangerous work no safety regulations A case Study Andrew Carnegie Born in Scotland migrates to Pittsburgh 1848 His father was a weaver so he started working at the bottom and moved up He became the steel man He created the system to make steel cheap and fast Ambitious clever driven talented and sees a future in steel He is obsessed with efficiency He doesn t just want to be rich he wanted to create an empire and have power He looked up to the founders of the railroad and he wanted to be like them He doesn t have the money when he started his company off so he went to his friends who were rich and got them to invest in his ideas A Fortuitous Combination of Developments o Technological developments o The rise of railroads The railroads buy a lot of Carnegies steel o New resources from the West o Cheap labor in the form of immigration o The Invention of corporate business techniques VI Carnegie had to structure his company so he would have corporate efficiency Having stock holders who invested in your company Having a CEO to help run the company Important Business Techniques Techniques o Integration of Production Push the edge of legality o Monopolization trusts price fixing not so much Carnegie as others Monopoly If there is only one company making steel than that is a monopoly no competition If you are businessman you want Monopoly John D Rockefeller was notorious for taking over oil companies at this time Trusts Where the companies worked together it was monopoly by a committee They would fix the price they would agree to all raise or lower the price The companies would determine the price instead of the market Other helpful Developments o A pro industrial US government and Republican Party The government helps the industry as much as they can The Republican party was opposed to slavery because they knew the economy could make more money The Republican party was extremely pro industry o Pro industrial law Was industrial friendly Santa Clara Company vs Southern Pacific Railroad The essence of the ruling was that the 14th amendment applied to corporations The Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same rights as humans o This gave them more lead way to do what they wanted Regulation was seen as unfair when it came to corporations VII o Social Darwinism the misguided application of survival of the finest to economics A blueprint for how people can treat each other Carnegie was an example because he started out at the bottom but he rose up because of his talent The rise of the fittest o Retires and sells to JP Morgan The Gilded Age late 1880 s 90s American s ambivalence about Robert Barons o Robert Baron is a phrase for someone who is nervous of the implications of the gilded age Threats to democracy so powerful that they might take over the country Threats to free enterprise if they are so powerful they might be able to run all small companies out of business Threats to jobs They might pay the people so little and control them completely because they will be in charge of all jobs Edward Bellamy and Look Backward 1887 a book Carnegie s Social Conscience o He gave every penny of his to help support higher education o Carnegie is aware that there are implications to wealth A lingering question Was the development of American Industrialism worth the costs The answers will vary stay tuned
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