APUSH Chapter 16 Review

President Grover Cleaveland: What did he say was the biggest issue caused by industrialization?

"As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we discover the existence of trusts, combinations, and monopolies, while the citizen is struggling far in the rear or is trampled to death beneath an iron heel. Corporations, which should be the carefully restrained creatures of the law and servants of the people, are fast becoming the people's masters." Essentially, Cleaveland is saying that the common citizen is being poorly treated and left behind, and that the scheme of corporation is taking over people's lives.

Industrial Warfare tactics for defeating unions:

1) Closing the factory (lockout) 2) Blacklists (names of pro-union workers) 3) Yellow-dog contracts: workers being told they must sign an agreement not to join union 4) Private guards and state militia to put down strikes 5) Court injunctions against strikes

Along with industrialization, what other forces impacted the growth of the nation?

1. Raw Materials 2. Labor supply 3. Growing population 4. Transportation system 5. Business friendly government policies

What was the Gilded Age?

A Gilded Age is a term coined by Mark Twain. It was a period of immense growth in economy and industrialization. It was also a period characterized by greedy and corrupt industrialists, along with bankers and politicians. They enjoyed wealth and power.

Gospel of Wealth

A good amount of Americans found religion more convincing than social Darwinism in justifying the wealth of successful industrialists & bankers. John D. Rockefeller concluded that god gave him his riches because he applied the protestant work ethic. Reverend Russell Conwell made the popular lecture "Acres of Diamonds" and preached that it was everyone's duty to be rich. Carnegie's article "wealth" argued that the wealthy had god-given responsibility to carry out projects of civic philanthropy for societal benefit.

Who were the Knights of Labor and what significance/impact did they have?

Beginning in 1869, The Knights of Labor were a group of advocates led by Terrence Powderly who focused on the improvement of worker cooperatives (8-hour work day), the abolition of child labor, and the abolition of trusts & monopoly. They were originally formed as a secret society to avoid detection by employers. The Knights had no lasting impact as they were loosely organized and couldn't control local units. They also lost members just as quickly as they gained them after the Railroad strike of 1877.

Explain how the labor force in the Second IR compared to the First IR.

Both the First and Second Industrial Revolution created extensive use of new technologies during the era. To differentiate between the two, the first revolution was centered more on textile and cloth production, along with steam power and iron. The second revolution, on the other hand, focused solely on steel production and rails. This also contributed to the change of workers. Working conditions were poor during both eras, just in different ways. Children were also included during the first era. They were more different then they were alike.

Andrew Carnegie

Came up with vertical integration, by which a company would control every stage of the industrial process, from mining the raw materials to transporting the finished product. In 1900, Carnegie Steel employed 200K workers and produced more steel than all mills in Britain.

To what extent was capitalism a major aspect of American Identity from the Revolutionary Era through the Gilded Age?

Capitalism immensely grew during the Gilded Age. Greedy bankers, politicians and industrialists all wanted to have extraordinary wealth and power. Steel (C) and oil (R) production was controlled by Rockefeller and Carnegie rather than the states/govt. Corruption and personal gain become a very important factor, putting down poor middle class people. It increased living standards and monetary value.

American Federation of Labor

Concentrated on attaining narrower economic goals founded in 1886; Led by Samuel Gompers until 1924, this federation focused on higher wages and improved working conditions. Gompers directed his local unions of skilled workers to walk out until the employer agreed to negotiate through bargaining. By 1901, the AFoL was the nation's largest union with 1 mil members.

Pullman Strike

George Pullman; Manufactured railroad sleeping cars known as Pullman cars; In 1894, he announced a general wage cut and fired the leaders of the workers' delegation who came to bargain with him. The workers at Pullman laid down their tools and appealed for help from the American Railroad Union led by Eugene V. Debs, who directed workers not to handle any trains with Pullman cars. Rail owners supported Pullman by linking cars to mail trains. They also appealed to President Cleaveland, and persuaded him to keep the mail trains. A federal court issued injunction forbidding interference with the operation of mail and ordering rail workers to abandon the boycott.

Homestead Strike

Henry Clay Frick, manager of the Andrew Carnegie Homestead steel plant, precipitated this strike in 1892 by cutting wages 20%. He use weapons of the lockout, private guards, and strikebreakers to defeat the steelworkers' walkout after 5 months. The failure of this strike set the union movement back in the steel industry until the New Deal in the 1930's.

What problems were created by industrialization and what questions faced the federal and state governments by the end of the 19th century?

Industrialization had many downfalls including depressions and the Panic of 1893, (railroads forced into bankruptcy), incidents such as the Haymarket bombing, hasty and poor working conditions, along with the death of many workers due to the previous. Questions of whether injunction should be allowed and whether strikes should be shut down or not raised.

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

One of the worst outbreaks of labor violence in 1877. During an economic depression, railroad companies cut wages in order to reduce costs. One strike on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad quickly spread across 11 states and shut down 2/3 of the country's rail trackage. In 1830's, Rutherford B. Hayes used federal troops to end labor violence. It finally ended, but not before more than 100 people had died.

Define Philanthropy.

Philanthropy is the desire to promote welfare of others (donating money to good causes). So essentially, this is preserving those unfortunate and helping them rise economically.

Compare and Contrast the impact of post Civil-War innovation to that of the pre-Civil War market revolution.

Post Civil War innovations consisted of the Bessemer converter, telephone, railroad, telegraph, engine, etc. Pre Civil War innovations consisted of things like sewing machines, fax machines, etc. Post Civil War innovations focused more on industrial growth while Pre Civil war innovations focused more on standards of living (the little things) However, both increased standards of living and improved efficiency when it came to advancement.

What were the negative impacts of government subsidies for railroads?

Railroad owners suffered from mismanagement and fraud, corruption, and financial panics. The industrial working conditions were hasty and dangerous. Railroads were also overbuilt, and many labor unions were formed against the low wage changes.

Rockefeller and Horizontal Integration

Rockefeller founded a company that would come to control most of the nation's oil refineries by eliminating competition. He also was able to extort rebates from railroad companies and temporarily cut prices for Standard Oil kerosene to force rival companies to sell out. (Standard Oil Trust). He also created Horizontal Integration, in which former competitors were brought under a single corporate umbrella.

Was Carnegie's strategy superior to Rockefeller's?

So, Carnegie made sure no employees touched his product. This created vertical integration, and all phases were in one organization. He wanted to improve efficiency through reliability and controlled production by eliminating middlemen's fees. D. Rockefeller created horizontal integration, which called for allying with competitors to monopolize a market. (Overtaking through intimidation and buyouts). Carnegie's strategy was in fact superior, because his didn't produce monopoly and didn't take over business. His company controlled all aspects of production, which eliminated unnecessary roles.

What is Social Darwinism?

Social Darwinism is the theory that all individuals and groups are subject to the same Darwinism laws of natural selection as plants and animals. (Survival of the Fittest; In this case, the wealthiest.) It was believed that it should be introduced to the marketplace and wealth should be concentrated to the hands of those fit. It also shouldn't help the poor because this would weaken the evolution by preserving the weak. It was also used as a justification for racism.

How did Social Darwinism impact American Culture beyond just economic growth?

Social Darwinism was used as an excuse to justify racism and prejudice. They covered it up with the fact that wealth should be placed in the hands of those "fit" and that the "weak shouldn't be preserved" those who typically faced racism and prejudice somehow always seemed to fit into those categories. This further motivated women and African Americans to revolt and participate in acts/groups.

Why were Granger Laws unconstitutional?

The Granger Laws were an example of one of the multiple early attempts to regulate the railroads by law. These attempted to control interstate commerce, which were considered unconstitutional and overturned by the courts at first, because this was deemed as a responsibility of the federal government only, according to Gibbons vs. Ogden in 1824.

Which act created the first federally funded railroad?

The Pacific Railway Act

How did the Panic of 1893 impact railroads?

The Panic of 1893 forced 1/4 of all railroads into bankruptcy. This led many bankers such as J. Pierpont Morgan to quickly move in and seize opportunity to take control of the bankrupt railroads to strengthen them for profit. They did this to reduce debts and stabilize rates. Eventually, 7 giant systems controlled 2/3 of the nation's railroads.

US vs. EC Knight Co (1895)

The Supreme Court ruled that the Sherman Antitrust Act could be applied only to commerce and not to manufacturing. The Sherman Antitrust Act prohibited any "contract or combination" in the form of trust. As a result of this decision, the US department of justice secured a few convictions until the law was strengthened.

In re Debs (1895)

The Supreme court approved the use of court injunctions against strikes, which gave employers a very powerful weapon to break unions. Eugene V. Debs was arrested along with other union leaders due to the Pullman Strike, and after a month sentence, he concluded that more radical solutions were needed to cure labor's problems. He turned to the American Socialist party. This and the Pullman Strike led to only 3% of American workers belonging to unions in 1900.

Did the government have an obligation to step in to help labor? How would Adam Smith answer this?

The government did have obligation to step in because they couldn't just sit there and do nothing. However, Adam Smith wouldn't have thought so in regards to the Wealth of Nations, which states that business should be regulated by the invisible hand (impersonal forces) and not the government.

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

The idea of government regulation of business was alien to the prevailing economic, scientific, and religion beliefs of the 19th century. The economic expression of these beliefs was summed up in the phrase "Laissez-faire" The phrase means "allow to do". It has the idea to let people do what they chose.

Compare and contrast Irish and Chinese railroad workers.

The two are similar as they both suffered from the harsh industrial working conditions and low wages. Work from both groups was disregarded by government and both wished to work to connect the rails. However, the Irish were often seen as less careless drunkards while the Chinese were seen as more healthy and respected. The Chinese even boiled their own water for tea, in which the Irish refused to drink.

Horatio Alger Myth

There was a widening gap between the rich and the poor. Many Americans ignored this and found hope in examples of "self-made men" in business such as Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison, along with the novels written by Horatio Alger Jr. Every novel portrays a modest man who became wealthy through hard work, yet in reality, upward mobility did exist, but rags-to-riches were unusual for Andrew Carnegie.

Why were time zones needed?

They needed a centralized time that everyone could use; Rail time had become essential and a standard thing in life.

Interstate Commerce Act

This act of 1886 required railroad rates to be reasonable and just; In the Wabash v. Illinois (1886) case, Supreme Court ruled that individual states could not regulate interstate commerce. This act was at first ineffective, but in the early 20th century, Congress expanded powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission to protect public interest.

Who needed protection from the railroads?

Those who directly worked on the railroads needed protection from the dangerous conditions, considering the amount of deaths during this time. Natives also needed protection of land that was taken due to the building of the rails. Farmers also needed economic protection because of storage and growing transportation rates.

Which is more dangerous.. unfettered labor or unfettered business?

Unfettered business, because if business was handled in a carefree manner, money would lose its value and would be handed out to everyone.

Is upward mobility in modern times still limited for non-white-males? Give an example.

Upward mobility is the capacity for rising to a higher social or economic position. This is still limited for non-white males due to racism, prejudice and economic opportunities, especially considering Social Darwinism (our example).

Explain how industrialization impacted American workers, or the "common man" of the cities.

Well, as the industry grew, regions further developed and created more middle class jobs. This uplifted the middle class. Many "common men" worked on the very rails, factories, mines, etc. More jobs were created like merchants, shopkeepers, accountants, etc. They benefited from the rise of national income that came from industrialization. (Rail systems, etc.) Bankers, Merchants and Capitalists didn't struggle to purchase the industrial goods that were being produced.

Did the government have obligation to step in and help protect the economy from being damaged by labor movements?

Yes, the government did have obligation. They were trying to help and they had to do something, because they had the power to. They recognized labor unions and offered welfare.