Chapter 14.1 & 14.2
Edwin Drake
(1859) - drilled the first oil well near Titusville, PA
Morrill Tariff
(1862) - granted each state 30,000 acres of land for each member it had in Congress
Cyrus Field
(1866) - laid a telegraph cable across the Atlantic Ocean & provided instant contact b/w US and Europe
AT&T
(1877) - Founded by Alexander Graham Bell. Stands for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company
What were the benefits of a national rail system?
- able to shift cars from one section to another - new locomotive technology & intro of air brakes enabled railroads to put longer & heavier trains on their lines - average rate per mile for ton & freight = 2 cents (1860) --> 3/4 of a cent (1900)
How was the Great Northern Railroad built and operated?
- built across good land, carefully planned routes to pass by towns in the region - operated w/o gov't subsidies/land grants = most successful transcontinental railroad & only one not forced into bankruptcy
What natural resources was discovered in Titusville, PA in 1859 & what impact did it have on the American economy?
- first oil well - by 1900, oil fields from PA to Texas had been opened/fueled economic expansion; and was turned into kerosene to be used in lanterns and stoves
How did the government help finance railroads?
- gave land grants - sell land to settlers, real estate companies, etc, to raise money they needed to build the railroad
What were some of the criticisms people had of the railroads?
- hard/intense work - might not be successful & fail - made one big market/united
How and/or why did the railroads spur economic growth?
- helped increase the size of markets for many products - stimulated economy by spending big amounts of money on steel, coal, timber, etc
What was railroad consolidation and why was it significant?
- large companies absorbed into smaller ones - integrated rail networks, standardized schedules, & rise of truck lines regions
Why did the US population triple between 1860 and 1910 and what impact did this have on the development of the American economy?
- large families and a slot of immigrants - provided industry with a large workforce, help factories increase production, and furthering demand for industrial products
What kind of country was the US when the Civil War began? How many people working in industry in 1860?
- large farming country - 1.3 million Americans worked in industry
What new inventions were created in the late 1800's and what impact did they have on the economy?
- radio: by 1920s, became common in US homes & resulted in radio stations - shoemaking: began using new processes & inventions to mass-produce shoes & sell them @ a lower price - light bulb - telephone - electric power - transportation & communication
Explain the Credit Mobilier scandal.
- scam to take advantages of federal gov't w/money meant to build railroads instead, going directly to the managers of Union Pacific
Explain the role of the US government in the development of American industrialization in the late 1800s
- state & federal gov't kept taxes & spending low - did not try to control wages/prices - gov't gave them money to build railroads - Morrill Tariff
Explain the concept of laissez-faire
- supporters of this concept believe the government should not interfere in the economy other than to protect private property rights, maintain peace, relies on supply and demand to regulate prices and wages - if government regulates economy = increases costs and hurts more than it helps - free market with competing companies = greater efficiency and creates more wealth
Who are entreprenuers and what role do they play in the development of the economy?
- they organize and run a business - helped to build hundreds of factories and thousands of miles of railroad track
What natural resources did the US have & why was this significant for the development of the American economy?
- water, timber, coal, iron, and copper - american companies could obtain them cheaply & did not have to import them from other countries
How many miles of railroad did the US have in 1865 and where was most of it located?
- ~ 35,000 miles of railroad track - east of the Mississippi River
Grenville Dodge
-Former Union general -head of the Union Pacific company
American Railway Association
-Industry trade group representing railroads in US -(1883) divided the country into four time zones to avoid scheduling errors with trains.
Oakes Ames
-Member of Congress -Part of the Credit Mobilier scandal.
General Electric (GE)
1889 - Edison General Electric Company
How many miles of track were there in the US by 1900?
200,000 miles
Credit Mobiler
Construction company set up by several stockholders of the Union Pacific
Cornelius Vanderbilt
Former boat captain who built the largest steamboat fleet in US/ successful railroad consolidators
Time Zones
Geographical region in which the same standard time is kept
Land Grants
Grant of land by federal gov't. esp. for roads, railroads, or agricultural colleges
The Big Four
Leland Stanford, Charley Crocker, Mark Hopkins and Collis P. Huntington
James J. Hill
Operated Great Northern Railroad across good land and carefully plan his route to pass by towns in the region. Operating without government subsidies or land grants, the Great Northern became the most successful transcontinental railroad and the only one that was not eventually forced into bankruptcy.
Robert Barons
Railroad entrepreneurs who swindled investors & taxpayers, brided gov't officials, & cheated on their contracts & debts -Amassed personal fortunes by using illegal and immoral business practices.
Great Northern Pacific
Railroad that went from St. Paul, Minnesota to Everett, WA
Pacific Railroad act 1862
Signed by Abraham Lincoln ; This act provided for the construction of a transcontinental railroad by two corporations, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroad companies. To encourage rapid construction, the government offered each company land.
What was the purpose of the Pacific Railway Act?
To provide the construction of a transcontinental railroad by two corporations: Union Pacific & Central Pacific
Union Pacific & Central Pacific Railroads
Two companies that were a part of the Pacific Railroad Act
What was the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroad?
Union Pacific: original Transcontinental Railroad, commissioned by Congress, west of Oklahoma | Central Pacific: California-based railroads (west), lots of Chinese labor, headed by Leland Stanford
How did the supply difficulties of the Union & Central Railroads differ?
Union: faced blizzards in mountains, scorching heat in desert, angry NA, labor, money, & engineering | Central: shortage of labor in CA
Insider trading
Use information they received as a railroad owner to manipulate stock prices to their own benefit
Jay Gould
Worst reputation with swindling/practiced insider trading
Northrop Automatic Loom
allowed cloth to be made at an even faster rate
Pennsylvania Railroad
by 1890, consolidation of 73 smaller companies
Gustavus Swift
founder of Swift Meat-packing/had first refrigerated railroad car created (1877)
laissez-faire
french phrase: "let people do as they choose"
Who were the Big Four?
grocer Leland Stanford, shop owner Charley Crocker, hardware store owners Mark Hopkins, & Collis P. Huntington
Thaddeus Lowe
invented ice machine in 1865
Alexander Graham Bell
invented the telephone in 1876/Scottish-American/Founded AT&T
Thomas Alva Edison
invention factory Menlo Park, NJ 1877 - invented phonograph 1879 - electric generator & light bulb 1882 - Founded General Electric, a company that supplied electric to NYC
entrepreneurs
people who risk their capital in organizing & running a business
Gross National Product (GNP)
total value of all goods and services produced by a country