Union Pacific began in Omaha in 1865 and went west. Central Pacific went east from Sacramento and met the Union Pacific Railroad at Promontory Point, Utah.
Influence of Big Business
• Larger pools of capital
• Wider geographic span
• Broader range of operations
• Revised role of ownership
• New methods of management
Laissez-faire
A theory that the economy does better without government intervention in business.
Monopolies
A market structure where a company has been able to either buy out all of its competitors or simply run them out of business. At that point the company has complete control over a product
or service in that area. Ex. Standard Oil
Industrialists
John D. Rockefeller - Oil
Industrialists
Andrew Carnegie - Steel
Industrialists
J.P. Morgan - Banking & finance
Social Darwinism
Applied Darwin's theory of natural selection and "survival of the fittest" to human society -- the poor are poor because they are not as fit to survive. Used as an argument against social reforms to help the poor.
Gospel of Wealth, 1889
Andrew Carnegie was an American millionaire and philanthropist who donated large sums of money for public works. His book argued that the wealthy have an obligation to give something back to society.
Inventors & Inventions
Alexander Graham Bell - The telephone
Inventors & Inventions
Christopher Sholes - The typewriter
Inventors & Inventions
Henry Bessemer - Bessemer Steel process
Inventors & Inventions
Thomas Alva Edison - He had over 1,000 inventions including electricity. (light bulb, fans, & printing presses).
Assembly Line
Arrangement of equipment and workers in which work passes from operation to operation in a direct line until the product is assembled.
A labor union is an association of workers who join together to promote and protect the welfare, interest, and rights of its members by a process called Collective Bargaining.
Examples of Labor Unions
Knights of Labor
• An American labor union originally established as a secret fraternal order and noted as the first union of all workers. It was founded in 1869.
Examples of Labor Unions
American Federation of Labor
• Began in 1886 with about 140,000 members; by 1917 it had 2.5 million members. It is a federation of different unions.
Labor Practices
Collective Bargaining - Discussions held between workers and their employers over wages, hours, and conditions.
Tactics of Labor - Strike
This is a work stoppage intended to force an employer to respond to workers demands.
Tactics of Labor - Boycott
Here workers encourage citizens to not buy or use a company product until that company gives into the worker’s demands.
Tactics of Management - Lockouts
Here the owners of the factory lock the workers out of the factory building until the workers give in or compromise with the factory owners demands.
GreatStrike 1877
This was a railroad strike over cuts in worker’s wages. This strike set the scene for violent strikes to come.
PullmanStrike 1894
Workers of the Pullman rail car company went on strike over wage cuts & layoffs. The strike grew violent. 12,000 federal troops were called in to end the strike.
PullmanStrike 1894
The factory owners used the federal courts to limit the power of the unions. This led to a decrease in union membership.
Interstate Commerce Act
A law, enacted by Congress in 1887, which created the (ICC) Interstate Commerce Commission that attempted to supervise and regulate railroad companies and activities.
Sherman Anti-trust Act
A law, enacted by Congress in 1890, that was intended to prevent the creation of monopolies by making it illegal to establish trusts that interfered with free trade.