ECON & TECH

• Westward expansion (1877-1898)


  Settlement of the West
• Mechanization of agriculture


  1. Mechanical reaper

  2. Combine harvester

  3. Replaced human and animal labor
• Mechanization of agriculture


  Increased crop production (corn and wheat doubled 1870-1900)
• Increased crop production


  Decreased crop prices due to supply and demand
• Decreased crop prices


  Hurt small farmers who couldn't compete with large mechanized farms
• High prices of manufactured goods

  Hurt farmers who relied on buying them
• High railroad freight rates


  Hurt farmers who relied on railroads to ship crops
• National Grange Movement


  • Collective aimed at bringing isolated farmers together for socialization and education
  • Pushed for laws regulating railroad rates and corporate practices hurting farmers (Granger Laws)
• Granger Laws


  Laws passed by Midwestern states regulating railroad rates and corporate practices
• Commerce Act of 1886


  Required railroad rates to be reasonable and just, established Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce
• Westward migration facilitated by railroads


  1. Pacific Railroad Acts granted land to railroad companies to build transcontinental railroads

  2. Homestead Act granted 160 acres of free land to settlers
• 160 acres of land granted by Homestead Act was not enough for farmers to make a living
• Discovery and extraction of precious metals (gold, silver)

  1. California Gold Rush in 1848

  2. Gold discovered in Pike's Peak region in 1869 leading to boomtowns
• Boomtowns in the West were extremely diverse, on par with major urban areas in the East
• Industrialization


  The change in the way goods were produced and sold, from local/regional to mass-production for global markets
• Railroads


  • Provided quick and easy means of transporting goods, enabling a national market for sales
  • Expansion of railroads after the Civil War, with government land grants and subsidies
  • Four new transcontinental railroads built by the end of the century
• Bessemer Process


  A new method of steel production that enabled manufacturers to produce a greater quantity and quality of steel
• Natural resources


  • Coal and oil were major sources of energy for industrialization, with coal being the first and oil later surpassing it
• Communications technology


  • Telegraph wires multiplied significantly, connecting regions and creating an international market
  • Telephone invented in 1876, with 50,000 in use by 1880
• The telegraph and telephone had the effect of creating an international market for basic goods like coal, oil, steel, and grain
• Industrialism


  Change in the way things are made for sale, specifically the move toward mass production and mass consumption of goods
• Gilded Age


  Period of American history when small, locally owned businesses became obsolete and large corporations and trusts dominated entire industries
• Gilded Age


  • Like a gold covered turd - the gold represents the outward appearance, but the turd represents the underlying reality
• Oil industry


  • Dominated by John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil, which used horizontal integration to eliminate competition
• Steel industry


  • Dominated by Andrew Carnegie, who used vertical integration to control all parts of steel production
• Large corporations and trusts grew so powerful


  They began looking outside the US to gain control over foreign markets and resources
• Many Americans had no interest in America becoming an empire, as it went against the country's birth narrative of breaking away from an empire</b>
• Industry leaders saw opportunities to acquire new markets and resources by expanding abroad
• Reasons industry leaders were able to grow wealthy


  • Proliferation of laissez-faire government policies
  • Reliance on underpaid immigrant, female, and child labor
  • Application of Social Darwinism to economics
• Gospel of Wealth


  Andrew Carnegie's argument that those with extraordinary wealth had a duty to invest it back into society through philanthropy
• Industry leaders were referred to as either "captains of industry" (positive) or "robber barons" (negative)