Crash Course
a) What two inventions/technologies established during the Civil War increased �efficiency and productivity�?
b) A third of population boom from 1870 to 1900 was caused by what?
c) The government encouraged industrial growth with tariffs [taxes on foreign imports], land grants to railroads and what?
d) By 1913 the US produced what percentage of the world�s entire industrial output?
e) The railroad industry established the four time zones but how did railroads effect shopping/marketing/consumer business? (Hint: it�s part of the �Sears� story)
f) Who was Cornelius Vanderbilt?
Crash Course
- “Industrial Economy” After the Civil War
a) What two inventions/technologies established during the Civil War increased “efficiency and productivity”? Financial system improvement that affected the national currency leading to improvement/ boost of telegram that improved communication of and construction of transcontinental Railway
b) A third of population boom from 1870 to 1900 was caused by what? Immigration
c) The government encouraged industrial growth with tariffs [taxes on foreign imports], land grants to railroads and what? Putting Native Americans on reservation
d) By 1913 the US produced what percentage of the world’s entire industrial output? One third of industrial output.
e) The railroad industry established the four time zones but how did railroads effect shopping/marketing/consumer business? (Hint: it’s part of the “Sears” story) Allowed shipment of jewelry and watches and other construction materials.
f) Who was Cornelius Vanderbilt? Owners of the company/captain of the industries
g) What was Rockefeller’s industry and how did he create his empire? He started as a clerk of Cleveland merchant and became the richest man in the world. Controlled 90 percent of the US oil industry
h) Consumer prices dropped, which raised standards of living, but now there was more job…what? (starts with s) And what else that hurt the poor most? Security, booms and busts on the economy
i) About how many people died on the job per year on average in this age? 35,000
j) What was the first national union? Knights of labor
k) The membership of this union shrank over time because it had become unfortunately associated with what? Haymarket riot in 1886
l) Who was Samuel L Gompers? American federation of labor leader that focused on bread and butter issues such as pay for the workers
m) Social Darwinism argued the poor should be poor because…why? Inherent evolutionary flaws, which enabled tycoons to sleep at night. The reason was that the tycoons owned the means of production and were a monopoly
n) This was the time when people started to argue that wealth inequality was the opposite of…what? Success and failure, wealth and poverty
1) What was “manifest destiny” and how was it applied to the western frontier? Manifest destiny was a term used to express the belief of the Anglo Saxon Americans to expand their civilization and institutions across the North American. It was applied to the western frontier to exemplify the unity of the Americans in its purpose and mission to expand its territories.
2) Who/what were “robber barons”/”captains of industry”? Give a couple of examples. Robber barons were the people that owned industries and means of production in US. They included Cornelius Andrew, Vanderbilt ‘Re Me too’ Carnegie (Mellon), and Leland “I named my University son” Stanford
3) Who was Andrew Carnegie? He was one of the rich men, owners of the company also capital of the industry
3) What is Social Darwinism? It meant that the theory of survival of fitness should be applied to people and corporationss of people. Big companies were fitter because there was nothing to fear of monopoly. Poor people were poor because of evolutionary flaws
4) What was Nativism? Refers to policies or beliefs that protected or favored the interests of the native population at the expense of immigrants
5) What is a monopoly and trust? Monopoly is a situation where, larger industries dominate the market killing smaller companies leading to exploitation due to lack of competition. Trust, on the other hand, are entities established for purposes of investment.
6) Describe “vertical” and “horizontal” integration. Vertical integration is where the company owns its supply chain while horizontal integration is where a company acquires production output of other companies in the same industry
7) Share/describe an example of labor strife/strike during the Gilded Age, for example a picket or protest or strike. (For example, read about the railroad strike in your texts.) An example of such strikes was the Great Strike that occurred in the 1877. The strike arose because of the pressures of economic depression. The powerful and big corporations such as railroad reduced the wages of their workers something that resulted to the strike. The strike affected many cities such as Chicago, St. Louis, West Virginia, Martinsburg and Pittsburgh that was highly affected. At least 20 people died and 29 were wounded.
8) What’s the difference between the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor? Knights of labor was the first inclusive movement to be formed as it admitted unskilled workers, women, and children and were damaged in Haymarket 1886. While on the other hand, American Federation of Labor was formed mainly to agitate for pay issues, worker and safety. The movement workers were mostly iron and steel workers. AFL was formal federation as opposed to Knights Labor that was secretive.
9) What were “political machines” in big cities? Corporations (group of organized politicians) that sponsored elective leaders to get avenues to engage in corrupt deals through government contracts.
10) What did Bryan mean by a “cross of gold”? What was his political argument? He meant the suffering of the citizens due to challenges in the currency system. His political argument was that the government was not doing its best to stabilize the economy to ensure that farmers, industrial workers, and miners lead better lives.
Reference
Green, J. (2014). Industrial Economy: crash course US history.
