The Incorporation of America

1. The Incorporation of America

2. Procter and Gamble http://www.pg.com/en_US/index.shtml Sears Woolworth’s Marshall Field’s Macy’s Goodyear General Electric http://www.ge.com/ Westinghouse Standard Oil Nabisco http://www.nabiscoworld.com/brands/ Swift and Company Armour International Harvester Eastman Kodak U.S. Steel Heard of???

3. The wealthiest people in U.S. history • http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0702/gallery.richestamericans.fortune/index.html

4. “Conspicuous consumption” in the “Gilded Age” http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/roses/con1121440022883.html?4

5. Rockefeller and Oil • Petroleum profitable as kerosene for lighting • 1859--first oil well drilled in Pennsylvania • 1863--John D. Rockefeller organizes Standard Oil Company of Ohio • Rockefeller lowers costs, improves quality, establishes efficient marketing operation • Standard Oil Trust centralizes Rockefeller control of member companies outside Ohio

8. Carnegie and Steel • 1872 -- Andrew Carnegie enters steel business • By 1901 Carnegie employs 20,000, and produces more steel than Great Britain • Sells out to J. P. Morgan • Morgan heads incorporation of the United States Steel Company

9. The Gospel of Wealth • Andrew Carnegie believed that “the man who dies rich dies disgraced.” • http://www.carnegie.org/ • http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/ • http://www.carnegieendowment.org/

12. The Rise of Industry • Keys to the “triumph of business”: • Technology • Transportation • Mechanization • Markets • Business expansion • Vertical integration • Horizontal integration • http://www.wright-house.com/wright-brothers/wrights/1903.html

13. An impressive-looking bar graph!

14. Patents Issued by Decade, 1850-1899

15. International Steel Production,1880-1914

16. The Importance of the Railroad • Before the Civil War, railroads were not integrated. After the Civil War, railroads transform American life: • ended rural isolation • allowed regional economic specialization • made mass production, consumption possible • led to organization of modern corporation • stimulated other industries (like steel)

17. Railroad Construction, 1830-1920

18. Thus the birth of a consumer society... • Consumer goods (including food) became more plentiful (and cheaper) • Because of the growth of railroads, new ways of selling including chain store, department store, brand name, and mail-order became possible • Because prices for most goods fell, standard of living did start to climb (slowly, unevenly, erratically) and real wages (pay in relation to cost of living) rose • Marketing became a science in late 1800s – advertising became common • Americans became a community of consumers

19. Baseball! • Knickerbocker Base Ball Club (1845) • National League (1876) • Baseball Players, 1875 Thomas Eakins Watercolor RISD Museum of Art

20. Cultural opportunities and conflict • Music and musical theater (Ragtime and Vaudeville) • Coney Island • Public education • 1870: 160 public high schools • 1900: 6,000 public high schools • Having said this, by 1890, only 4% of population ages 14-17 were in school! • Colleges • 1870: 563 colleges/universities • 1910: nearly 1,000 colleges/universities (including Catholic-based and black schools like the Tuskegee Institute). • But only 3% of college-age population went!

21. Building the Empire • 1865-1916--U.S. lays over 200,000 miles of track costing billions of dollars, with the government giving land grants to companies for construction they can’t pay for with money. • The massive amount of money/land makes corruption a huge problem. • Railroads save government $1 billion in freight costs 1850-1945 • http://cprr.org/ • http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Maps/ • http://cprr.org/Museum/Chinese.html • http://cprr.org/Museum/index.html

22. Federal Land Grants to Railroads as of 1871

23. Railroads, 1870 and 1890

24. Notice what you don’t “hear” much about as you read the chapter… • The federal government!

25. The Politics of Stalemate • Presidential elections and congressional races were VERY close during the last quarter century • As both parties had an equal amount of power, and presidential leadership was lacking, there was little legislation produced prior to 1890

26. Interstate Commerce Commission (1887) • First independent regulatory agency took charge of nation’s “most important industry” (which was…) • Intended to bring order to the “patchwork” of state laws • Had power to approve shipping and passenger rates, examine records, take complaints

27. Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) • An act to protect trade and commerce against unlawful restraints and monopolies. • Sec. 1. Every contract, combination in the form of trust or other- wise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is hereby declared to be illegal. Every person who shall make any such contract or engage in any such combination or conspiracy, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or by both said punishments, at the discretion of the court.

28. (More) Politics of Stalemate • Post-Civil War Democratic party divides electorate almost evenly with Republicans • One-party control of both Congress, White House rare • Federal influence wanes, state control rises • White males make up bulk of electorate • women may vote in national elections only in Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Colorado • black men denied vote by poll tax, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and fear

31. Thus, most politics were probably local! • At the local (city) level, urban party “machines” were headed by “bosses” • most trade services for votes • some bosses notoriously corrupt, e.g. William “Boss” Tweed of New York City • Most bosses do try to improve conditions in cities – otherwise, they will be replaced!

32. Thomas Nast

33. Opportunity? • Women poured into the work force in jobs ranging from manufacturing, to domestic work, to (new) work as secretaries • At the turn of the century, 8.6 million women worked outside the home -- triple the number in 1870 • By contrast, blacks were excluded as competition for jobs intensified • Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

35. Laissez Faire [Noun] a policy or attitude of letting things take their own course, without interfering. Economics abstention by governments from interfering in the workings of the free market : [as adj. ] laissez-faire capitalism. ORIGIN French, literally “allow to do.” an agenda that embraces the concept of laissez-faire free enterprise, free trade, nonintervention, free-market capitalism, market forces. [Adjective] he has argued for a laissez-faire policy regarding the Internet | Elliott's laissez-faire approach to parenting noninterventionist, noninterventional, noninterfering; uninvolved, indifferent; lax, loose, permissive, nonrestrictive, liberal, libertarian; informal hands-off.

36. Social Darwinism • http://www.cod.edu/people/faculty/fancher/SocDarw.htm • http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/551058/social-Darwinism • http://www.allaboutscience.org/what-is-social-darwinism-faq.htm • http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/darwin/nameof/index.html • http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h843.html