The Philosophy of the Industrialists

To what extent do you see evidence of individuals employing either or both of the philosophies of Social Darwinism and Gospel of Wealth in today's society? Cite specific examples to illustrate your view.

America's free-market economy is one of its defining features. Relatively few industries and services are wholly owned by the government, whose actions can be described as "regulatory" rather than "controlling." This means that "small" businesses (that is, those operated independently of a larger corporation) are given a chance to be successful. Their success, according to the theory of Social Darwinism, is determined by their ability to contribute to the market as a whole.

Today, America's most profitable corporations are the ones who have been able to outperform, outlast, or simply absorb their competition. The Disney Company, which currently owns ESPN, Lucasfilm, Marvel, and ABC, has become the second largest broadcasting company in the world because it has been able to adapt to several decades of changing competition and trends in entertainment.
Perhaps more apparent is the still-present Gospel of Wealth in American society. Success in America is defined as being "rich and famous," rather than being educated, productive, or simply happy. Wealth is still something Americans as a whole aspire to, as has been the case since the rise of industrialism.

Interpreting Secondary Sources

Questions

1. What is the title of the document?
2. Who is the author?
3. What topic is the author addressing in this work?
4. What is the author's thesis?
5. Evidence that supports thesis?
6. What questions does this source/ interpretation raise?

Essay #1

1. Women in Industrializing America
2. Stacy A. Cordery
3. "How the origins of modern America affected women"
4. "Many important trends evident during the Gilded Age presaged the emergence of the "new woman" of the Progressive Era."
5. Women were given opportunities to redefine their roles as a cause of industrialization (new home technologies, opportunities for jobs away from home)
   Creation of organizations like the Women's Christian Temperance Union supported women's rights (showed effectiveness of organized women, "invented Progressivism")
   Other women's organizations increased women's political awareness, self-esteem
   Women engaged in politics even without being able to vote (organizing rallies, providing food/ service, etc.). This increased their desire for suffrage, equality
   Women made up a growing part of the workforce by 1900 (consistent growth from 1870 on), but out of necessity more than choice
6. To what extent did the civil rights movement started by the Civil War's Emancipation Proclamation allow women to embark on their own path towards equality?
   What details would be left out, added, or changed had this essay been written by a male of the same credentials?
   In what ways was the Progressive Era made possible by women?

Essay #2

1. The African-American Experience
2. Leslie H. Fishel Jr.
3. The ways African-Americans felt the effects of Gilded Age political, cultural, and industrial advancements

Rise of Industrial America (The Gilded Age 1865-1900)

Causes

By 1900, America had become the largest industrial power in the world.

I. Abundance of natural resources (coal, iron ore, copper, lead, timber, oil)

II. Abundant labor supply (including immigrants)

III. Advanced transportation network

IV. Substantial capital

V. Labor-saving inventions

VI. Business-friendly government policies

VII. Talented entrepreneurs rather than politicians

The Business of Railroads

America's first big business

I. Had the greatest impact on all American life

a. Created a national market

b. Railroad building promoted the growth of coal industry, steel industry, etc.

c. "Railroad time" was just one way every citizen was affected

d. Created modern stocks

II. Eastern Railroads

a. Southern railroads proved inefficient (differing track gauges, insufficient track)

b. Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt merged local railroads into NY Central Railroad

c. Most major cities were connected by a standard rail system (Chicago: "window to the west")

III. Western Railroads

a. Promoted settlement in the West

b. Connected the East to the West

c. Pacific Railway Act (1862)

i. Federal subsidies were provided to stimulate Railroad expansion

ii. Also promoted "hasty and poor" construction and lead to widespread corruption (Crédit Mobilier scandal)

d. Transcontinental Railroad: connected California to the rest of the Union

i. Irish and Chinese immigrants provided labor

ii. May 10th, 1869: East and West ends of railroad connected

Competition and Consolidation

The problems of new industries

I. New technologies and technologies tended to be overbuilt

a. Mismanagement and outright corruption

b. Watering the stock: inflating stock values before sale

c. Kickbacks and rebates offered to favored shippers

d. Price fixing contributed to populist movement

II. Panic of 1893

a. Forced 1/4 of all railroads into bankruptcy

b. Banker J.P. Morgan consolidated bankrupt railroads

c. By 1900, seven companies controlled 2/3 of all railroads

d. Increased efficiency at the cost of competition

III. Americans loved railroads, but felt victimized by huge monopolies

a. Granger Laws and other regulatory legislation initially had little effect

b. Interstate Commerce Act eventually worked

Steel Industry

Carnegie's empire

I. New methods of steel-making increased production

a. Actually discovered in 1850

b. Bessemer process makes steel from iron

II. Andrew Carnegie

a. Based in the Great Lakes for its resources

b. Started his business in Pittsburgh in 1870s

c. Vertical integration: owned every step of the steelmaking process

d. Top of steel industry by 1890

e. Retires from business in 1900 to emphasize philanthropy

f. His company eventually becomes first billion dollar industry

Oil Industry

Who do you trust?

I. John D. Rockefeller

a. Standard Oil eliminated competition and created a huge monopoly

b. Horizontal integration: one step is completely owned

c. Rockefeller controlled supply of oil and dominated market

II. Trusts

a. Middle-class citizens feared monopolies

b. Sherman Antitrust Act outlaws trusts and monopolies (sort of)

c. American government was basically pro-business until Theodore Roosevelt

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

Subtitle

III.

The New South

Economic Diversification

Realizing that their dependence on one crop (cotton) had made them weak during the Civil War, Southerners began to diversify their new economy.

• Tobacco cultivation and curing methods were improved
• Rice and cane sugar also became vital crops
• Cotton was not completely abandoned, it just served a new role as industry expanded
• Rail services benefitted agriculture and other industries like mining, timber, etc.
• Hydroelectric power was widely used for the first time in the South

Changing Politics
After the Civil War, the South's political landscape was most heavily affected by the Redeemers and their interactions with other groups.

• The Redeemers sought to restore the South to what it had been (discrimination and all)
• Philanthropists like John F. Slater supported piblic education for all
• Redeemer successes in education and other fields gave Democrats electoral success in 1874
• Most whites believed themselves superior to blacks but wished them no ill will

Race Relations in the New South
"An exclusionary attitude infused the South-" despite their new legal protection, blacks were systematically oppressed and excluded.

• Many blacks went from slavery to "wage slavery" as underpaid tenant farmers or sharecroppers
• Blacks' allies were "self-serving," like members of the Populist Party
• The Fifteenth Amendment was circumvented through stringent voting requirements and near-impossible qualification tests
• Plessy v. Ferguson notoriously upheld the creation of "separate but equal" facilities
• Some blacks like W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington attempted to lead blacks on the path towards equality

The Compromise of 1877
In exchange for the 1878 presidential election, Rutherford B. Hayes agreed to remove Federal peacekeepers from the South,

• The bankers and industrialists who proposed the Compromise were essentially left in control of the South
• Many historians condemn the event as undoing years of progress toward equality

Warmup January 22nd, 2015

Why was the "New South" more a slogan than a reality? What specific facts should be looked at to support both points of views?

Post-Civil War, the South was revitalized thanks to Federal legislation (the 13th through 15th Amendments, which secured legal rights for blacks), a shifting population composition (the so-called carpetbaggers, newly freed blacks), and an economic overhaul (agricultural diversification, hydroelectricity). They became less financially vulnerable as they shifted from a one-crop economy to a relatively balanced producer of cane sugar, tobacco, and other valuable crops and resources like coal and timber. Under the leadership of philanthropists like John F. Slater, the first seeds of public education were planted in the South. In many ways, the South truly was "new."
Tragically, the racial prejudice that had pervaded the region since its earliest days did not end with the beginning of Reconstruction. This was never more evident than after the Compromise of 1877, when Northern troops were finally relieved of their "peacekeeping" duties in the South. Freed from the watchful eyes of the North, Southerners returned to their racist and bigoted ways.