3. The railroads not only “made” the industrialists; the railroads also planted the seeds for mass retail
consumerism. Within two decades of the completion of the transcontinental rail lines, rural residents
were ordering many of the same retail products from catalogs that urban residents had been enjoying.

4. THE TRUST TITAN EMERGES
Despite protests to the contrary, competition was the bugbear of most business leaders
of the day. Steel tycoon, Andrew Carnegie, incorporated an economic strategy called
“vertical integration” to eliminate competition. Explain this strategy.

5. Oil tycoon, John D. Rockefeller, utilized an economic strategy called “horizontal
integration,” which was less justifiable on grounds of efficiency. Explain the workings of
this strategy. How effective was Rockefeller’s strategy? And what term came to
be generally used from the use of this strategy?
John D. Rockefeller

6. Rockefeller’s oil empire, Standard Oil Company, captured a feeling of widespread
resentment because of his business practices.

7. The imperial J.P. Morgan devised still other schemes for eliminating “wasteful”
competition. Describe his financial tactics.

8. THE SUPREMACY of STEEL
What was the wonder metal of the 19th century?
What process allowed steel to reign supreme?
Why was the U.S. uniquely qualified to become the world’s major steel producer?

10. How did J.P. Morgan create U.S.
Steel?
What was the significance of his new
company?

11. ROCKEFELLER GROWS an
AMERICAN BEAUTY ROSE
The sudden emergence of the oil industry was one of the most striking developments in
the post-Civil War years. What invention ensured the supremacy of oil?
Provide John Rockefeller’s profile and business philosophy. What role did “free
enterprise” play in his success? What economic good came from his business
practices?

12. Other trusts blossomed along with Rockefeller’s. These untrustworthy trusts, and the
“pirates” who captained them, were disturbingly new. They eclipsed an older American
aristocracy of modestly successful merchants and professionals. An arrogant class of
“new rich” emerged.

14. Self-justification by the wealthy inevitably involved contempt for the poor – why?
Plutocracy, like the earlier slavocracy, took its stand firmly on the Constitution – tycoons
exploited the very legislation that supposedly regulated them – examples.

15. GOVERNMENT TACKLES the TRUST EVIL
By the last decade of the 19th century, the masses people began to mobilize against monopoly. The
first attempts were at the state level. When these failed, efforts mobilized at the federal level. The
first federal regulation was the Interstate Commerce Act (1887).
Explain the provisions of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act. What were its intended and unintended
results? Explain the significance of the increasing federal regulation (the revolutionary principle).

16. THE SOUTH in the AGE of INDUSTRY
The industrial tidal wave that washed over the North following the Civil War caused only
feeble ripples in the backwater of the South. As late as 1900, the South still produced a
smaller percentage of the nation’s manufactured goods than it had before the Civil War.

17. The plantation system had degenerated into a pattern of absentee land ownership. White and black
sharecroppers tilled the soil for a share of the crop, or they became tenants, in bondage to their
landlords, who controlled needed credit and supplies.
In the 1880’s, what industry gave an important boost to southern agriculture?

18. Prominent among the boosters of a
“new South” was Henry Grady. He
tirelessly exhorted the ex-
Confederates to become “Georgia
Yankees’ and outplay the North at the
commercial & industrial game.
Identify and describe the
formidable obstacles hindering
industrialization in the South.

19. THE IMPACT of the NEW INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION on AMERICA
By the end of the 19th century, once –rural America boasted the world’s largest industrial
output – a development with enormous consequences for politics, diplomacy, and family
life.

21. Economic miracles after the Civil War enormously increased the wealth of the Republic:
1. The standard of living rose sharply
2. American workers enjoyed more physical comforts than their foreign counterparts
3. Urban centers mushroomed as new factories demanded more American labor
Rural American migrants and peasant European immigrants, used to living by the languid clock of nature,
now had to regiment their lives by the factory whistle.

22. Probably no single group was more profoundly affected by the new industrial age than
women.
Millions of women discovered new economic and social opportunities. Socially, women
careers could delay marriages and result in smaller families. They faced difficult working
conditions and they earned less than their male counterparts.

25. The machine age likewise accentuated class
division. “Industrial buccaneers” flaunted
bloated fortunes. Such extravagances evoked
bitter criticism, especially from recent European
immigrants.
The existence of an oligarchy of money was
amply demonstrated by the fact that in 1900
about 1/10 of the people owned 9/10’s of the
country’s wealth.

26. Rapid industrialization created the social problem of child labor exploitation.
This 1909 photo of young “doffers,”
whose job it was to remove fully wound
bobbins from textile spinning machines.
He shows the boys climbing dangerously
on the whirling mechanism.

28. Industrialization created a new class of wage earners. Real wages were rising and times
were good for workers who were working. But swings in the economy, work accidents, or
the whims of an employer could jeopardize the family’s survival. This is a situation
where children would likely be taken from school and sent to work.
And strong pressures for foreign trade developed as the tireless American industrial
machine threatened to saturate the domestic market. This would mark the beginning of
American imperialism.

29. IN UNIONS THERE IS STRENGTH
With industrialization, wage workers did not share proportionately with their employers in the benefits
of the age of big business. How had the workplace changed since the Civil War?
Individual workers were powerless to battle single-handedly against giant industry, so their recourse
was to unionize. Unions faced an uphill battle in America.

30. Forced to organize and fight for basic rights, wage workers found the dice heavily loaded against
them. Identify and describe the tactics/advantages of big business. The worker’s primary
weapon was to strike. How did the middle-class public react to the increasing rash of strikes?

31. LABOR LIMPS ALONG
Labor unions, which had been few and disorganized in 1861, were given a strong boost by the Civil War.
Explain how the Civil War benefited organized labor.
The National Labor Union was organized in 1866. It lasted for 6 years and boasted a membership of
approx. 600,000 workers. Was it an all-inclusive union? What did the union fight for? And what
was its downfall?

32. A new organization – the Knights of Labor – seized the torch dropped by the defunct
National Labor Union. It began in 1869 as a secret society, with a private ritual,
passwords, and a special handshake. This secrecy would incite reprisals by employers.
Who was eligible for membership? Describe the unions’ goals and tactics.

33. The Knights were under the leadership of
Terence Powderly, an Irish-American.
The Knights won a number of strikes for
the eight-hour day. When the Knights
staged a successful strike against Jay
Gould’s Wabash Railroad in 1885,
membership increased to 775,000.

34. What was the other fatal
handicap for the Knights?
Despite their outward success the Knights were
riding for a fall. They became involved in a number
of May Day strikes in 1886. Describe the
Haymarket Square incident. How did this incident
hurt the Knights?
Gov. John Altgeld

35. THE AF of L to the FORE
The elitist American Federation of Labor, born
in 1886, was largely the brainchild of Samuel
Gompers.
How did the federation work?
Explain Gomper’s strategy. Was he a
socialist? What was his major goal?
Describe the membership profile.
From 1881 to 1900, the strikers lost about half
their strikes and won or compromised the
remainder. Organized labor’s greatest
weakness was its numbers (approx. 3% or
workers in 1900).
How were public attitudes changing toward
organized labor? Which side continued to
have the advantage in labor relations?

37. Interpret the cartoon – what was the public’s attitude toward organized labor?

38. Many of the early labor disputes turned violent and the owners were successful in
portraying the unions as the instigators.

39. Why are the trusts portrayed as
vultures?
Why did the cartoonist use “$” instead of
“S” in the word “Senate?”
How could the trusts purchase a Senate
seat?
What bias did the Founding Fathers
demonstrate in their procedure for
electing senators?
How does the cartoon demonstrate the
survival of the Founding Fathers’ bias?
Explain how the cartoon reflects the
cartoonist’s biases.

40. THE PHILOSOPHY of the INDUSTRIALISTS
State several specific business practices that Rockefeller seems to justify in his
comment to his Sunday School class.
How did the cartoonist interpret John D. Rockefeller’s remark?

41. What does the cartoonist imply was the source of the monopolist’s wealth & power?
What industries does the cartoonist show as protected businesses?
What does the booty in the cartoon represent?
What do the facial expressions suggest about the people’s attitude toward King Monopoly?
What philosophy of big business is represented by King Monopoly?

42. Summarize the main idea of the cartoon
on Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth.
Does Andrew Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth
adequately solve problems created by
those who employ the philosophy of Social
Darwinism? Explain.
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.

43. INDUSTRY & LABOR QUIZZES
http://www.historyteacher.net/USProjects/USQuizzes/BusinessLabor1.htm
http://www.historyteacher.net/USProjects/USQuizzes/BusinessLabor2.htm
http://www.historyteacher.net/USProjects/USQuizzes/BusinessLabor3.htm