Chapter 17: Industrial America: Corporations and Conflicts, 1877-1911 The Big Question: What new opportunities and risks did industrialization bring, and how did it reshape American society?
Chapter 17: Industrial America: Corporations & Conflicts, 1877-1911 1. The Rise of Big Business A. Innovators in Enterprise B. The Corporate Workplace C. On the Shop Floor 2. Immigrants, East and West A. Newcomers from Europe B. Asian Americans and Exclusion 3. Labor Gets Organized A. The Emergence of a Labor Movement B. The Knights of Labor C. Farmers and Workers: The Cooperative Alliance D. Another Path: The American Federation of Labor
Part 1: The Rise of Big Business 1A: Innovators in Enterprise Causes: population growth, western expansion, national market Changes: water to coal, animal power to steam, wood to kerosene New practices: management revolution, vertical & horizontal integration, predatory pricing, trusts led to massive corporations Industrialists: Swift, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan National consumer culture (department/chain stores, mail order)
Part 1: The Rise of Big Business 1B: The Corporate Workplace Corporations relied on middle managers and traveling salesmen 4 million worked in 1900: 1/3 domestic service, 1/3 industry, 1/3 professional: office work, sales, teaching,, or nursing
Part 1: The Rise of Big Business 1C: On the Shop Floor New methods of mass production led to the deskilling of craft workers Taylor s scientific management eroded autonomy of workers Industrialization increased class distinctions (upper, middle, working), created unsafe conditions and often relied on female and child labor
Part 2: Immigrants, East and West 2A: Newcomers from Europe 25 million immigrants came to US from 1865-1914 (1/3 returned) Many came from southern and eastern Europe via Ellis Island Immigrants faced a difficult voyage and challenges in the US
Part 2: Immigrants, East and West 2B: Asian Americans and Exclusion Asian immigrants faced even greater discrimination than Europeans Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) set stage for race-based exclusion Paper sons relied on forged documents in aftermath of Supreme Court rulings that all people born in USA are automatically citizens
Part 3: Labor Gets Organized 3A: The Emergence of a Labor Movement Great RR Strike of 1877 raised labor consciousness and led to the creation of the National Guard to enforce law and order National Grange promoted farmer cooperation and mutual aid Greenbackers believed farmers suffered problems as factory workers and pushed for an 8 hour workday, corporate regulation and inflation
Part 3: Labor Gets Organized 3B: The Knights of Labor Knights tried to transform labor by promoting personal discipline, representing skilled and unskilled, including women and blacks Political reforms supported: end child labor, income tax, collective bargaining, public ownership of RRs, workplace safety laws 1882 Haymarket bombing unfairly lined Knights with labor violence Anti-Knights propaganda poster Seal of the Knights of Labor
Part 3: Labor Gets Organized 3C: Farmers and Workers: The Cooperative Alliance Farmers Alliance, Knights successor, pushed cooperative measures and formed the Populist Party to push for federal price supports Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in response to Supreme Court invalidating Granger laws in 1886 Wabash case
Part 3: Labor Gets Organized 3D: Another Path: The American Federation of Labor The AFL, led by Samuel Gompers, grew out of trade unions and focused on pure and simple unionism rather than political action AFL limited itself to skilled white male workers (easier to bargain for) Rise of AFL and failure of Knights and Populists demonstrated the shift in labor from political action to workplace collective bargaining