Chapter 15
The Second Industrial Revolution
Learning Targets
Section 1
The Age of Invention
• Describe how the development of steel and oil
refining affected U.S. industry.
• Recount the innovations that were made in
transportation.
• Explain how innovations in communications
technology changed business practices and daily
life in the United States.
• Discuss why Thomas Edison wanted to open a
research laboratory, and describe how it changed
America.
Learning Target 1: Describe how the
development of steel and oil refining affected
U.S. industry.
Oil
Steel
Effects on
Industry Provided a strong,
inexpensive source of
building material.
Effects on
Industry
Resulted in the production
of kerosene for fuel or
light.
Allowed the expansion of
the railroad industry.
Allowed the manufacturing
of other important
industrial petroleum
products.
Allowed the construction of
sophisticated machinery,
bridges, tall buildings, etc.
Helped machinery operate.
Learning Target 2: Recount the innovations
that were made in transportation.
• The Railroad: promoted western settlement,
urban growth, economic prosperity
• The Automobile: largely limited to wealthy
Americans
• The Airplane: offered new transportation
possibilities
• All three innovations made travel more
efficient and brought Americans into closer
contact with each other.
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•
•
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Learning Target 3: Explain how innovations in
communications technology changed business
practices and daily life in the United States.
The telegraph: allowed businesses to place longdistance orders very quickly; sent information for
businesses, government, newspapers, and private
citizens; quicker than other methods (mail);
The telephone: speak without being together; could
have been more private; more than one million had
been installed in homes and businesses; allowed
businesses to place long-distance orders very quickly
The typewriter: allowed the quick production of
legible documents; several copies at once with carbon
paper; women had a professional, skilled job
All three innovations brought Americans closer
together.
Learning Target 4: Discuss why Thomas Edison wanted
to open a research laboratory, and describe how it
changed American life.
• Why??? Edison hoped to make important and
profitable advances in science.
• How did some of his inventions (lightbulb,
phonograph, motion-picture camera) change
American life? Edison’s inventions
transformed American life in various ways;
inventions created new industries.
Section 2
The Rise of Big Business
• Describe the arguments that business leaders
and social critics made about government’s
role in business.
• Recount how business strategies changed
during the Second Industrial Revolution.
• Discuss how entrepreneurs took advantage of
changes in business organization.
• Explain how new methods of marketing
products changed American life.
Learning Target 1: Describe the arguments that
business leaders and social critics made about
government’s role in business.
Arguments Regarding Government’s Role in Business
Business Leaders
1. Individuals should be self-reliant
2. Businesses would prosper without government
interference
3. Government interference would reduce self-reliance
Social Critics
1. All citizens should own all means of production
2. Factory life and poor working conditions harmed workers
3. Government would prevent the best businesses from
rising to the top
Learning Target 2: Recount how business
strategies changed during the Second Industrial
Revolution.
• New strategies:
Corporation-organizers raise money by selling
shares of stock in the company.
Monopoly-a company who holds almost
complete control over price and quality of a
product.
Trusts-a group of companies turn control of
their stock over to a common board of
trustees; the trustees then run all of the
companies as a single enterprise.
Learning Target 3: Discuss how entrepreneurs
took advantage of changes in business
organization.
• Carnegie created corporations and used vertical
integration to dominate the steel industry.
• Rockefeller also created corporations and used
horizontal integration to dominate the oil
industry.
• Vanderbilt bought and consolidated many
railroad lines.
• Westinghouse introduced and controlled a
crucial railroad innovation, the compressed-air
brake.
• Pullman controlled the passenger-railroad-car
industry.
Learning Target 4: Explain how new methods of
marketing products changed American life.
• The creation of a consumer culture
strengthened economic growth.
• Department stores and chain stores gave
women a new place to work and shop.
• Catalogs gave rural residents access to a
variety of goods.
Section 3
Labor Strives to Organize
• Understand why some Americans wanted trusts
to be banned, and recount how the government
responded.
• Describe the working conditions that laborers
faced in the new age of rapid industrialization.
• Discuss how the Knights of Labor attempted to
address the needs of many workers.
• Explain how businesses reacted to strikes in the
late 1800s, and describe how this affected
unions.
Learning Target 1: Understand why some Americans
wanted trusts to be banned, and recount how the
government responded.
• Argued the without
competition, large
monopolies would not
maintain quality or
keep prices low.
American’s Arguments
Against Trusts
Government Response
• Passed the Sherman
Anti-Trust Act
• Failed to define a
monopoly or trust
• Presented serious
enforcement
problems
Problems with the Act
Learning Target 2: Describe the working conditions
that laborers faced in the new age of rapid
industrialization.
• Working conditions during the Second
Industrial Revolution:
1 low pay
2 dangerous working conditions
3 discrimination
4 long working hours
Learning Target 3: Discuss how the Knights of Labor
attempted to address the needs of many workers.
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•
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•
Welcomed both skilled and unskilled workers
Women could join the Knights of Labor
In 1883 blacks were encouraged to join
The union fought for temperance, the eighthour workday, equal pay for equal work, and
an end to child labor.
Learning Target 4: Explain how businesses reacted to
strikes in the late 1800s, and describe how this
affected unions.
• Reactions: blacklists, yellow-dog contracts,
lockouts, and violent attacks.
• Affects: these techniques hurt most unions.
They caused many skilled workers to break
with unskilled workers and join the AFL.