Progressivism

Robber Barons and Rebels

Context - when, what was happening?

• Between the end of the Civil War and 1900

• Steam power and electricity were replacing human muscle

• Many inventors were also businessmen

Inventions in this Time Period

• Telegraph

• Telephone

• typewriter

• oil and coal powerd machines

• ice cooled railway cars

So What?

• All of these steps forward demanded labor - much of this labor was immigrants

• 5.5 million people immigrated to the US in the 1880's; 4 million in the 1890's

• Chinese immigrants made up 1/10 of the population in California

• Many immigrant newcomers became the targets for attack (Nativism)

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The Rich Get Richer

• There were some rags to riches stories

• a great majority of millionaires came from wealthy families

• Rockefeller, Carnegie, JP Morgan, James Mellon

• Mellon's father told him to buy a replacement in the Civil War, "There are plenty of lives less valuable [than yours]"

Building the Transcontinental Railroad

• A great American achievement

• US government helped make it happen

• Central Pacific started in Sacramento and Union Pacific started in Omaha

• For each mile, each company got 6400 acres of land and $48,000 in government bonds

• Companies sold shares of their stock to Congress to avoid investigation

Working on the Transcontinental Railroad

• Hundreds died from exposure, landslides, diseases

• Immigrant workers were often paid between $1 and $2 per day

• 90% of workers on the Central Pacific were Chinese

• In 1864, Chinese workers were paid $26 for one months labor - 6 days per week

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JD Rockefeller

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Andrew Carnegie

• worked in a cotton mill as a boy - earning $1.20 per week

• rags to riches story - rose the ladder of many businesses

• became a ste

James Mellon