The Upper-Class During The Industrial Revolution

The period between 1865 to 1900, also known as the Gilded Age, was an era of rapid industrialization, immigration, and capitalization in America. After the civil war, previously used factories remained and flourished as manufacturing started to replace farming; which was possible due to vast immigration from Southern and Eastern part of Europe. With an available cheap labor source, businesses rose to great heights, and competition thrived. While companies thrived, working laborers and citizens suffered. Because industrial statesman expanded wealth and created opportunities, but also exploited workers, disrupted competition, and manipulated factors of production, it is justified to characterize the industrial leaders of the Gilded age as both

This [trust] resulted in the discharge of a large number of laborers who had to suffer in consequence . . . The most distressing feature of this war of the trusts is the fact that they control the articles which the plain people consume in their daily life” (Document E). Finally, the cruel punishment of the workers in the workplace is seen in the previously mentioned, “Concentration of Industry, and Machinery in the United States,” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. “They [the labor class] reproach the machine with exhausting the physical powers of the laborer; . . . [t]hey reproach it with demanding such continued attention that it enervates, and of leaving no respite to the laborer, through the continuity of its movement . . .

In the second quarter of the nineteenth century, a lot of Americans were moving away from their rural country lives, to work in enormous industrial urban areas. Urban communities were developing, manufacturing production was extending, and immigration from European nations was expanding. Because of growing production lines, the connection between factory owners or managers and their workers radically transformed from the apprentice system. Moreover, factories made a working-class and a middle-class causing a separation. Another way the relationship changed was managers and their apprentices could never again go out to a bar together after work because there were too many workers.

Sadly, the business soon failed, puting the Carnegies in need of money once again(“Andrew Carnegie: Pioneer.”). Andrew soon joined

In the year of 1852, the industrious skill and dedication of a young twelve-year-old boy named Andrew Carnegie captivated Thomas A. Scott of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 1 Awed by his diligence, Scott immediately hired and made Carnegie his personal telegrapher.2 With a “rags to riches” background that inspired others to work hard for the American Dream, Carnegie knew exactly how the less fortunate felt when they were compared to the wealthy. Noticing how society achieved social, economic, and political equality before industrialization, Carnegie shared his intake on America’s momentous shift from an agrarian society to an industrial society in the late

In a time, 1865 marked the end of Reconstruction of the North and the South after the Civil War. The start of the Second Industrial Revolution began with the invention of electrical power and mechanical engines. The United States expanded westward like never before with the creation of railroads, oil, and steel. The Election of 1896 marked a critical election when Republican William McKinley, United States President from 1897-1901, defeated his opponent in one of the most dramatic and complex elections in the young country’s history. Using the idea of American Imperialism, the United States aimed to spread their political, economic, and cultural control within the government over areas beyond their boundaries. It is in this context that farmers and industrial workers responded to industrialization in the Gilded Age from 1865-1900 in their own significant ways. Farmers organized the Granger Movement and Farmers Alliance to deal with industrialization. Industrial workers formed the Knights of Labor and American Federation of Labor in response to industrialization.

These successful businessmen also stole each other's businesses. Rockefeller purchased a steel mine out from under Andrew Carnegie, the leader in steel. John P. Morgan purchased Carnegie's business completely for four hundred eighty million dollars in 1901, changing the name to U.S. Steel. The men who built America used their mass amounts of money to get what they wanted done, done. For

To illustrate, in 1890, John Sherman passed a bill known as the “Sherman Antitrust Act,” which attempted to counter the growing number of trusts and monopolies in the country (Doc. 4). Although the Antitrust Act failed to stop any trusts, the act did help pave the way for legislation in the early 1900’s that would help workers and workers’ rights. In conclusion,

During the Gilded Age america’s industry economy exploded generating opportunities for individuals but also leaving many farmers and workers struggling. Industrial leaders such as Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller revolutionized business and ushered in the modern corporate economy, but

In the Gilded Age from 1865 to 1900, farmers and industrial workers responded significantly to industrialization by forming alliances and movements. From 1865 to 1900, the farmers responded to industrialization significantly by forming alliances and movements. The farmers responded by creating the Farmer’s Alliance. The Farmer’s

History should remember the entrepreneurs of the 1800’s and 1900’s as Captains of Industries or Robber Barons. These entrepreneurs

They also had to work in harsh conditions. The business owners would simply fire the workers and replace them if they did not want to work in these conditions. Firing them would leave them jobless and with no money. Packingtown was making profits while its workers suffered in harsh

Many workers, not far from Thomas O’Donnell, got laid off during business slumps by being replaced with handy machinery, or a worker with a lower wage. This was cheaper and more efficient. This left numerous workers without a job, especially when being replaced by a machine. Thomas O’Donnell, an ex-mule spinner, located in mills in Fall River, Massachusetts, testified before the U.S Senate about the relationship between labor and capital. In this document, O’Donnell reenacts his trial on the labor market.

Topic: Should Andrew Carnegie be described as a “captain of industry” or a “robber baron”? Abstract: Nowadays, there still exists lots of controversial comments towards Andrew Carnegie. Some of them hold the view that Andrew Carnegie should be described as a captain of industry while others contend that he was only a robber baron. As far as I am concerned, Andrew Carnegie, known as the King of Steel, built the steel industry in the United States, and in the process, became one of the wealthiest men in America.

In Andrew Ure’s “The Philosophy of Manufactures,” he shows his support for the Industrial Revolution. Ure believed that all of the improvements in technology made workers’ lives easier. The new technology allows workers to produce more products in less amount of time, which would equal greater productivity, which would then equal more wealth for companies and for the country. Ure makes an argument that the people who work in factories have better lives than those who live and work on farms, because of the advanced technology that factory workers have access to. Ure also presents the argument that factory workers are not necessarily treated unfairly just because they do not receive breaks while at work.