An Age of Big Business
What is the greatest invention of all time? Explain.
Silent write, first 5 minutes. A few share out loud before we begin.
Assigned: Read & take notes — C5S3 Ch 5 Sec 3 · guided-notes questions. Answers hidden — reveal one at a time as students respond.
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1Who drilled the first successful oil well, and where? What was oil used for?Edwin L. Drake, near Titusville, Pennsylvania (1859). Oil produced smoke-free light and heat and lubricated machines.
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2What are the three factors of production?Land, labor, and capital. (Capital = the money, machines, buildings, and tools used to produce goods.)
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3Why did businesses need capital, and how could a company raise it?To buy raw materials and equipment, pay workers, and advertise. A company could raise money by becoming a corporation and selling stock to shareholders.
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4Who founded Standard Oil, and what is horizontal integration?John D. Rockefeller. Horizontal integration = combining competing companies into one corporation. (1870 → Standard Oil of Ohio; 1882 → formed a trust.)
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5How did Rockefeller build a monopoly?Lowered prices to drive out competitors, got secret lower railroad rates, and bought stock in many oil companies to form a trust — giving him near-total control of the industry (a monopoly).
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6Who led the steel industry, and what is vertical integration?Andrew Carnegie. Vertical integration = owning every step of production. Carnegie bought iron and coal mines, ore ships, and railroads to control all parts of making and selling steel.
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7What is philanthropy? Give an example.Using wealth to benefit the community. Carnegie gave ~$350 million (libraries, schools); Rockefeller founded the University of Chicago and the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research.
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8What was the purpose of the Sherman Antitrust Act?To prohibit trusts and monopolies — passed because monopolies had no reason to improve products or lower prices.
Read Ch 5, Section 3 — "An Age of Big Business" United States History: Modern Times · pp. 154–157
Socratic read-aloud. Stop at each ◆ to think aloud together — students fill their guided notes as we go. Click a button where you'd normally pull something up on the board.
Foundations for growth. After the Civil War, new sources of power and raw materials fueled an industrial boom. Oil, discovered in western Pennsylvania in the 1850s, produced smoke-free light and heat and lubricated the new machines.
Raising capital. To expand, businesses needed capital. Many became corporations — selling stock to shareholders, who became partial owners and earned dividends when the company did well.
The oil business. At 26, John D. Rockefeller and four partners built a refinery in Cleveland. He drove down prices, squeezed the railroads, and in 1882 formed the Standard Oil Trust — buying up competitors until he had a monopoly.
The steel business. The Bessemer and open-hearth processes made steel cheap and strong — perfect for rails and bridges. Andrew Carnegie, a Scottish immigrant who started as a telegraph messenger, used vertical integration to control every step, producing a third of the nation's steel.
Getting too big. As trusts grew, so did worry. The Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) outlawed trusts and monopolies that restrained trade — though it was hard to enforce at first.
Tap a card to reveal the definition. C5S3 Vocab Note Cards
Industrial Workers
Describe the most disgusting thing you've ever eaten.
Silent write, first 5 minutes. (Nice lead-in to talking about factory food-safety and working conditions.)
Assigned: Read & take notes — C5S4 Ch 5 Sec 4 · guided-notes questions. Reveal as students answer.
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1Describe working conditions for industrial laborers. What is a sweatshop?10–12 hours a day, six days a week; fired for any reason; unsafe, unhealthy factories where accidents were common. A sweatshop is a crowded urban shop where workers labor long hours in unsafe conditions.
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2How did women's pay compare to men's?Women were paid far less than men for the same work — often about half. Children were paid even less.
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3What is a trade union, and what is collective bargaining?A trade union represents workers in a certain craft or trade. Collective bargaining is when the union negotiates with management on the workers' behalf.
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4Compare the Knights of Labor and the American Federation of Labor.Knights of Labor (Terence V. Powderly) welcomed nearly all workers, skilled and unskilled. The AFL (Samuel Gompers, of the Cigar Makers' Union) was an alliance of national trade unions representing skilled workers by craft.
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5Who was Eugene V. Debs?A union leader (American Railway Union) who was sent to jail after a major railroad strike.
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6What is an injunction, and what is a strikebreaker?An injunction is a court order (often used to stop a strike). A strikebreaker is a worker hired to replace someone who is on strike.
Read Ch 5, Section 4 — "Industrial Workers" United States History: Modern Times · pp. 158–162
Same routine — read aloud, stop at each ◆, students fill guided notes. The big-business story from Day 1 flips to the workers' side today.
Working conditions. Industrial laborers worked ten or twelve hours a day, six days a week, for low pay. Factories were dangerous — steelworkers were burned, coal miners died in cave-ins, and garment workers crowded into sweatshops.
Workers organize. To gain power, workers formed trade unions and used collective bargaining. The Knights of Labor welcomed almost everyone; the American Federation of Labor under Samuel Gompers organized skilled workers by craft.
Strikes and backlash. Strikes sometimes turned violent, and courts issued injunctions to stop them while owners hired strikebreakers. After the Pullman Strike, union leader Eugene V. Debs was jailed.
Tap a card to reveal the definition. C5S4 Vocab Note Cards