Gilded Age

Nota:

•    Rapid economic expansion required a labour force to make goods for the consumers. Even after the civil War and almost 500,000 dead the population was still able to provide enough labour and consumers.   
•    The population grew nearly 20 million every 20 years which was due to better pay and health care as well as the increase in immigration to the USA. The among of immigrants coming in where from 2.8 million in 1871-80 to 8.8 million in 1901-1910   
•    The amount of immigrants coming into America was seen as the greatest mass migrations in history which had people coming from Europe and Asia, who were looking for a better standard of living in the USA. These immigrants where accepted as they brought more labour as well as more consumers to the American market.   

Nota:

•    US manufactures gained a lot of business in the 1870s and 1880s as there was a massive expansion in the United States. The New settlements required many goods from barbed wire to kettles as well as railway tracks and guns.   
•    Much of the land was fertile but was unsuitable for small scale farming by families which led to larger and wide spread farms which had manufactures building newer and better agricultural tools to help develop the land.   
•    The Availability of land also meant that there was no problems finding space for new factories and cities.   

Nota:

•    The increase of trains around America meant that more cities could be built inland and away from the sea and navigable rivers as the trains could bring goods to consumers where ever they were which lead to the use of catalogues which meant more wide spread consumerism.   
•    The railways employed nearly 1 million workers by 1900 which provided an example of how a large company could work. The Railways started the American industrial revolution and then helped to carry on its expansion in the years that followed.   

Nota:

•    The government was meant to have no role other than an economic one, except the president was not allowed to intervene and Congress showed no desire to get involved.   
• There were no laws about labour, so businesses made it so there worker did lots of work in very dangerous conditions. 
•    There were little laws put in place to restrict business owners from doing whatever they wanted when it came to looking after their employees.   

Nota:

•    America prided themselves on the fact that they had no class system which was true but only if you were a white man. Self-made people where seen as celebrities back then.   

Nota:

•    The 1870s and 1880s were full of men prepared to experiment, adapt and develop ideas, which led to them making a large amount of money.   

1. Andrew Carnegie and the United States Steel

   Nota:

   •    Andrew Carnegie saw the processes being used in England to manufacture steel, so he brought it back to America and developed huge factories that made the process quicker and cheaper and was creating more steel than all of Brittan by 1900. His Annual profit was $42 million.   
   •    When men applied for better pay and work condition he brought in arm guards to squash the rebellion which resulted in several people being killed or wounded.   
2. Thomas Edison and electricity

   Nota:

   •    Thomas Edison saw the Commercial value in Electricity which made Edison have three good examples of entrepreneurship of the age: 1. He was reasonable for a large number of actual inventions, such as the electric lightbulb 2. He had the skill to industrialise those inventions, make them commercially viable, and produce and sell them on a large sale 3. He developed the first great industrial research laboratory, with chemists, engineers and mechanics, to work on more similar inventions.   
   • Edison also helped to introduce the copyright law in the late 18th century and the early 19th century.

Nota:

•    Entrepreneurs needed money to start their business especially if there business required a lot of generators and cable to provide electricity. After the civil war many factories needed money to repair which led to the development of the stock system in New York.   
•    The Stock exchange was very large and was making $6 billion which made it the second biggest stock exchange in the world at the time.   

Nota:

•    There were no rules and regulations against businessmen who went on to create corporations.   
•    A corporation could buy and sell railways as well as sue and be sued. This resulted in the growth of giant industries as there were no rules about accounts or reporting anyone.   

Nota:

•    Congress was intent on making home made goods sell better than overseas items which meant that some foreign items had taxes of 50% to ensure that the local goods sold more due to them being a lot cheaper.   
•    Tariffs where an important discussion in the 1880s and 1890s as they were under fire from consumers who didn’t always want to buy the local goods.