2nd Industrial Revolution

The Civil War was over, the destruction caused by the war in the South was being repaired during Reconstruction. and America was "One Nation" perhaps for the first time since the American Revolution. From the mid-19th century a time period known as "The Second Industrial Revolution" created world-shattering progression in manufacturing, technology, and industrial production methods, particularly in the United States, from around 1865 to 1914. Although some historians date the Second Industrial Revolution differently a general understanding it dates from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of World War I in Europe. The era comprises of developments in steel production, electricity, increased mass production of consumer products, and the expansion of a nationwide railroad network, the immigration and growth of ever-enlarging cities. America would be forever changed with the growth of factories and worker's disposable income to utilize new technologies such as the telegraph, the telephone, the automobile, and the radio, along with consumer goods.

Some Highlights include:

The Second Industrial Revolution was as period of tremendous economic, industrial, and technological advancement taking place between the end of the American Civil War and the start of World War I.
Considered to have been triggered by the invention of the Bessemer process for the cost-effective production of steel and the associated expansion of the U.S. railroad system, the period resulted in an unprecedented increase in industrial production.
Advancements in factory workflow, such as mass production, electrification, and automation contributed to economic growth.
The Second Industrial Revolution also gave rise to the first workplace safety and work hours laws, including the prohibition of child labor.

Major Effects of Industrialization

This rapid shift of industrialization caused drastic changes in the economy. Large corporations and trusts (a large grouping of business interests with significant market power, which may be embodied as a corporation or as a group of corporations that cooperate with one another in various ways) quickly arose and amassed significant power and finally controlled much industry. This was known as the "Gilded Age" in which a few extremely wealthy entrepreneurs who became known alternatively as “captains of industry” and “robber barons.” They grew rich through the monopolies they created in the steel, petroleum, and transportation industries. Among the best known of them were John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Leland Stanford, and J.P. Morgan.

An atmosphere of a quest for materialism (The theory or attitude that physical well-being and worldly possessions constitute the greatest good and highest value in life) resulted in poor living conditions and long hours for working class people. The combination of poor housing, sanitation, healthcare, and exploitation of workers led to a call for immense reform.

The drastic rise in economic activity at this time was mainly due to industrialization and the practice of cheap labor led by the predominant big businesses, and the influx of immigrants to fill jobs at low wages. This explosive growth in business led to the emergence of large corporations and trusts that controlled their industries by taking over smaller companies and creating a monopoly in the market. One of the most notable examples of this was the U.S. Steel Corporation that was controlled by Andrew Carnegie. Between the years of 1887 and 1904, a total of nine steel companies were consolidated, and the corporation was able to practice ruthless tactics to monopolize the industry without consequences from the government.

Case Study - Homestead Strike (1892)

n July 1892, a dispute between Carnegie Steel and the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers exploded into violence at a steel plant owned by Andrew Carnegie in Homestead, Pennsylvania. In what would be one of the deadliest labor-management conflicts in the nation’s history, some 12 people were killed when striking workers attacked 300 Pinkerton detectives hired by the plant’s management as security guards.

Carnegie Steel vs. Steelworkers’ Union

By 1892, Andrew Carnegie had worked his way up from his poor childhood in Scotland to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful industrialists in the United States. He was the majority shareholder of Carnegie Steel, the nation’s largest steelmaker, as well as a leading philanthropist who voiced public support for labor causes, including the right of workers to unionize.

But when Henry Clay Frick, chairman and chief executive of Carnegie Steel, wanted to cut workers’ wages at the plant in Homestead, located near Pittsburgh on the south bank of the Monongahela River, Carnegie supported Frick’s efforts despite his public pro-labor stance. Homestead was one of the most important of Carnegie Steel’s vast network of iron, steel and coke works, and Frick’s efforts would pit him against the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, one of the largest unions in the country.

Beginning of the Homestead strike

With the union’s three-year contract with Carnegie coming to an end in June 1892, Frick announced pay cuts for hundreds of Homestead workers. After refusing to negotiate with the union, he shuttered the Homestead steel mill on June 29, locking 3,800 workers out. Only around 725 of those workers belonged to Amalgamated, but all of them voted to strike, surprising Frick, who had assumed only union members would strike.

After Frick had a high fence topped with barbed wire built around the mill itself, leading workers to dub it “Fort Frick,” armed workers surrounded the plant and sealed off the town. In order to protect the strikebreakers he planned to hire, Frick followed the example of many industrialists battling unions and called in the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Pinkerton detectives had become known for infiltrating unions and breaking strikes nationwide, including at another Carnegie plant a few years earlier.

Striking steel workers on a hill above the Carnegie Steel Company's Homestead Steel Works in Homestead, Pennsylvania, July 1892.

Early on the morning of July 6, around 300 Pinkerton detectives arrived on barges pulled by tugboats along the Monongahela River. When word arrived of their approach, thousands of striking workers and their families rushed to the river to keep them from coming ashore at Homestead. The two groups exchanged gunfire, with the Pinkertons armed with Winchester repeating rifles and the workers on higher ground firing down on the barges with ancient guns and even an old cannon.

After the Pinkertons repeatedly raised a white flag, the workers finally accepted their surrender by early evening. Nearly a dozen people had been killed by then, and a crowd of men, women and children brutally beat the Pinkertons who came ashore after their surrender. At Frick’s request, the governor of Pennsylvania soon sent 8,500 National Guard forces to Homestead, who quickly secured the steel mill and placed the plant and the surrounding town under martial law.

While the conflict at Homestead was playing out, Carnegie was vacationing at a remote castle in Scotland, where he spent much of each year. Though workers and members of the press tried to reach him, he remained inaccessible but stayed in communication with Frick, whose actions he endorsed.

Impact of the Homestead strike

Though the Homestead workers initially enjoyed widespread public support, this changed after their brutal treatment of the Pinkertons, as well as an attempt made on Frick’s life in late July by the anarchist Alexander Berkman, who had no connection with the union. Homestead resumed operations in full by mid-August 1892, thanks to some 1,700 strikebreakers, including some of the state’s first Black steelworkers.

Many of the striking workers had returned to work by mid-October, and the union admitted defeat the following month. The strike’s leaders were charged with murder, and others with lesser crimes. None were convicted, but the damage to unionized labor at Homestead had been done. With Amalgamated out of the way, Carnegie slashed wages across the board, implemented a 12-hour workday and cut hundreds of jobs in the years to come.

The Homestead debacle helped turn public opinion against the use of hired help like the Pinkertons in labor disputes, and 26 states passed laws outlawing it in the years following the strike. Carnegie’s own reputation suffered irreparable damage, with critics branding him a hypocrite and a coward for hiding out in Scotland and allowing Frick to do the dirty work.

Still, profits at Carnegie Steel continued to rise as its productivity outpaced its competitors, even as membership in the Amalgamated dropped from more than 20,000 in 1892 to 8,000 by 1895. The Homestead strike broke the power of the Amalgamated and effectively ended unionizing among steelworkers in the United States for the next 26 years, before it made a resurgence at the end of World War I.

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was a devastating industrial disaster that occurred on March 25, 1911, in New York City. The fire took place in the Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory, which was located on the eighth floor of the Asch Building in Greenwich Village.

The fire started when a discarded cigarette ignited a pile of fabric scraps on the factory floor. The building's inadequate fire safety measures, including locked exit doors and inadequate fire escapes, contributed to the tragedy. As a result, 146 workers, mostly young immigrant women, died in the fire or jumping to their deaths from the burning building.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire was a turning point in the labor movement and spurred significant changes in workplace safety regulations and labor laws. It also led to the creation of the New York State Labor Department, which established and enforced safety regulations to prevent future industrial disasters. The tragedy remains a significant event in the history of workplace safety and workers' rights in the United States.

Philanthropy from the Captains of Industry

The number of rich families climbed exponentially, from 100 or so millionaires in the 1870s to 4000 in 1892 and 16,000 in 1916. The "Gospel of Wealth" was a concept introduced by Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest people of his time, in an essay he wrote in 1889. In this essay, Carnegie argued that the accumulation of wealth was a necessary and desirable result of the capitalist system, but that the wealthy had a responsibility to use their wealth to benefit society. Many subscribed to Andrew Carnegie's credo outlined in The Gospel of Wealth that said they owed a duty to society that called for philanthropic giving to colleges, hospitals, medical research, libraries, museums, religion, and social betterment.

Carnegie believed that the best way for the wealthy to use their money was through philanthropy, which he saw as a means of promoting social progress and reducing inequality. He argued that it was not enough for the wealthy to simply give money to charity; they needed to use their wealth to fund projects and initiatives that would have a lasting impact on society.

The "Gospel of Wealth" contributed to philanthropy in a number of ways. First, it helped to establish the idea that the wealthy had a responsibility to give back to society. This idea has become a widely accepted norm in modern philanthropy.

Second, the "Gospel of Wealth" helped to promote the idea that philanthropy should be strategic and focused on achieving specific goals. This approach to philanthropy has become increasingly popular in recent years, with many philanthropists using their wealth to fund initiatives in areas such as education, healthcare, and social justice.

Finally, the "Gospel of Wealth" helped to establish the idea of philanthropy as a means of promoting social progress and reducing inequality. This idea has had a significant impact on the development of modern philanthropy, which is now seen as a key tool for addressing some of the world's most pressing social and environmental challenges.

In the early 20th century, American philanthropy matured, with the development of very large, highly visible private foundations created by Rockefeller, and Carnegie. The largest foundations fostered modern, efficient, business-oriented operations (as opposed to "charity") designed to better society rather than merely enhance the status of the giver. Close ties were built with the local business community, as in the "community chest" movement. The American Red Cross was reorganized and professionalized. Several major foundations aided the blacks in the South and were typically advised by Booker T. Washington. By contrast, Europe and Asia had few foundations. This allowed both Carnegie and Rockefeller to operate internationally with a powerful effect.

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Sources:

Sources

The Strike at Homestead Mill. PBS American Experience.
The 1892 Battle of Homestead. The Battle of Homestead Foundation.
Leon Wolff, “Battle at Homestead.” American Heritage. Volume 16, Issue 3, April 1965.
https://www.history.com/topics/industrial-revolution/homestead-strike
1892 Homestead Strike. AFL-CIO.org.