Chapter 18

A PEOPLE & A 

NATION 

EIGHTH EDITION 

Norton • Katzman • Blight • 

Chudacoff • Paterson • Tuttle • 

Escott • Bailey • Logevall 

Chapter 18: The 

Machine Age, 

1877–1920

Ch.18: The Machine Age, 1877–1920 

• Industrialization (mass production by 

machines) dramatically alter USA 

• USA shift from debtor, agricultural nation to 

industrial, financial, & exporting power 

• Start early 1800s; accelerate late 1800s 

• Workers: from producers of whole product, to 

employees who repeat specialized, timed tasks 

• New jobs, goods, & powerful national 

corporations 

• Negative aspects: uneven distribution of power 

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 18 | 2

I. Birth of the Electrical Industry 

• Edison represent spirit of invention and 

effective marketing of new products 

• Generate electricity (Edison Electric Light Co., 

1878) to transmit light, sound, images 

• Westinghouse’s generators & transformers 

send electricity long distances cheaply 

• Financiers (Morgan) merge companies into 

General Electric Co. 

• Individual inventors continue (G. Woods) 


II. Henry Ford and the Automobile 

Industry 

• Visionary manufacturer esp. with organization 

• Ford Motor Co. (1903) produce 1000s of 

identical cars (Model T, 1908) 

• Assembly lines with specialized workers/ 

machines 

• Automobiles spur related industries (oil, rubber) 

• Ford introduce Five-Dollar-Day plan (1914) 

• Head off unionization and help workers 

become consumers (from $2-day) 


III. Chemical Industry; Southern 

Industry 

• Du Ponts fund first research lab (1911) to 

create consumer products (film, plastics) 

• Du Ponts (like Edison & Ford) harness 

innovation with organization for profit 

• Southern industry use 2 main southern 

crops 

• Duke’s American Tobacco Co. 

popularize machine-rolled cigarettes 

• Entice consumers with free samples & 

advertising 


IV. Southern Textile Mills 

• Textile mills move from North to South 

• Electricity replace water to power mills 

• Southern labor cheaper because fewer 

unions and greater use of women & 

children 

• Some iron & steel factories in South 

• Some southerners (Grady) proclaim 

emergence of “New South” of 

industry/business/cities 


V. Consequences of Technology 

• Timing vary from industry to industry, but 

overall dramatic change develop 

• Telephones & typewriters revolutionize 

communications (not need face-to-face) 

• Higher production at lower cost create 

profits 

• Only large companies can afford 

specialized machines & bulk raw 

materials 


VI. Frederick W. Taylor and 

Efficiency 

• Nature of work change as new managers take 

control over how product made 

• Stress efficiency (faster production with fewer 

skilled workers) to cut costs & boost profits 

• Convert worker: 

• From skilled producer (control labor) to 

unskilled employee (interchangeable part on 

assembly-line) 

• Watertown molders vs. Merrick’s stopwatch 


VII. Mechanization and the 

Changing Status of Labor 

• Mass production divide manufacturing 

into small tasks 

• Worker repeat specific task 

• Fewer workers produce more in less time 

• Workers resist loss of control over when 

to work, how to make product, pace of 

work 

• Employers gain control of workplace and 

try to control workers at home 

(temperance) 


VIII. Restructuring the Work Force: 

Women 

• Employers cut labor costs by hiring women 

for menial jobs in textiles, food-processing 

• Proportion of women in domestic service 

drop 

• # in clerical jobs skyrocket (Figure 18.1) 

• 1880: 2.6 million female employees 

• 1900: 8.6 million female employees 

• Pervasive sex discrimination (lower wages 

than men, few opportunities for promotion) 


IX. Restructuring the Work Force: 

Child Labor 

• Employers (esp. shoes, textiles) cut costs 

by hiring children for fraction of adult wage 

• Figure 18.2: percentage of child workers 

• Many more work street trades 

• A few states pass laws to regulate child 

labor 

• Big companies (interstate commerce) evade 

laws 

• Families need child’s income to survive 


X. Industrial Accidents; Freedom of 

Contract 

• Numerous accidents push families into 

poverty 

• Employers evade responsibility 

• In 1913: 25,000 killed, 1 million maimed 

• Triangle Shirtwaist Co. fire (1911) kill 146 

• Employers theorize workers can seek 

higher wages elsewhere if unhappy 

• Reality: difficult to find steady job 

• So employers can pay low wages and 

fire workers who call for better 

pay/conditions 


XI. Court Rulings on Labor Reform 

• Courts help employers by denying 

workers right to organize and bargain 

collectively 

• Supreme Court void most laws to 

regulate workplace/hours 

• Claim workers = free individuals (Lochner 

v. NY, 1905) 

• Muller v. Oregon (1908) allow regulation 

of female workers to safeguard health 

• End up barring women from many jobs 


XII. Railroad Strike of 1877 

• Some workers unionize to resist 

workplace changes 

• B/c of wage cuts & increased workloads, 

unionized rail workers strike across USA 

• Some turn violent 

• Employers crush strike with violence 

(state militias) & strikebreakers 

• President Hayes send in US troops = 1st 

significant use of army to quell labor 

unrest 


XIII. Knights of Labor 

• Most early unions = “trade/craft” unions 

• Restrict membership to skilled workers in 

particular craft 

• Result = small membership 

• Knights = 1 st major broad-based labor 

union 

• Start 1869; under Powderly, 730,000 by 

1886 

• Knights admit unskilled workers, women, 

African Americans, & recent immigrants 


XIII. Knights of Labor (cont.) 

• Seek alternative to profit-oriented 

industrial capitalism 

• Offer vision of workers owning & 

operating factories via cooperatives 

• Vision attractive, but often vague 

• Powderly also oppose strikes 

• Over time skilled members desert 

Knights to form craft unions & pursue selfinterest 


XIV. Haymarket Riot (1886) 

• Many Chicago workers protest in support of 

8-hour workday 

• A few anarchists join 

• In response to largest spontaneous labor 

demonstrations, Chicago crush strikes with 

force 

• Workers respond with further protests 

• After bomb, Chicago (fearing radicalism & 

unrest) arrest many anarchists & unionists 

• Cities also strengthen police 


XV. American Federation of Labor 

• An alliance of craft unions, AFL emerge as 

major labor organization by late 1880s 

• Gompers focus on concrete goals (better pay, 

conditions) for skilled workers 

• Exclude recent immigrants & blacks because of 

competition for jobs, pay fears, & prejudice 

• When strikebreakers, immigrants & blacks 

reinforce bias of native skilled workers 

• Only Knights & IWW admit immigrants, blacks 

Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. 18 | 18

XVI. Homestead Strike; Pullman 

Strike 

• Continued violence hurt union movement 

• Pay cuts prompt Homestead Steel Strike, 


• Workers resist exploitation at Pullman, 


• In both, armed force defeat strikers 

• Violence by labor offend public opinion 


XVII. Industrial Workers of the 

World (IWW) 

• Western miners form it (1905) 

• Welcome unskilled workers like Knights 

• A radical union 

• Accept violence/class conflict 

• Advocate socialism 

• Hold protests across USA 

• Membership small 

• Hurt by government persecution 


XVIII. Women Unionists 

• Most craft unions (AFL) exclude women 

• Reflect traditional views on gender and 

competition for jobs, pay fears 

• Women form separate unions 

• Men dominate national labor leadership 

• Telephone Operators = femaledominated 

union 

• Women’s Trade Union League (1903) 

lobby for laws to help working women 


XIX. The Experience of Wage Work 

• Majority of workers not join unions 

• 1900: only 1 million of 27.6 million 

workers 

• Getting & holding job = priority for most 

• Intense competition for jobs 

• Seasonal nature of work with layoffs 

• Some form fraternal societies for help 

• To most workers, machine age = mixed 

results 


XX. Standards of Living; 

Commonplace Luxuries 

• Consumer-oriented society develop 

• Ready-made clothing, canned food, & home 

appliances change dress, diet, habits 

• New industrial elite emerge 

• 1920: richest 5% earn 25% of earned 

income 

• Size & income of middle class expand 

• Wages for most workers increase 

• But seasonal nature of work weaken 

earnings 


XXI. Cost of Living; 

Higher Life Expectancy 

• Cost of living rise faster than wages for 

most 

• Many workers afford new goods only by 

having wives & children work for pay 

• Also rent rooms to boarders 

• Extensive wage/money economy develop 

• Post-1900, science & technology 

increase life expectancy & lower death 

rate from disease 

• More young attend school; path to middle 

class 


XXII. Flush Toilets and Other 

Innovations 

• Symbolic of revolution in lifestyle 

• Mass production (post-1900) change 

habits/ attitudes toward cleanliness, 

water use 

• First for elite and middle class 

• Spread to working class, post-1920 

• Tin cans, refrigerated rail cars, iceboxes, 

& dietary reform (Kellogg) diversify diets 

• Workers still spend much of their pay on 

food 


XXIII. Ready-made Clothing; 

Department Stores 

• By 1900, clothing shift from being made at 

home to mass-produced, consumer product 

• Department stores create merchandising 

revolution (big stores with massive 

inventory) 

• A&P, Woolworth’s = 1st national chain 

stores 

• Advertising (newspapers, billboards) entice 

Americans to consume new products 

• Try to create brand loyalties 


XXIV. The Corporate Consolidation 

Movement 

• Recurring boom/bust cycles hit economy 

• Business leaders use centralization for 

stability 

• Use corporations to raise capital with limited 

liability (help from Supreme Court) 

• Massive conglomerates dominate economy 

• Start with pools, then trusts 

• Later holding companies & mergers 

• Ruthlessly take control of small competitors 


XXIV. Consolidation Movement 

(cont.) 

• With horizontal & vertical integration, 

JDR’s Standard Oil refine 84% of US oil 

by 1898 

• Financiers (Morgan) assume new power 

• Corporate growth expand stock/bond 

exchanges, foreign investment, personal 

savings, & bank investments 

• Industrial leaders assert Social Darwinism 

• Also demand government aid (tariffs, 

loans) 


XXV. Carnegie’s Gospel of Wealth 

and Its Critics 

• Justify his wealth/power with philanthropy 

• Critics argue greedy monopolies exploit 

workers, stifle competition, & corrupt 

politics 

• Criticize Social Darwinism & laissez-faire 

• George & Bellamy advocate using 

government to solve mass poverty 

• Sherman Anti-Trust Act (1890) example 

of early big business regulation 

• Unsuccessful (US v. EC Knight Co, 1895) 


Summary: Discuss Links to the 

World & Legacy 

• Atlantic Cable as multinational effort? 

• Cable reflect & increase US-British links 

• Increased global communication by 1902? 

• How recorded sound a key legacy of late- 

1800s industrialization? 

• Innovation of technology & chemistry? 

• Role of competition between Edison & Bell? 

• Shift popular music from playing to listening?

Chapter 18

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