Industrialization and the Gilded Age
Steel, oil, and rail networks stitched the country together while a handful of trusts learned to run whole industries.
5 topics · 16 questions
Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.
The Transcontinental Railroad
- How it worksShow me the Central Pacific building east from California while the Union Pacific builds west from Nebraska.
- Worked exampleTrace the transcontinental railroad's 1,912 miles meeting at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869.
- Going furtherWhat happens to travel time across the country once a trip that took months by wagon takes about a week by rail.
- Ties togetherHow does the transcontinental railroad's reach set up the national rail network the rest of industrialization depends on?
Your turn1 of 2
The Central Pacific Railroad built east from California while the Union Pacific built west from Nebraska, meeting at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869. Why did the two companies racing toward each other matter more than either company's own track alone?Big Business and the Trusts
- How it worksShow me Standard Oil's trust structure controlling refining, pipelines, and shipping under one board of trustees.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't a 19th century trust the same thing as simply owning stock in several separate companies.
- How it worksHow did vertical integration let Andrew Carnegie control everything from iron ore mines to finished steel rails.
Your turn1 of 2
Standard Oil placed the stock of dozens of nominally separate oil companies into the hands of a single board of trustees, who then set prices and output across the whole industry. Why isn't a 19th century trust the same thing as simply owning stock in several separate companies?Steel, Oil, and the New Industrial Economy
- How it worksWalk me through how the Bessemer process blasted air through molten iron to strip out impurities fast and cheap.
- Going furtherWhat happens to what a city can build once steel makes a frame stronger than the stone that used to hold buildings up.
- Worked exampleTrace US steel production climbing from about 77,000 tons in 1870 to over 11 million tons by 1900.
Your turn1 of 2
US steel production grew from about 82 thousand tons in 1870 to about 12 million tons by 1900. About how many times larger was steel production in 1900 than in 1870?Labor Unions and the Great Strikes
- How it worksShow me the Homestead Strike of 1892 escalating from a wage cut into an armed standoff at Carnegie's steel mill.
- Common mistakeWhy isn't a strike simply workers refusing to work rather than a whole standoff over recognition and power.
- How it worksHow did the Pullman Strike of 1894 spread from one factory town into a national rail shutdown.
Your turn1 of 2
Factory workers who badly needed their wages sometimes still chose to walk off the job in a strike, risking real financial hardship. Why?The Gilded Age Wealth Gap
- How it worksHow does Social Darwinism turn a huge wealth gap into an argument against helping the poor at all.
- Worked exampleShow me the share of the nation's wealth held by the richest 1 percent climbing through the Gilded Age.
- Going furtherWhat happens to public opinion about wealthy industrialists once journalists start publishing their working conditions.
Your turn1 of 2
By the late 1800s, the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans held about 30 percent of the nation's wealth; by the 1890s that share had climbed to about 49 percent. By how many percentage points did the top 1 percent's share of wealth grow?