Urbanisation, industrialisation and the rise of corporations Flashcards
Describe the Gilded Age.
It was the age of industrial capitalism, the age of big business.
What industries drove economic growth?
- Railroads
- Copper and coal mining
- Meat-packing
- Canned foods
- Steel and oil
Describe the transition in the size of the companies.
Small companies expanded into bigger ones, then merged with or bought out other companies to form agglomerated corporations that raised the huge investment finance necessary to control ever-larger markets.
What accelerated the process of urbanisation?
Industrialisation, mass immigration, and improvements in transportation.
Describe how the cities grew.
Existing big cities grew bigger, while new big cities experienced explosive population growth. Urbanisation created new markets, new business opportunities, and a vast, mobile work force.
Describing the situation with oil by 1874.
Smaller oil companies were merging into larger ones, especially Standard Oil.
What was production of steel greatly increased by?
The demands of the Civil War and by the expansion of railroads.
What was industrial expansion also pushed forward by?
Important technological innovations by inventors such as Thomas Edison.
What did Mark Twain regard the key indicator as of economic progress?
The flood of patents taken out by Edison and other inventors.
What assisted rapid commercial expansion for ice-making, breweries, and meat packing?
Improved technologies in refrigeration from 1867, including refrigerated ships and railway cars.
Name some giant business empires that were taking shape by the late 1870s.
John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, Andrew Carnegie’s US Steel, and HJ Heinz’s canned foods empire.
What was the rapid expansion of the economy slowed by?
The Panic of 1873, leading to 5 years of recession and many firms going bankrupt.
How was the Panic of 1873 beneficial to some? Give an example of this.
It opened opportunities for enterprising businessmen to buy up failed companies and consolidate them.
The expansion of smaller railroads in Minnesota into a huge railroad empire across the Northwest by James J Jill was an example of this.
Describe the economic situation by 1877.
Despite the slowdown after the 1873 Panic, The American economy was poised for further expansion.
