HIST 1100 Chapter Notes - Chapter 17: Union Stock Yards, Refrigerator Car, Gustavus Franklin Swift
16 May 2016
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Chapter 17: capital and labor in the age of enterprise 1877-1900. The year that reconstruction ended, 1877, the first great labor crisis of american industrial history occurred: industrial capitalism triumphant. The late 19th century the age of the great deflation: the age of steel. Central to capital goods was a technological revolution in steel making. Wrought iron did not stand up under heavy use as railroad track: andrew carnegie and american steel. Carnegie arrived from scotland in 1848 at age 12. 1872- erected huge steel mill outside pittsburgh with the bessemer converter as its centerpiece. Carnegie"s plant became a model for industry: the railroad boom. Water transportation was adequate for the us before the civil war: constructing the railroads. The us chose free enterprise for railroads. The most important boost was limited liability for stock holders. Gould forced small companies against big ones in hopes of being bought out, and forced down prices: the railway system.
