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Bessemer Process
Henry Bessemer created a cheaper and more efficient way of producing steel. It was a process of making steel from pig iron by burning out impurities by a blast of air from molten metal. This efficiency of creating steel was mass-produced thus making steal cheaper and more affordable.
http://www.anselm.edu/homepage/dbanach/h-carnegie-steel.htm -
Edwin Drake discovers first oil well in Titusville, PA
On August 27, Drake and his uncle were drilling at 69 inches that hit black gold. They discovered oil pooling from Earth's surface and had to use a mechanical pump to pump the oil out.
http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-B0 -
Christopher Sholes
Christopher Sholes discovered the first modern typewriter with the help of his to companions Carlos Glidden and Samuel Soulé. His first typewriter had keys that had been arranged in alphabetical order, but it was constantly jamming. He then rearranged his letters so that the letters that were most frequently jammed were placed farther apart from each other. This is commonly called the "QWERTY", and these arrangements of letter-keys are still used today in modern keyboards.
http://www.nndb.com/ -
Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad
This railroad linked the Eastern railway networks to California. This railroad helped immensely for the economy. It also helped with safer and faster transportation. Other transontinental and regional lines followed.
http://www.tcrr.com/ -
J.P Morgan
(No exact dates, 1871). J.P Morgan created his own private banking company which became J.P Morgan & Co. after working for his father. His company became one of the leading financial companies in America and it was so powerful that the government looked to the firm for aid during the Depression. Morgan was criticized for making monopolies. He helped consolidate railroad industry in the East and formed the United States Steel Corporation in 1901.
http://www.biography.com/people/jp-morgan-9414735 -
Credit Mobilier Scandal
(No exact dates, 1872-73). Major stockholders in the Union Pacific Railroad formed this company, and gave it contracts to build the railroad. They used Congressmen to give them money that was probably two to three times the actual cost. With the stockholders having more money than they needed, they pocketed the extra money. There then was a congressional investigation which was influenced by the stories in the New York Sun. http://www.history.com/topics/credit-mobilier -
Alexander Graham Bell
Bell wanted to develop a more complex telegraph, using the Morse code at different pitches to send messages simultaneously. He then faced a problem of sending pitches across wires. He solved this problem by using sound waves in a continous current, which he could apply to human speech. After he got his patent for his invention, he tested his telephone with his companion, Thomas Watson, and said, "Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you." -
Munn v. Illinois
Illinois regulated grain warehouse and elevator rates by making maximum rates for their use. A Chicago warehouse firm, Munn and Scott, was founded guilty of violating the law. The Supreme Court ruled that Munn and Scott were not guilty and that the state violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
http://www.oyez.org/cases/1851-1900/1875/1875_0 -
Mother Jones
(No exact dates /years). Also known as Mary Harris Jones, she was an Irish immigrant and one of the most important organizer in women's labor movement. She participated in the Great Strike of 1877 and organized for the United Mine Workers of America. She also organized children textile workers to march on President Roosevelt’s home in 1903. Mother Jones received her nickname by coal miners when she was in jail.
http://www.fembio.org/english/biography.php/woman/biography/mary-harris-mother-jones -
Thomas Alva Edison
(No exact number day, Dec. 1877). In December 1877 Edison discovered the phonograph (record sound). In January of 1880, Edison received a patent for improvement of the lightbulb. That same year, Edison founded the Edison Illuminating Company which produced and distributed electrical power. Electricity changed the nature of business in the US.
http://www.biography.com/people/thomas-edison-9284349?page=3 -
John D. Rockefeller
(No exact date, 1882). Rockefeller built the Standard Oil Company in 1870 by Cleveland. By the early 1800s, Rockefeller used trusts to gain total control of the oil industry in America (monopoly).
http://www.biography.com/people/john-d-rockefeller-20710159 -
The Haymarket Riot
3,000 people gathered at Chicago's Haymarket Square to protest police brutality. Someone hurled a bomb at the police and then the police fired on the workers. Sixty officers were injured, and eight died. The number of people in the crowd who died was undetermined.
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/571.html -
Interstate Commerce Act
(No exact date).Congress passed this law so that the federal government could supervise railroad activities in response to a public demand. The act outruled harmful monoplies which often controlled railroad companies. The act also established five-member Interstate Commerce Commision (ICC) to regulate railroad rates.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/documents/docpages/document_page49.htm -
Sherman Antitrust Act
This act was named after Senator John Sherman of Ohio. It's purpose was to make it illegal to form a trust that interfered with free trade between states or with foreign countries. This act was directed towards expanding corporations that would harm free competition due to their trusts between other corporations.
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=51 -
Homestead Strike
Steelworkers under Andrew Carnegie's steel company called a stike after the company planned to cut wages on the workers. Henry Frick, the company's president, turned to the forces from the Pinkerton Detective Agency to protect the plant which eventually resulted in a battle that left 3 detectives and 9 workers dead. The strike lasted until November, and then the union finally gave in to the company.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carnegie/peopleevents/pande04.html -
Eugene Debs
(No exact date, 1893). Debs became president of the American Railway Union. In 1894, his union conducted a successful strike for higher wages against the Great Northern Railway. In the same year he went to jail for the Pullman Palace Car Company strike. He was the Socialist party's presidential candidate five times.
http://www.biography.com/people/eugene-v-debs-9269253 -
Pullman Strike
On May 11, 1894, three thousand Pullman workers, many of them belonging to the American Railroad Union, went on strike without the approval of their union due to the failure of negotiations over declining wages. This caused national railroad traffic.
http://www.lib.niu.edu/1994/ihy941208.html -
Wright Brothers
On this day Orville Wright piloted the first airplane succesfully, lasting 12 seconds and covering 120 ft. Wilbur Wright then piloted three more flights after Orville. On July 30, 1909 the government bought their first airplane. This led to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps in 1914. The Wright brothers received a patent for the creation of airplanes.
http://inventors.about.com/od/wstartinventors/a/TheWrightBrother_2.htm -
Lochner V. NY Decision
(No exact date) A baker, Joseph Lochner, was sent to jail because New York passed the Bakeshop Act, a labor law that said no employees can work in a biscuit, bread, or cake bakery or confectionery establishment more than sixty hours in any one week. The Supreme Court ruled that this law was unconstitutional. This was defended by the Fourteenth Amendment which says that the right to buy and sell labor is a fundamental freedom.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/capitalism/landmark_lochner.html -
Henry Ford
(No exact number date, Oct. 1908). In October, 1908 Ford introduced the Model T. In 1903 he founded the Ford Motor Company. Ford sold millions of cars and had a successful business. Ford is famous for his inexpensive automobiles made by skilled workers who earn steady wages.
http://www.biography.com/people/henry-ford-9298747
