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Bessemer Process
Henry Bessemer developed and patented the Bessemer process. It was the first method that allowed steel to be mass produced. It worked by putting air into molten iron to make steel. It was a very easy and inexpensive process that made steel, which was stronger and lighter than iron. -
Edwin Drake
Edwin Drake drilled the first ever successful oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania. The well was made out of an incased hole with iron piping, and it represented the begining of the American oil industry. -
Christopher Sholes
Christopher sholes patented the first working model of his page-numbering machine. He created the fist marketable typewriter. The typewriter revolutionized American buisness and gave women better-paying employment. -
Credit Mobilier Scandal
The congressional investigation discovered the Credit Mobilier Scandal. The scandal was that some stockholders of the Union Pacific Railroad Company awarded contracts to Credit Mobilier and took money for themselves, some of which came from government subsidies. At the beginning of the investigation, the leader of the company tried to buy off the key politicians, like Schulyer Colfax, but was caught. No formal convictions were ever made from the investigation. -
Transcontinental Railroad Completed
The transcontinental railroad was finally finished when the workers from the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroad lines joined the tracks on Promontory Summit, Utah. This railroad was able to connect the Union Pacific Railroad, working westward from Nebraska, with the Central Pacific Railroad, working eastward from California, because of the Pacific Railroad act that was passed, which allowed the bulding of a railroad across the United States. -
John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller joined partners with Henry Flagler, and his brother, William Rockefeller, and founded the Standard Oil Company of Ohio. The company expanded rapidly by maintaining low production costs, keeping good rates with the railroads, occassionally price slashing, and buying out the competition. The company then began to build its own pipelines, use its own tank cars, and control distributors. The company became one of the largest in the U.S., and secured a monopoly over oil refining. -
Alexander Graham Bell
Bell was granted with U.S. patent Bo. 174,465 for the telephone. Bell's best remembered invention was the "electrical speech machine" or the telephone. He also had 18 other patents and 14 products. -
Munn v. Illinois
The Munn v. Illinois was about whether or not Illinois was able and had the authority to regulate and control the prices that grain elevators charged. The owners of the elevators fought that regulation inerferred and held back the federal commerce powers from due process of law, which was confirmed by the Fourteenth Ammendment. -
Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison invented the incadescent light bulb. He also later made the first electrical power plant, which led to factories using electricity. He was one of the most prolific inventors in the development of electronic inventions, and invented many other devices like the phonograph. -
Haymarket Riot
The Haymarket Square riot was when a group of police tried to split up the huge labor rally in Haymarket Square in Chicago, Illinois, and someone blew up a bomb. In the end, seven policemen died and there were 70 injured people. This tragic event made the growing labor movement have a bad reputation and made them look like crazy and rioting people other than workers that were just trying to get better conditions for themselves and their families. -
Interstate Commerce Act
The Interstate Commerce Act tried to regulate the railroad industry in the United States. This act showed a congressional response to the want for railroad regulations and was the first federal regulatory commission. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed by the Congress, and was the first act to be based off of the Congress's constitutional power to watch over interstate commerce. It was also the first federal law that regulated big corporations and got rid of monopolies. It banned anything that restrained trade or monopolized a market like a contract or conspiracy. -
Homestead Strike
During the Homestead Strike, the whole workforce at the Carniegie steel manufacturing company went on strike in Homestead, Pennsylvania. They were afraid of losing their jobs, furious about the pay cuts, and wouldn't surrender their labor union, so they seized the steel plant. After a few weeks, many people were dead and injured and the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Worker was destroyed.No union gained a foothold in the steel plants for the next 40 years along Pttsburgh's Monongahela -
Eugene Debs
Eugene Debs organized and created the American Railway Union. This was the first industrial union, union open to all workers no matter their craft or skill, in the nation. Being the president of the American Railway Union, Debs successfully negotiated many disputes having to do with labor, except for one strike in which the workers at the Pullman Palace Car Company went on strike. -
Pullman Strike
The workers at Pullman Palace Car Company in Pulman, Illinois started a strike. It was one of the most famous clashes between labor and capital in the U.S. In the end, about 125,000 people had joined the boycott. -
Henry Ford
Henry Ford made the first "horseless carriage" that used a gasoline motor. Ford revolutionized the automobile industry, and made it so cars could be made in quantity at a cost that average people could afford. -
J.P. Morgan
J.P. Morgan made many big American Corporations like General Electric Company, American Telephone & Telegraph company, and the United States Steel Corporation. This gave him 60% of steel production in the U.S., and control of major sectors of American economy. He also reorganized American railroads, and proved to everyone that railroads were able to make predictable dividends for investors. Overall he was one of the richest men in the U.S., and saved the U.S. economy twice. -
Mother Jones
Mother Jones led the striking children of the textile mills in Kensington, Pennsylvania to Theodore Roosevelt's home in New York in order to dramatize child labor. This was her most famous use of organizing parades to win public sympathy. She also helped the coal miner's strike by getting their wives to attack strikebreakers with brooms. Her real name was Mary Harris Jones, and she had dedicated her entire life to helping labor unions and strikes. -
The Wright Brothers
The first flight of the Wright Brothers was in the Kill Devil Hills, which was near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. The two brothers were Wilbur and Orville Wright. Wilbur didn't actually fly in the plane, instead he stood off to the side, while Orville was working the controls of the plane. -
Lochner v. NY Decision
The Lochner V. New York decision which occurred in 1905 was one of the Supreme Court's most intensely debated decisions. In this ruling, the debate was about the state law, which limited bakers to a work week of 60 hours. The Court held that this law violated the liberty of contract doctrine of employers and employees. The liberty of contract doctrine gave people a constitutional right to get involved with law contracts without the government interferring.
