The events that took place from 1877 to 1916 came to be known as the Gilded age and the Progressive era both witch broth developments that would shape the America for generations to come. As more and more corporations began to hire workers on wages, this allowed more unskilled workers to be able to produce the same products that once required special techniques. This made it so workers could not easily unionize because each worker was seen as replaceable; since a large majority of factory workers were immigrants coming to the United States and if one didn't want to work his replacement was on the next boat coming to America. This gave corporations the ability to discriminate and give workers the worst of working conditions with long hours and little pay. Most of the wages workers revived was 20% to 40% less than the minimum wage necessary for a decent life. The people in this wages came to be called "wage slaves" since with the money they were making they could never advance in life but get lower and lower This split families up because the father was not the only one going to work but the mom and older kids going to work to help support the family.
In this period of time middle class American who owned and manged their
own businesses pared with industrialist came to embrace the doctrine of laissez faire.As
corporations got bigger and the rich got richer they blamed the poor
being poor because they lacked determination and ability. The rise of a
new idea stranded from Darwin's theory of survival came social
Darwinism. Comparing this rich getting richer and poor poorer to now is
would be the Occupy Wall St movement that went on in 2011 which wanted to state awareness between the riches 1% and the rest of us which is the 99%. This movement lead people to see corporate corruption influencing politics was driving this gap between the rich and the poor while the middle class was slowly going extinct.
One of the biggest corporation was the Railroads back in the 1870 the whole economy revolved on the railroads; not just for transportation but all the jobs it provided. Which consecutively had most of the sticks take place in the rail road jobs. By the end of the century the rail road corporations rivaled the United States government size. The Pennsylvania Railroad had 110,000 employees, three times the number of men in all the armed forces of the United States. Rail roads powered the industrial economy. They were one of the main consumers of steel and iron. Plus coal was the fuel used by the trains which also made coal a necessity. The Railroads having that much power made them a liability at times since Railroads were at times overbuilding, borrowing recklessly, and managed under very poor conditions.
Oil was also a big producer and contributed to the economy. When you think of oil you think of John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil. He created this company because of a vision that he could own all parts of oil making with horizontal integration. He used strategic methods to force other oil companies to either sell out or loose it all. Rockefeller created new an ingenious things to do with oil like making it into kerosine to light up oil lamps. And Gasoline for motor vehicles later on. His company came to be known as the best-hated corporation of the day. He was ruthless and he proclaimed that "Individualism has gone never to return" because big corporation united would be the future.
Other man who built corporation were Andrew Carnegie, Thomas Edison, J.P Morgan. Carnegie made sure to use vertical integration to own all part of production of steel to make sure that all expenses would still be going to the company. He would own the mine that got the steel he needed, the steel factory, and the means to transport the steel. He became the riches man by being able to create steel a well known metal because it was harder than other but more expensive. So what he did was make a cheap way to produce steel and own the steel production industry. Edison advance many technologies and merged his company Edison General Electric with Thomson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric. He made the first light bulb that helped light up the world with out oil and used electricity. Morgan was a banking mogul that had one of the biggest banking firms in the country he was the leading financier of the Progressive era. Morgan also stopped the panic of 1907.
Due to the panic of 1907 the Federal Reserve was made to be the central banking system of the United States. This was done in December 23, 1913 and over time the Federal Reserve has expanded its role but it is there mostly to regulate banking, fair trade practices, and interest rates. With these new changes also came the 16th amendment which allowed congress to levy taxes. Also having the 17th amended helped give more power to the people by being able to choose their senators. This era broth many advancements to technology and we saw many inequalities in the way corporations worked. But with time and the help of muckrakers exposing how the other side lived reforms had to be made to stop the corporations harming Americas instead of helping. The end of the Progressive era saw many great president that made change people though would ruin America and the way that America could interfere in commerce, but with out this regulation many unfair treatment practices would still be practiced today. The way this era affected America shaped the rest of the world because Americas economy changed which affected everyone.
Rail roads powered the industrial economy. They were one of the main consumers of steel and iron. Plus coal was the fuel used by the trains which also made coal a necessity. The Railroads having that much power made them a liability at times since Railroads were at times overbuilding, borrowing recklessly, and managed under very poor conditions.