A History of the United States: Chapter 20: The Industrial Age

Work songs such as "John Henry" and "I've Been Working on the Railroad" became popular among the immigrants and other Americans who labored to build those miles of track.

Along with expansion of railroads came consolidation—the practice of combining separate companies.

After consolidation, a few powerful individuals known as railroad barons controlled the nation's rail traffic.

After consolidation, a few powerful individuals known as railroad barons controlled the nation's rail traffic.

After consolidation, a few powerful individuals known as railroad barons controlled the nation's rail traffic.

As railroad companies consolidated, they began using a standard gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches (1 m, 41.6 cm). The use of a standard gauge drove down shipping times and costs.

Large railroads offered discounts called rebates to their biggest customers.

The railroad barons also made secret agreements with one another to form pools. The companies in a pool divided up business among themselves and set identical rates.

Western Union Telegraph Company's trained operators transmitted messages in Morse code.

In the following years, his famous laboratory produced the phonograph, the motion picture projector, and the storage battery.

Elijah McCoy invented a mechanism for oiling machinery.

Henry Ford also pioneered a new, less expensive way to manufacture cars—the assembly line. On the assembly line, each worker performed an assigned task again and again.

This mass production of goods decreased manufacturing costs, so products could be sold more cheaply.

With the economy growing after the Civil War, many businesses looked for ways to expand. To do so, entrepreneurs—people who start businesses—had to raise capital in the form of money.

One way a company can raise capital is by becoming a corporation. This is a type of business organization that can have many owners and grow very large.

A corporation often sells shares—part-ownership of the corporation—called stock.

The people who buy the stock are the corporation's shareholders.

When a corporation does well, shareholders earn dividends. These are cash payments from the corporation's profits.

John D. Rockefeller was the most famous figure of the oil industry. When he was just 26, he and four partners built an oil refinery—a plant to process oil—in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1882 Rockefeller formed a trust, a group of companies managed by a single board of trustees.

Rockefeller had created a monopoly—total control of an industry by a single producer.

In 1889 New Jersey encouraged the trend toward monopolies by allowing formation of holding companies.

Other states also made mergers—the combining of companies—easier.

Garment workers toiled in crowded and dangerous urban factories known as sweatshops.

Dissatisfied workers organized into groups—labor unions—to demand better pay and working conditions.

At the time, employers could fire workers who joined labor organizations. For this reason, the Knights met secretly and used special handshakes to identify one another.

The organization pressed for higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions. It also sought the right to collective bargaining—when unions represent a group of workers in talks with management over wages and other matters.

The disaster led the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (ILGWU) to push for a safer working environment.

Railroad companies hired strikebreakers to replace the striking workers.

Pullman and the railroad owners persuaded U.S. Attorney General Richard Olney to obtain an injunction, or court order, against the union for "obstructing the railways and holding up the mails."