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Bessemer Process
Sir Henry Bessemer was the first to find a way to mass produce steel and he made it into a commerical success. -
Edwin Drake
Edwin Drake drilled the first oil well by putting pipe sections in until he hit the bedrock and then finished the drilling. Drake's method spread quickly into parts of Pennsylvania. -
Credit Mobilier Scandal
The Credit Mobilier Scandal was illegal and was manipulating a finance and construction company while the Union Pacific Railroad was being built. -
Christopher Sholes
Christopher Sholes along with his friend Samuel Soule invented a page numbering machine and later invented a typewriter. Sholes perfected his typewriter to work faster than a human's hand in 1868. -
Transcontinental Railroad Completed
On May 10th, 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad was completed which connects the coasts and for the first time allowed transcontinental transportation. This made travel much more safer and definitely changed transportation in the U.S. -
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell invented the first electric telephone and on March 10, 1876 the first sentence was transmitted through it. -
Thomas Edision
Thomas Edison created manu useful inventions including the electric lightbulb and the motion picture projector. His most famous invention was the phonograph which was invented in 1877. -
Munn v. Illinois
In the Munn v. Illinois case, the Supreme Court upheld government authority to control private industries. It came about in 1871 when Illinois's legislature was pressured by the National Grange to set maximum rates private companies could charge for storage and transporation of agricultural goods. -
John D. Rockefeller
Rockefeller built his first oil refinery in Pennsylvania in the 1860's. It became one of the largest refinerys in just two years, and it later incorporated the Standard Oil Company and started buying out competitors. In 1881, they established first major American trust. In 1892, the trust was found to be violating an Ohio law. -
Haymarket Riot
In Chicago's Haymarket Square, a bomb explosion occured while policemen tried to stop and control a labor rally. Seven police were killed and around 70 people were injured. This riot distorted the labor movement happening in America. -
Interstate Commerce Act
The Interstate Commerce Act was established to control the U.S. railway and railroad industry. It was a response to people's concerns that prices were unfair or discriminating towards specific people. It was abolished in 1996. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act was the first legislation enforced by Congress to deal with concentrations with power interfering in trade. A main provision was to restrain national and international trade. It was named after Senator John Sherman who was an expert on this. -
Homestead Strike
The Homestead Strike was a labor conflict in 1892 in the Carnegie Steel Company in Homestead, PA. The strike was against the management, replacement workers, and members of the Pinkerton Detective Agency against the Amalgated Association of steel workers. The workers knew that they could potentially be replaced by nonunion workers, so they rioted at the plant and a gun battle emerged against Pinkerton. -
Eugene Debs
Eugene Debs was the president of the American Railway Union. He won national prominence when he had a successful strike against the Great Northern Railway in April. The following year he was in jail for six months because of the Pullman strike. -
Pullman Strike
The employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Illinois went on strike which became a huge debate between labor and capital. The American Railway station boycotted to support this strike. -
J. P. Morgan
By 1895, Morgan had a firm J. P. Morgan and Company which was a very powerful banking house. By 1900, he was an influential railroad leader. Also in 1895, he organized a finance group to help the U.S. Treasury from going bankrupt. -
Henry Ford
Henry Ford designed the first horseless carriage running on gasoline in 1896. He later founded the Ford Motor Company, which was a car company, worth $100 million. Henry Ford is known for revolutionizing transportation and the manufacturing of cars. -
Mother Jones
After losing her family due to yellow fever in 1867, Mother Jones dedicated a cause to the labor union in 1880. She organized women's auxiliaries and attacked child labor. In 1902, she brought attention to a coal miner's strike where women had a bigger role. She was sent to jail several times for several different coal miner's strikes and went all the way to the president for help. -
Wright Brothers
The Wright Brothers made the first successful controlled motor-driven aircraft and flew it in 1903. They made several improved aircrafts and planes in the following years. They invented the first practical plane and the first military aircraft. -
Lochner v. NY Decision
Bakeries in New York at this time had poor working conditions. Employees had worked almost 80 hours a week. They thought this was an issue and decided to pass the Bakeshop Act. In October, John Lochner was found guilty for having an employee work longer than he was allowed to. The U.S. Supreme Court made a law that 10 hours a day was the maximum number of hours and employee could be made to work in the baking trade.
