THE GREAT EXPERIMENT: THE RISE OF INDUSTRIAL AMERICA
PART II OF V — THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION TAKES HOLD
Steel, Electricity, Immigration, and the Transformation of American Life
1883–1889
A Country Changing Before Its Own Eyes
By 1883, the United States was becoming a nation unlike the one its founders had known.
The country remained deeply connected to agriculture. Millions of Americans lived in rural communities, worked family farms, and depended on the land for their livelihoods.
But a different America was emerging.
Factories were expanding.
Railroads were carrying goods across the continent.
Steel mills were producing materials for bridges, buildings, machinery, and transportation.
Electric lighting was beginning to appear in selected streets, businesses, and buildings.
Telephone lines were connecting offices and communities.
Cities were attracting workers from farms, smaller towns, and countries around the world.
The pace of change was remarkable.
For earlier generations, distance had often determined the limits of commerce and communication.
A farmer might sell produce primarily to nearby communities.
A merchant might depend on goods transported over difficult roads or waterways.
A manufacturer might serve a relatively limited regional market.
By the 1880s, railroads and telegraph networks were helping businesses coordinate operations across multiple states.
Industrial production was increasingly organized around large facilities, specialized equipment, and substantial investment.
The United States was developing a national economy in which events hundreds of miles away could affect employment, prices, and business decisions close to home.
But this transformation was not experienced equally.
For investors and entrepreneurs, industrial growth created opportunities to build businesses and develop new technologies.
For many workers, it meant access to wages and new occupations.
For others, it brought dangerous workplaces, long hours, crowded housing, and uncertain employment.
For farmers, the expanding transportation network opened distant markets while increasing dependence on freight rates and commodity prices.
And for immigrants, industrial America offered the possibility of a new life while often presenting discrimination and difficult working conditions.
The country was growing.
But Americans were beginning to ask an important question.
What should progress mean for the people living through it?
1883 — A GOVERNMENT CONFRONTS CHANGE
The Pendleton Civil Service Act
Industrial development was not the only force transforming the country.
The federal government was also reconsidering how it operated.
For much of the nineteenth century, political connections played a major role in determining who received government appointments.
The practice became widely associated with the spoils system.
Supporters of political patronage believed elected officials should be able to appoint people who supported their policies.
Critics argued that the system encouraged favoritism, corruption, and appointments based on political loyalty rather than qualifications.
The assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881 intensified demands for reform.
His assassin had been a disappointed office seeker, and the tragedy drew national attention to the politics of federal appointments.
On January 16, 1883, President Chester A. Arthur signed the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act.
The law established a federal Civil Service Commission and introduced competitive examinations for certain government positions.
It also created protections intended to reduce political coercion in covered federal employment.
The act initially applied to only a portion of the federal workforce.
But it established a foundation for expanding merit-based government employment.
The change reflected a larger development in American public administration.
As the country grew more complex, the federal government increasingly required employees with specialized knowledge and consistent professional responsibilities.
The nation was beginning to move toward a more permanent administrative system.
The Limits of Reform
The Pendleton Act did not eliminate patronage.
Many federal positions remained outside the new system.
Political influence continued affecting appointments.
But the legislation introduced a principle that would become increasingly important.
Public employment could be based on qualifications rather than political allegiance alone.
That principle would influence later debates over government efficiency, accountability, and the proper role of federal agencies.
It also reflected the challenges of governing an industrial society.
The Constitution had established the structure of the federal government.
But the institutions operating within that structure continued evolving as the nation changed.
THE AGE OF STEEL
A Material That Helped Build a New America
Steel became one of the defining materials of industrial America.
Iron had been essential to earlier manufacturing and railroad development.
But improvements in steel production made it possible to produce stronger and more versatile materials on a much larger scale.
The Bessemer process and other developments helped reduce the cost of producing steel.
Steel rails could withstand heavy use.
Steel beams supported larger structures.
Steel machinery improved industrial production.
Bridges could span greater distances.
Railroads, factories, and construction projects created enormous demand.
Steel production required a network of supporting industries.
Iron ore had to be mined.
Coal had to be extracted.
Coke had to be produced for many furnaces.
Raw materials had to be transported to mills.
Finished products had to reach customers.
The result was an increasingly interconnected industrial system.
A steel mill did not operate in isolation.
It depended on transportation, energy, labor, machinery, finance, and access to markets.
The growth of steel helped demonstrate how industrial America was becoming a network of related economic activities.
Andrew Carnegie and the Growth of Industrial Enterprise
Andrew Carnegie became one of the most prominent figures in the expanding steel industry.
Carnegie had immigrated to the United States from Scotland as a child.
He worked in several occupations before developing interests in railroad management, investment, and manufacturing.
During the 1870s and 1880s, he expanded his involvement in steel production.
His companies invested in modern equipment and sought to improve efficiency.
Carnegie's business interests increasingly emphasized the advantages of controlling costs, expanding production, and coordinating operations.
The steel industry required enormous amounts of capital.
It also depended on large workforces.
Factories operated with heavy machinery, intense heat, and demanding production schedules.
Workers could earn wages in a growing industry.
But industrial employment often involved serious risks.
The success of steel companies therefore raised broader questions about the relationship between investment, productivity, wages, and workplace safety.
Carnegie's enterprises would continue expanding in the years ahead.
They would eventually become central to some of the most important labor conflicts of the industrial era.
THE MODERN CITY BEGINS TO RISE
Steel Changes the Skyline
Industrial development was transforming American cities.
For generations, the height of buildings had been limited by construction materials, engineering methods, and practical considerations.
During the 1880s, improvements in steel-frame construction and other building technologies began making taller commercial structures possible.
Chicago became an important center of architectural innovation.
After the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, rebuilding encouraged new approaches to urban construction.
The Home Insurance Building, completed in 1885, became an important landmark in the development of skyscraper construction.
Its structural design combined innovative metal framing with other building methods.
The building did not represent the immediate arrival of the modern skyline.
But it illustrated the direction in which urban architecture was moving.
As businesses grew, demand for office space increased.
Land in commercial districts became valuable.
Elevators and new construction techniques made taller buildings more practical.
The industrial city was beginning to grow upward as well as outward.
The Growth of Urban Neighborhoods
Industrial cities attracted people seeking employment.
Factories required workers.
Railroads needed maintenance crews, clerks, and operators.
Construction companies employed laborers and skilled tradespeople.
Stores, warehouses, restaurants, and other businesses served expanding populations.
But cities often grew faster than their infrastructure.
Housing shortages produced crowded neighborhoods.
Tenement buildings housed many working families.
Water supplies and sewage systems struggled to keep pace.
Disease could spread through densely populated areas.
Industrial smoke and waste affected the environment.
Local governments faced increasing pressure to improve sanitation, transportation, streets, and public services.
These problems were not unique to the United States.
Industrial cities in Europe experienced many similar challenges.
But in America, rapid population growth and expanding manufacturing made urban conditions an increasingly important political issue.
The question of how cities should be governed was becoming more complicated.
ELECTRICITY ENTERS EVERYDAY LIFE
From Experiment to Practical Power
Electricity had fascinated scientists and inventors for generations.
By the late nineteenth century, improvements in generators, lighting, and electrical distribution were beginning to make commercial applications possible.
Thomas Edison and his associates had developed an early direct-current electric lighting system.
In 1882, the Pearl Street generating station in New York City began supplying electricity to a limited group of customers.
The system demonstrated that electricity could be generated centrally and distributed through a network.
But the technology remained expensive and geographically limited.
Most American households did not have electric lighting during the 1880s.
Gas lamps, oil lamps, and other traditional lighting methods remained common.
Electricity was still an emerging technology.
Its potential, however, was enormous.
Electric power could illuminate streets and buildings.
It could operate machinery.
It could support new forms of transportation.
And it could eventually change the organization of industrial production.
The country was beginning to develop an entirely new infrastructure.
The Competition Over Electrical Systems
As electrical technology developed, inventors and companies pursued different approaches to generating and distributing power.
Direct-current systems were associated prominently with Edison's companies.
Alternating-current technology was also developing through the work of numerous engineers and inventors.
George Westinghouse became an important commercial advocate of alternating-current distribution.
Nikola Tesla later contributed important designs involving alternating-current motors and polyphase systems.
The technical and commercial competition between electrical systems would become more visible toward the end of the 1880s and during the following decade.
The debate involved efficiency, safety, transmission distances, equipment, and investment.
Different technologies offered different advantages under different circumstances.
The outcome would influence how electricity reached factories, businesses, and homes.
But during the middle of the 1880s, widespread electrical service remained a future possibility rather than an everyday reality for most Americans.
COMMUNICATION BECOMES A BUSINESS NECESSITY
The Telephone Network Expands
The telephone was another technology changing American commerce.
Alexander Graham Bell had received a major telephone patent in 1876.
Early telephone systems developed during the following years.
By the 1880s, telephone exchanges were connecting subscribers within communities.
Businesses began using telephones to communicate with suppliers, customers, and other offices.
The telephone offered something different from the telegraph.
People could speak directly to one another.
They did not need to send a written message through a telegraph operator.
But telephone service remained limited.
Long-distance communication was still developing.
Equipment and subscriptions involved costs.
Many rural communities had little or no access.
Nevertheless, the telephone was becoming an important tool for commerce.
Businesses could coordinate decisions more quickly.
Orders could be placed without sending messengers.
Information could move between offices and workplaces with less delay.
Combined with railroads and telegraphs, the telephone helped create the foundations of a more coordinated national economy.
THE IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE
New Arrivals, New Opportunities
The industrial economy attracted immigrants from many parts of the world.
People arrived for different reasons.
Some hoped to find employment.
Others sought land, family connections, religious freedom, or greater economic opportunity.
Many immigrants from Europe settled in industrial cities.
Others moved to agricultural communities or smaller towns.
Immigrants from Asia had already played important roles in western mining, agriculture, commerce, and railroad construction.
New arrivals brought languages, traditions, skills, and cultural practices that influenced American communities.
They established churches, synagogues, businesses, newspapers, and mutual-aid organizations.
Families often relied on relatives and neighbors to find housing and employment.
But the immigrant experience was not always welcoming.
Workers sometimes faced discrimination based on nationality, religion, race, or language.
Employers could take advantage of limited bargaining power.
Housing was often crowded.
And public debates over immigration became increasingly contentious.
The industrial economy depended heavily on immigrant labor.
Yet the country remained divided over who should be permitted to enter and what opportunities newcomers should receive.
The Chinese Exclusion Act Remains in Effect
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 marked a significant restriction on immigration.
The law suspended the immigration of Chinese laborers, subject to specified exceptions and provisions.
It reflected the growing influence of anti-Chinese political movements, particularly in the American West.
Chinese immigrants had contributed to railroad construction, mining, agriculture, and business development.
Nevertheless, racial discrimination and economic hostility produced demands for exclusion.
During the remainder of the 1880s, federal policy continued restricting Chinese immigration.
In 1888, Congress passed the Scott Act, which barred many Chinese laborers who had left the United States from returning, even when they had previously received certificates permitting reentry.
These policies demonstrated that economic growth and expanding opportunity did not extend equally to all groups.
The country was becoming more internationally connected through trade and migration while simultaneously adopting restrictions that excluded particular populations.
1886 — THE HAYMARKET AFFAIR
The Demand for an Eight-Hour Workday
As factories expanded, workers increasingly organized around wages, hours, and working conditions.
Many industrial employees worked long days.
Some faced dangerous machinery and uncertain employment.
Labor organizations advocated shorter hours and improved conditions.
The movement for an eight-hour workday became especially prominent during the 1880s.
On May 1, 1886, workers across the United States participated in demonstrations and strikes supporting the eight-hour demand.
Chicago became an important center of labor activism.
The city had a large industrial workforce and active labor organizations.
Tensions increased after clashes involving workers and police.
On May 3, police fired on workers during a confrontation near the McCormick harvesting machinery works, killing several people according to contemporary reports.
Labor activists organized a protest meeting for the following evening.
The gathering would become one of the most consequential events in American labor history.
May 4, 1886 — Violence at Haymarket Square
On May 4, a public meeting took place near Haymarket Square in Chicago.
Speakers addressed labor issues and criticized police violence.
The gathering was initially largely peaceful.
As police moved to disperse the remaining crowd, someone threw a bomb.
The explosion killed a police officer and injured others.
Gunfire followed.
Seven police officers ultimately died, including those who died from their wounds, and several civilians were also killed.
Many people were injured.
The identity of the person who threw the bomb was never conclusively established.
The violence shocked the nation.
Public attention turned toward radical labor movements, anarchism, and the relationship between political speech and violence.
Eight men associated with anarchist activism were prosecuted for the bombing.
Their trial became highly controversial.
Questions arose concerning the evidence, jury selection, and whether defendants were being punished for their political beliefs rather than proven participation in the attack.
Four were executed in 1887.
One died by suicide while imprisoned.
The remaining defendants were eventually pardoned in 1893 by Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld, who criticized the fairness of the proceedings.
The Haymarket affair had lasting consequences.
It damaged public support for some labor organizations.
It intensified fears of political radicalism.
And it became an enduring symbol in debates over workers' rights, public order, and the justice system.
1886 — THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR AT THEIR HEIGHT
A National Labor Organization
The Knights of Labor had been founded in 1869.
During the 1880s, it expanded into a major national organization.
The Knights included workers from a wide range of occupations.
Its membership policies were broader than those of many craft unions, although exclusions and discrimination remained.
The organization advocated reforms involving wages, working hours, and economic opportunity.
It also promoted cooperation among workers and criticized concentrations of economic power.
By 1886, membership had reached hundreds of thousands.
The Knights represented a major development in American labor organization.
Workers were increasingly attempting to influence national economic conditions through collective action.
But the organization faced internal disagreements.
Members differed over strikes, political involvement, and long-term economic goals.
The Haymarket affair and unsuccessful labor conflicts weakened public support and contributed to the organization's decline.
The labor movement would continue developing through other organizations.
The American Federation of Labor
In December 1886, labor leaders established the American Federation of Labor.
Samuel Gompers became its first president.
The AFL developed as a federation of trade unions.
It emphasized practical objectives such as wages, hours, and working conditions.
Its approach differed from the broader reform vision associated with the Knights of Labor.
The AFL generally focused on collective bargaining and the immediate economic interests of organized workers.
Its early membership was concentrated in skilled trades, and many workers remained excluded from its unions.
Nevertheless, the organization became a major force in American labor history.
The development of competing labor organizations reflected the complexity of industrial employment.
Workers shared certain concerns.
But they did not always agree on how those concerns should be addressed.
1886 — THE STATUE OF LIBERTY
A Symbol Arrives in New York Harbor
While the country debated labor, immigration, and industrial development, another event captured national attention.
On October 28, 1886, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in New York Harbor.
The monument was a gift from the people of France.
Designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, with important structural engineering contributions from Gustave Eiffel, the statue commemorated liberty and the friendship between France and the United States.
Its official title was Liberty Enlightening the World.
President Grover Cleveland presided over the dedication.
The statue became one of the country's most recognizable symbols.
Its meaning would continue evolving over time.
Although the monument was not originally conceived primarily as an immigration memorial, its location near a major port of entry later connected it strongly with the experiences of immigrants arriving in the United States.
The dedication occurred during a period when Americans were debating the meaning of opportunity, citizenship, and national identity.
The symbolism of liberty stood alongside the complicated realities of industrial life.
1887 — THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT REGULATES RAILROADS
The Interstate Commerce Act
Railroads had become essential to the national economy.
But their growing importance created disputes over freight rates, competition, and business practices.
Farmers complained about transportation costs.
Small businesses questioned whether large customers received more favorable rates.
Railroad companies argued that they faced substantial construction and operating expenses.
Different states attempted to regulate railroad practices.
But interstate transportation raised questions about the limits of state authority.
In 1886, the Supreme Court's decision in Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois restricted certain state regulation of interstate railroad rates.
The decision increased pressure for federal action.
On February 4, 1887, President Grover Cleveland signed the Interstate Commerce Act.
The legislation required interstate railroad rates to be reasonable and just and prohibited certain discriminatory practices.
It also established the Interstate Commerce Commission.
The ICC became the first federal independent regulatory commission.
Its initial powers were limited, and enforcement proved difficult.
But its creation marked an important development.
The federal government was beginning to establish permanent institutions for overseeing aspects of interstate commerce.
A New Debate About Government Responsibility
The Interstate Commerce Act did not settle disagreements over regulation.
Some Americans believed federal oversight was necessary to prevent unfair practices.
Others worried that regulation could interfere with private business decisions and competition.
Railroad companies challenged interpretations of the law.
Courts shaped the commission's authority.
Congress would later revisit the regulatory framework.
The debate reflected the changing scale of American commerce.
The founders had given Congress authority to regulate interstate commerce.
But the railroads created economic arrangements that were far larger and more complicated than those of the eighteenth century.
The constitutional framework remained.
Its application was evolving.
THE CHANGING AMERICAN FARM
Agriculture in an Industrial Economy
Despite the growth of factories and cities, agriculture remained essential to American life.
Farmers supplied food and raw materials.
Cotton supported textile manufacturing.
Wheat and corn moved through national and international markets.
Livestock production expanded in many regions.
Railroads and grain elevators helped connect agricultural producers to distant buyers.
But farmers faced economic uncertainty.
Crop prices fluctuated.
Transportation costs affected profits.
Debt placed pressure on many households.
Machinery could improve productivity but required investment.
Farmers also depended on markets and financial institutions they did not directly control.
These conditions encouraged agricultural organizations and political movements.
Farmers sought greater influence over transportation policy, credit, and market practices.
Their concerns would become increasingly important during the 1890s.
The rise of industrial America was not simply the story of factories replacing farms.
It was the story of agriculture becoming more closely connected to national finance, transportation, and industrial production.
1887 — THE DAWES ACT
Federal Policy and Indigenous Land
The industrial era also brought major changes to federal Indian policy.
Railroads, agriculture, mining, and settlement increased pressure on Indigenous lands.
For generations, Native nations had maintained distinct political institutions, communities, and relationships with their territories.
Federal policies had already forced many Indigenous peoples onto reservations.
In 1887, Congress passed the General Allotment Act, commonly known as the Dawes Act.
The law authorized the division of certain reservation lands into individual allotments.
Supporters of the policy claimed it would encourage private farming and assimilation into American society.
But the policy undermined communal landholding and tribal institutions.
Land remaining after allotments could be opened to non-Native settlement.
Over time, allotment contributed to the loss of millions of acres of Indigenous land.
The law did not apply uniformly to every Native nation, and its effects varied.
Nevertheless, it became a major instrument of federal assimilation policy.
The Dawes Act illustrated how the expansion of the American economy was closely connected to decisions about land, citizenship, and Indigenous sovereignty.
1888–1889 — THE INDUSTRIAL AGE ACCELERATES
A More Connected Economy
By the end of the decade, the United States possessed an increasingly extensive transportation and communication network.
Railroads carried agricultural products, manufactured goods, and raw materials.
Telegraphs connected businesses and newspapers.
Telephone systems were expanding.
Electricity was beginning to serve selected commercial districts.
Steel production supported construction and manufacturing.
Oil refining supplied lighting fuels and industrial products.
Cities were growing.
Businesses were becoming larger and more complex.
The economic transformation was visible across the country.
But it also brought new questions about concentration of power.
Some corporations controlled large shares of particular industries.
Large employers could influence the economic conditions of entire communities.
Transportation companies played important roles in determining access to markets.
Industrial workers sought greater influence over wages and working conditions.
Farmers demanded fairer transportation rates and more favorable economic policies.
The debate over the responsibilities of government was becoming increasingly difficult to avoid.
The Oklahoma Land Run of 1889
On April 22, 1889, the federal government opened approximately two million acres in what became known as the Unassigned Lands of Indian Territory to non-Native settlement.
Thousands of settlers participated in the Oklahoma Land Run.
At the appointed signal, people rushed to claim homesteads and town lots.
The event became one of the most widely remembered episodes of western settlement.
Communities grew rapidly, including Oklahoma City and Guthrie.
But the land's availability resulted from a longer history of federal treaties, land policies, and the dispossession and displacement of Indigenous peoples.
The Unassigned Lands had been part of Indian Territory, a region shaped by the forced removal of Native nations and subsequent federal land arrangements.
The land run therefore represented different experiences for different people.
For settlers, it offered the possibility of acquiring land and building new communities.
For Indigenous peoples, it formed part of a broader history in which federal expansion and settlement policies reduced Native control over land.
The event demonstrated that western development remained an important part of the country's transformation during the industrial era.
New States Join the Union
In 1889, four western states entered the Union.
North Dakota and South Dakota were admitted on November 2.
Montana followed on November 8.
Washington became a state on November 11.
Their admission reflected population growth, settlement, political organization, and the continuing expansion of the United States.
Railroads had played important roles in connecting these regions to national markets.
Agriculture, mining, and commerce contributed to their development.
The addition of new states also affected representation in Congress and the Electoral College.
The political structure established by the Constitution continued expanding across the continent.
But the history of western statehood also involved the displacement of Indigenous peoples and disputes over land and federal authority.
The country's growth remained inseparable from those conflicts.
WHAT THE 1880s CHANGED
The years 1883 through 1889 transformed American life in several important ways.
First, industrial production continued expanding.
Steel, oil, coal, machinery, and manufacturing became increasingly important to the national economy.
Second, electricity and communication technologies began changing commerce.
Telephone systems expanded, and early electric power networks demonstrated possibilities that would become more widespread in later decades.
Third, American cities grew into major industrial centers.
Urban expansion created employment and business opportunities while increasing pressure on housing, sanitation, and public infrastructure.
Fourth, organized labor became a more visible national force.
The Knights of Labor, the Haymarket affair, and the establishment of the American Federation of Labor reflected growing debates over wages, working hours, and collective action.
Fifth, federal regulation entered a new phase.
The Interstate Commerce Act established a permanent federal commission to oversee aspects of railroad commerce.
Sixth, immigration and citizenship remained contested issues.
Immigrants contributed to industrial growth while discriminatory restrictions limited opportunities for particular groups.
Seventh, federal policies continued transforming the American West.
The Dawes Act, western settlement, and the admission of new states changed the political and economic landscape while profoundly affecting Indigenous communities.
Finally, Americans increasingly recognized that industrial growth required new political and institutional responses.
The country's economy was expanding beyond the scale of many earlier arrangements.
Government, businesses, workers, and communities were adapting to the changes.
THE GREAT EXPERIMENT: LIBERTY IN A CHANGING ECONOMY
The founders established a constitutional system intended to preserve representative government, divide political authority, and provide mechanisms for future change.
They lived in a world very different from the industrial society emerging in the 1880s.
They could not have anticipated the modern steel mill, the electrical generating station, the telephone exchange, or the industrial corporation operating across numerous states.
But they established institutions that would have to confront the consequences of those developments.
Congress possessed authority over interstate commerce.
State governments retained important responsibilities within their jurisdictions.
Courts interpreted constitutional powers and legal protections.
Presidents administered federal law.
And citizens continued influencing public decisions through elections, organizations, public debate, and civic participation.
The industrial era placed new questions before those institutions.
How should the country encourage invention and economic development?
What protections should workers possess?
How should government respond to companies with substantial market power?
What responsibilities did communities have toward public health and infrastructure?
How should immigration and western settlement be governed?
And how could the benefits of national economic growth reach people whose experiences differed greatly?
Americans did not agree on the answers.
Some emphasized the importance of private enterprise, competition, and limited government interference.
Others supported stronger regulation, labor protections, and public investment.
Many held positions somewhere between those approaches.
These disagreements were not outside the American constitutional system.
They were part of the political debate through which the country continued developing.
The Constitution provided the framework.
The people and their elected representatives would continue debating how it should be applied.
The great experiment was no longer only about preserving a republic. It was also about governing a modern industrial society without losing the principles of representative government and individual liberty.
The country had entered an era of extraordinary economic opportunity.
But it had also entered an era of growing industrial power.
The next chapter would examine what happened as that power became concentrated in the hands of increasingly large corporations.
EXPLORE THIS PART OF HISTORY
The Great American Trade Routes
The industrial expansion of the 1880s depended on transportation networks developed over generations.
Railroads connected farms, factories, mines, and cities.
Those systems grew from a much longer history of trade routes, waterways, canals, and transportation innovation.
Explore the companion historical series:
The Great American Trade Routes — Part I
The Age of the Trusts
The rapid growth of steel, oil, transportation, and manufacturing created opportunities for businesses to expand into enormous enterprises.
Some companies developed structures that concentrated control over multiple businesses.
Those developments became central to national debates about competition and economic power.
THE STORY CONTINUES
PART III — THE RISE OF BIG BUSINESS
Corporations, Trusts, Competition, and the Debate Over Economic Power
The 1880s–1890s
The next chapter examines the growing influence of large industrial corporations.
Steel companies will expand.
Oil businesses will consolidate.
Railroads will become part of increasingly complex financial networks.
Industrial leaders will accumulate enormous fortunes.
The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 will establish a new federal legal framework for addressing restraints of trade and monopolization.
And Americans will debate whether the concentration of economic power represents industrial progress, a threat to competition, or some combination of both.
The country is becoming one of the world's leading industrial economies.
But Americans are beginning to ask who should control the enormous economic power that industrialization has created.
Our Money Matters. Our Choices Matter. Our Voice Matters.
The People. The Voice. The Future.
Politics 1776