Chapter 16 - America′s Gilded Age PDF

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Chapter 16 - America's Gilded Age Focus Questions 1. What factors combined to make the United States a mature industrial society after the Civil War? 2. How did the economic development of the Gilded Age affect American freedom? 3. How did reformers of the period approach the problems of an industrial society? 4. How was the West transformed economically and socially in this period? 5. Was the Gilded Age political system effective in meeting its goals?

The Second Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Economy •

Transition from Lincoln's America to a mature industrial society

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By 1913, the United States produced one-third of the world’s industrial output

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The 1880 census showed for the first time that a majority of the work force engaged in nonfarming jobs

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Traditional dream of economic independence seemed obsolete

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Growth of cities were vital for financing industrialization -

Great Lakes region

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Pittsburgh

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Chicago

Railroads and the National Market •

Second Industrial Revolution made possible by railroads

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Rise of national brands symbolized continuing integration of the economy

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The growing population formed an ever-expanding market for the mass production, mass distribution, and mass marketing of goods

The Spirit of Innovation •

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Technological innovations allowed rapid communication and economic growth -

Atlantic cable

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telephone

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typewriter

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hand-held camera

Scientific breakthroughs from Thomas Edison

Competition and Consolidation •

Deflation -

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Pools and trusts -

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Depression plagued the economy between 1873 and 1897

Businesses engaged in ruthless competition

To avoid cutthroat competition, more and more corporations battled to control entire industries -

Between 1897 and 1904, 4,000 firms vanished into larger, giant corporations

The Rise of Andrew Carnegie •

Incorporated vertical integration

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Dominated steel industry

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Believed rich had a moral obligation to promote the advancement of society -

Philanthropy

The Triumph of John D. Rockefeller •

Incorporated horizontal expansion

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Created a vertically integrated monopoly on oil

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Established foundations to promote education and medical research

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Captains of Industry or Robber barons

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"Liberty and monopoly cannot live together" - Henry Demarest Lloyd

Workers' Freedom in an Industrial Age •

For a minority of workers, the rapidly expanding industrial system created new forms of freedom

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But for most workers, economic insecurity remained a basic fact of life

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Between 1880 and 1900, an average of 35,000 workers perished each year in factory and mine accidents, the highest rate in the industrial world

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Women were part of the working class

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Increase in wealth disparity

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How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis

Freedom in the Gilded Age

"Get rich, dishonestly if we can, honestly if we must." The Social Problem •

Debates over political economy grew in popularity

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Debates over social and ethical implications of economic change

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Social unrest

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Disconnect between freedom and equality

Social Darwinism in America •

Charles Darwin - On the Origin of Species

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Darwin's theory of evolution was misapplied -

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Social Darwinism: applied theory of natural selection to society, "survival of the fittest" used to justify class distinctions and explain poverty

William Graham Sumner one of the most influential Social Darwinists

Liberty of Contracts and the Courts •

"Negative" definition of freedom- limited government and an unrestrained market

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Principle of free labor transformed into a defense of unrestrained operations of the capitalist marketplace

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Courts sided with business enterprises that complained of a loss off economic freedom

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Women economic "liberties" continued to increase

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United States v. E.C. Knight Co.

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Lochner v. New York

Labor and the Republic

"The Overwhelming Labor Question" •

Public debate divided along class lines

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Railroad strikes -

the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 ◦

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Revealed a strong sense of solidarity among workers & close ties between the Republican Party and the new class of industrialists

Aftermath of 1877

The Knights of Labor and the "Conditions Essential to Liberty" •

Knights of Labor: first national union, led by Terence V. Powderly, supplanted by the American Federation of Labor

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Tried to organize both skilled and unskilled workers, women and men, whites and blacks

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Question raised of whether meaningful freedom could exist without economic equality

Middle-Class Reformers •

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Progress and Poverty by Henry George -

Looked at economics in American history

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George's solution was to replace all taxes with a single tax

The Cooperative Commonwealth by Laurence Gronlund -

popularized socialist ideas for an American audience

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socialism's Americanization

Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy -

the idea that freedom was a social condition resting on interdependence, not autonomy

Protestants and Moral Reform •

"Christian Lobby"

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"Moral suasion" no longer the popular approach for reformers, Federal legislation now the preferred route

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The Bible Belt: a place where political action revolves around religious principles

A Social Gospel •

Ideals preached by liberal Protestant clergymen in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

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Advocated the application of Christian principles to social problems generated by industrialization

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Walter Rauschenbusch and Washington Gladden

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Originated as an effort to reform Protestant churches by expanding their appeal in poor urban neighborhoods and making them more attentive to the era's social ills

The Haymarket Affair •

Upsurge in labor activity in 1886

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May 1st, 1886: the first May Day

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Haymarket protests in Chicago, Illinois -

May 3rd, 1886: 4 strikers killed by police

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Employers took the opportunity of Haymarket Affair to paint the labor movement as a dangerous and un-American force

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Haymarket martyrs

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Albert Parsons

Labor and Politics •

Haymarket affair took place amid an outburst of independent labor political activities

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Henry George's labor campaign for mayor

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George came second in the votes, completely eclipsing the Republican candidate and almost beating the Democrat candidate

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This showed that labor might be on the verge of establishing itself as a permanent political force

The Transformation of the West

A Diverse Region •

The political and economic incorporation of the American West was part of a much more global process

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The incorporation of the West required active intervention of the federal government

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Western states used land donated by federal government to establish public universities

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Many easterners wary of granted statehood to Western territories

Farming in the Trans-Mississippi West •

Settlers poured into the West

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Governments and railroad companies were eager to profit off of this

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Widespread agricultural developments

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A new agricultural empire producing wheat and corn arose on the Middle Border

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Farmers a diverse group

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National and International markets/economies

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Bonanza farms

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The future of western farming ultimately lay with giant agricultural enterprises

The Cowboy and the Corporate West •

The Golden Age of the Cattle Kingdom

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Cowboys symbols of a life of freedom on the open range, but were oftentimes underpaid and overworked

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Many industries in the West, farming, mining, and cattle ranching, grew more and more commercialized

The Chinese Presence •

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Chinese Immigration -

began with California gold rush

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continued in post-war years

Going from single, unattached men coming to entire Chinese families

Conflict on the Mormon Frontier •

Mormons moved to Great Salt Lake Valley in 1840s

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the Deseret

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Mormons unpopular because of their polygamy and close connection of church and state

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Mountain Meadows Massacre

The Subjugation of the Plains Indians •

The incorporation of the West into the national economy spelled the doom of the Plains Indians and their world

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As settlers encroached on Indian lands, bloody conflict between the army and Plains tribes began in the 1850s and continued until 1890

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Short-lived "peace policy" from Ulysses S. Grant

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The Union army launched a campaign against the Navajo in the Southwest

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Once numbering 30 million in 1800, buffalo were nearly extinct from hunting by 1890

"Let Me Be a Free Man" •

The Nez Perce were chased over 1,700 miles before surrendering in 1877

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Chief Joseph spoke of freedom before a distinguished audience in 1879

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Defending their land, Sioux and Cheyenne warriors attacked Custer at Little Big Horn, and took victory

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These events delayed only temporarily the onward march of white soldiers, settlers, and prospectors

Remaking Indian Life •

In 1871, Congress eliminated the treaty system that dated back to the Revolutionary era -

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Forced assimilation

The crucial step in attacking “tribalism” came in 1887 with the passage of the Dawes Act -

The policy proved to be a disaster for the Indians

The Dawes Act •

Law passed in 1887 meant to encourage adoption of white norms among Indians, broke up tribal holdings into small farms for Indian families, with the remainder sold to white purchasers

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Led to the loss of much tribal land and the erosion of Indian cultural traditions

Are Native Americans American? •

Many laws and treaties in the 19th century offered Indians the right to become American citizens if they assimilated into American culture

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But nearly every Indian wished to retain tribal identity, so few were recognized as citizens

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Elk v. Wilkins (1884) ruled that the rights guaranteed in the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th and 15th amendments didn't apply to Native Americans

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By 1900, 53,000 were citizens

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1901 granted citizenship to 100,000 more

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All were granted citizenship by 1924

The Ghost Dance and Wounded Knee •

Some Indians sought solace in the Ghost Dance, a religious revitalization campaign reminiscent of the pan-Indian movements led by earlier prophets

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It's leaders wished for an eventual day where whites would disappear, buffalo would return, and they could practice their ancestral customs "free from misery, death, and disease"

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On December 29, 1890, soldiers opened fire on Ghost Dancers encamped on Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota, killing between 150 and 200 Indians, mostly women and children

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Wounded Knee Massacre marked the end of 4 centuries of armed conflict between native population and European settlers and their descendants

Settler Societies and Global Wests

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Conquest of the American West was a part of a global process of moving to interior regions in temperate climates everywhere, bringing their crops and livestock while also establishing other industries

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Often called "settler societies" because immigrants quickly outnumbered original inhabitants

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In many settler societies, native peoples were subject to cultural reconstruction

Myth, Reality, and the Wild West •

The West was often imagined as a place of individual freedom and unbridled opportunity

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Later it was pictured as a lawless place ruled by cowboys and Indians, the Wild West

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This interpretation became increasingly popular in all types of media, separate entirely from the "real" West

Politics in a Gilded Age

The Corruption of Politics •

Americans during the Gilded Age saw their nation as an island of political democracy in a world still dominated by undemocratic governments

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Political corruption was rife

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Urban politics fell under the sway of corrupt political machines -

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New York's Tweed Ring

Corruption was at the national level too

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Credit Mobilier scandal

The Politics of Dead Center •

Every Republican candidate for president from 1868 to 1900 had fought in the Union army -

Union soldiers’ pensions

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Democrats dominated the South and Catholic votes

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The parties were closely divided and national elections were very close

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Gilded Age presidents made little effort to mobilize public opinion or exert executive leadership

Government and the Economy •

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The nation’s political structure proved ill-equipped to deal with the problems created by the economy’s rapid growth -

Tariff policy was debated

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Return to gold standard in 1879

Republican economic policies strongly favored the interests of eastern industrialists and bankers

Reform Legislation •

The Civil Service Act of 1883 created a merit system for federal employees

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Congress established the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) in 1887 -

Sherman Antitrust Act

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ICC was the first federal agency intended to regulate economic activity, but could only sue companies in court

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These laws helped to establish the precedent that the national government could regulate the economy to promote the public good

Political Conflict in the States •

State governments expanded their responsibilities to the public

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Third parties enjoyed significant, if short-lived, success in local elections -

The Greenback-Labor Party

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Farmers responded to railroad policies by organizing the Grange

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Some states passed eight-hour-day laws...