U.S. Grant 18691877
Rutherford B. Hayes
1877-1881
Grover Cleveland
1885-1889 and
1893-1897
Benjamin Harrison
1889-1893
James Garfield
1881
William McKinley
1897-1901
Chester A.
Arthur 18811885
 Gilded Age -Period when corruption
existed in society but was
overshadowed by the wealth of the
period (“gilded” is when something
is golden/beautiful on the surface
but is really cheap/worthless
underneath
 Abuses in business and government
caused problems for immigrants,
laborers, and farmers
 Term comes from a book written
about the time period by Mark
Twain and Charles Dudley Warner
in 1873 The Gilded Age
 Wealth of Natural resources (oil, coal, iron ore, water)
 Without these: Slower growth for America
 Government support for Business
 Growing population that provided cheap labor and
new markets for products
 FIRST to successfully use a steam engine to drill OIL
near Pennsylvania
 Who invented the “steam engine?”
FIRST “oil well” in America
 Problem – Iron (which is turned into steel)
has other elements (Carbon = WEAK)
 In order to make a profit with efficient
iron….get the carbon out!!!
 Developed by Henry Bessemer
 POINT: remove the imperfect elements out of
the iron
 Successful – 90% of the nation’s steel was
produced this way!
 First used by Andrew Carnegie
 Railroads (linked isolated cities)
 Who did most of the work?
 Barbed Wire
 All innovative construction
(Brooklyn Bridge -1883)
(Skyscrapers in Chicago & NYC…etc.)
 Innovations promote change…leads to
inventions – boosts the economy!
 Thomas Edison
 Perfected the light bulb in
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1880, and motion picture
 Organized power plants
 Established first research lab
Alexander Graham Bell
 Telephone (1876)
Henry Ford
 Assembly Line
George Eastman
 Camera (1885)
Samuel Morse
 Telegraph (1837)
Wright Brothers
 Airplane (1903)
Christopher Sholes
 Typewriter (1867)
 Guglielmo Marconi
 Radio
Wright Brothers on
1903 Flight
Samuel Morse
19th Century
Typewriter
Alexander Graham Bell
Marconi
19th Century
Camera
 The Federal Government made HUGE land grants for the
development of railroads
 Promontory Point, Utah (Union and Central Pacific / Iowa
to California) = FIRST Transcontinental Railroad
Civil War (1865)– America had 30,000 miles of track but by
1890 – 180,000 miles of track… 25 years!
Who did most of the work on the railroads?
________________________________________
*Endured Native American attacks!
Results: growth of industries, hazardous jobs for railroad
workers, an increase in migration to the West
 Railroad Mogul (railcars)
 Provided a “COMPANY TOWN”
homes, schools,
hospitals for his workers
 Problem: You constantly were
in debt / Very controlling!
 Pullman Strike (later)
- raised the rent, but DID NOT give
out raises! = leads to violent strike in
1894!

One business that “CONTROLS” the market over a
particular product or service
Characteristics:
(1) doesn’t worry about providing good service to the
public
(2) can charge whatever they want /
(3) makes low-quality goods because of NO competition
(4) Restrict production and raise prices
Examples of Industrialists / Monopolists / Tycoons
or “Captains of Industry”
Cornelius Vanderbilt
2. Andrew Carnegie
3. John D. Rockefeller
4. J.P. Morgan
1.
 Captain of Industry
 Hated Philanthropy
 Shipping & Railroad Tycoon
 Nickname “The Commodore”
WHY HE WAS SUCCESSFUL 1. Rags to Riches* (younger = poor, older = rich, The
American Dream…), supported charities which led to…
2. GOSPEL OF WEALTH - the Monopolist or industrialist
millionaires “GIVE BACK” to charities.
3. Philanthropy” – the act of giving back to the community
(Carnegie – responsibility)
Carnegie “STEEL” Company” (1899)
5. Social Darwinism
6. Vertical and Horizontal Integration (business
strategies)
7. Bessemer Process
4.
 Practiced by Andrew Carnegie
 Vertical Integration: process in which Carnegie
“bought out his suppliers” (iron mines, railroad
systems) ….. WHY????
 Horizontal Integration: process in which
Carnegie “bought out OTHER companies” smaller
companies merge into Carnegie Steel Company
“Survival of the Fittest”
- Trying to apply biological reasoning to society
• Some individuals of a species “flourish” and pass their traits to
their next generation, while others do not flourish.
• 1859 English naturalist Charles Darwin: On the Origins of
Species
• “Natural Selection / Law”
• Can explain the success of industrialists / tycoons / moguls
Why does Laissez Faire SUPPORT Social Darwinism (vice versa)?
• “Laissez faire” government
• “allow to do” – NO government regulation of business / economy
/ “Pure / fair Competition” “unrestricted capitalism” –
Answer: to allow the “fittest to survive” NATURALLY without
government intervention.
The American Dream
 the ideal that every US citizen should
have an equal opportunity to achieve
success and prosperity through hard
work, determination, and initiative.
 Rags to Riches
 Gospel of Wealth
 Bessemer Process
 Vertical Integration
 Horizontal Integration
 Social Darwinism
 Creates the “Standard Oil Company”
 “ROBBER BARON” (RUTHLESS)
 Sold his oil at a very LOW price to make
people buy the product from him, while
other companies had HIGH prices /
once you control the market….hike the
prices back up!
 Richest man in history
 Philanthropist
 Stockholders from numerous companies
(ex. Bob’s company) would hand over their
shares / stocks to the a board of trustees
(TRUST).
 In return, the stockholders make a profit off
the success of the business (Standard Oil
monopoly)
 Dictate prices and charge whatever they want!
 (PRICE FIXING)
 MAIN POINT of a TRUST:
 To eliminate competition
- Purpose: an attempt by the federal government to
“REGULATE” businesses & to promote
FAIR COMPETITION
 First legislation to attempt to limit trusts by claiming
unfair trading options
 Result of Sherman Anti-Trust Act
INEFFECTIVE!!!!!!!!!! (until Teddy Roosevelt and
Woodrow Wilson years = CLAYTON ANTI-TRUST
ACT) Later: Federal Trade Commission (still used
today)
(Language too vague to enforce / pressure from fed. gov’t
= trusts will get around it and MERGED)
- against railroad abuses
- More power to the “STATES”
and uphold Granger law
- “interstate commerce”
- Interstate Commerce
Commission – Enforce federal
control of Interstate commerce
- Prohibited monopolies / trusts
Reason:
 South is still “rebuilding” from Civil War
(economic stagnation)
 Only thing that offered hope – tobacco,
textiles, furniture, etc. (Cotton is no
longer King! = tobacco)
 *Result of consolidation of
monopolies  Labor Unions / Union Movements are
emerging & collective bargaining
 Union – a group of laborers
with a common cause: expose
the harsh conditions of jobs
 2 major types:
1. Craft (SKILLED)
2. Industrial / Trade
 SKILLED / UNSKILLED:
“United we stand, divided we
fall”
 12 hour days, 6 days a week
 Steel mills often demanded
7 days a week
 No vacations, sick leave,
unemployment
compensation, or workers
compensation for injuries
on the job
 ALL family members had to
work to survive
 Children - .27 every 14
hours
 Men - $498 / year
 Women - $267 / year
 1882 – 675 (avg.) weekly
deaths in America
 Unions form to fight for TWO things
Better wages / more money
2. Better working conditions
1.
 “Negotiation between laborers and management”
 National Labor Union (NLU) 1866 –
 refused African Americans as members
 Skilled and unskilled (Trade unionism)
 Leader: William Sylvis
 Lobbied Congress, not the Employers
 MAIN LEGACY: 8 hours a day (Originally pushed by
Populist…later adopted by Democrats)
 Colored National Labor Union (CNLU) – accepted
African Americans
 Beliefs:
 EQUALITY = Equal pay for equal work
 ACCEPTED EVERYONE…(women and African
Americans) / “skilled AND unskilled”
 Leader: Terrence Powderly
 DID NOT USE STRIKES –
 refusal to work, as a LAST resort (favored nonviolence)
 Practiced Arbitration: resolving a dispute OUTSIDE
of the court system
 “Injury to one is the concern of all”
Craft Unionism: includes skilled workers
 American Federation of Labor (AFL)
 Leader - SAMUEL GOMPERS
 believed in “collective bargaining”
 used STRIKES as a MAJOR / FIRST tactic /resort (supported
violence)* Complete opposite of Knights of Labor
Industrial Unionism / Trade Unionism: skilled AND
unskilled
 American Railway Union (ARU)
 Leader - EUGENE V. DEBS (SOCIALIST)
 “The Strike is the weapon of the oppressed” Eugene V. Debs
 Socialism – an economic system in which the government
controls business and property / less extreme version of
communism
 Individuals do not work for themselves, but live in
corporation of one another
 Purpose: Overthrow Capitalism
 Pro: total equality regardless of physical differences
 Con: hard workers get no support
 “EQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH”
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Example of Socialist Union
Mostly Unskilled workers
Leader: Eugene V. Debs / Bill Haywood
Nickname: Wobblies
Used STRIKES….all the time! (USED VIOLENCE)
 Federal Government response to Strikes / Unions:
unhappy and acted with force (threat to the capitalist
government – messes w/$)
 Federal troops are sent in (injunction)
 Great Railroad Strike of 1877 – B & O Railroad lead a
strike (covered 50,000 miles)
 President Rutherford B Hayes claimed they
threatened *interstate commerce* - sent federal troops
to end the strike!
 Injunction: when federal government “jumps in”
and tries to fix everything
 Example:
 Great Railroad Strike of 1877
 Pullman Strike
 (federal troops were sent in)
 Strike in Chicago….police show up, workers threw a
bomb into police lines!
 Several police officers died
 MAJOR EFFECT:
THE PUBLIC BEGAN TO TURN
AGAINST THE LABOR
MOVEMENT (due to violence)
ENDS THE LABOR MOVEMENT
 Carnegie Steel Company (Homestead Plant in PA) –
cut wages – a strike occurs!
 Henry Frick, Homestead Plant manager hired,
SCABS, or strikebreakers, that continued to work,
despite the strike to keep the company going
 Pullman Company laid off 3,000 workers
 George Pullman hired employees and gave them housing…after lay
offs, didn’t lower the rent on the house!
 ****George Pullman wanted to control the lives of his workers (no
loitering on front porch!)
 George Pullman hired SCABS, strikebreakers…strikes turned violent
 Major effect: federal troops were sent in
*** Railroads “BLACKLISTED” the strikers
*Blacklist – a list that included people that COULD NOT work on the
railroads, due to their connection to strikes
 Fighting for:
 Better working conditions
 Equal pay for equal work
 End of child labor
****MAIN LEADER: MARY HARRIS JONES (MOTHER)
To expose the cruelties of child labor – Mary Harris Jones led a
march of 80 mill children to home of President Teddy
Roosevelt….this crusade influenced the passage of Child
Labor Laws
 March 25, 1911 (New York City)
 Oil-drenched machines caught on fire! (conditions)
 Company locked all of the doors *(Crime / force)
 146 women died (from fire or jumping)
 MAJOR EFFECT/ Public Reaction: a task force was
set up to study the terrible working conditions of many
industries in New York
 * spurred the growth of improved factory conditions
and safety standards
Yellow Dog Contracts – swearing / oath they will NOT join a
Union
Blacklist – if you are part of or leader of a union against the
productivity of a business, you are placed on this list /
difficult for you to get a job
Lockout: owner tells the employees not to bother showing
up until they agree to a pay cut
Scabs: Strikebreakers (hired to continue economy of
business while strikers are not working)
Interstate Commerce: a company claims strikers are
affecting interstate commerce and the federal
government comes running!