Number Overview of start to Gilded Age
Width of Streets
Cambridge, MA = 30 feet.
Charleston, SC =60 ft.
NYC -60-100 ft.
In the west = 80 ft minimum.
Topeka, KS = 130 ft
Salt Lake City = 132 ft and 20 ft sidewalks.
Population Increase:
High birth rates:
-at start of Civil War total population = 31,443,321. End of war= 39,818, 449
(increase of more than a quarter).
1880 it was past the 50 million mark and by 1890 was past every European country
except Russia.
Life expectancy rose from 38.9 years in 1850 to 49.6 years in 1900 and passing the
60 mark in 1920.
Immigration:
1815 to start of Civil War over 5 million people moved from Europe.
Between Civil War and 1890 another 10 million arrived (mostly from northwest
Europe—England, Wales, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia)
In 24 years (1890-1914) another 15 million came: mostly eastern and southern
European—Poles, Russia Jews, Ukrainians, Slovaks, Croatians, etc.
Cities began to be overcrowded.
Poverty:
In 1890, 11 million of the nation's 12 million families earned less than $1200 per year; of
this group, the average annual income was $380, well below the poverty line.
Industry:
1840 ranked 5th in output
1860 ranked 4th in output
1894 ranked 1rst in output (produced twice as much as Britain, the previous leader and
half as much as all Europe combined).
Railroad:
1840—3,000 miles of track (all of Europe had only 1,8000 miles—mostly in Britain)
during 1840s—track tripled in South
1850—9,000 miles
1860 there was a national network but still excluding the undeveloped west
1880-1980 decade of maximum construction—another 70,000 miles added (giving total
network of 164,000 miles)
1885 at least 4 main routes to the Pacific Ocean.
Policies:
Naturalization Acts going back to 1790 had always denied entry and residence to nonwhites. In August 1882 Congress passed Exclusion Acts denying entry to insane,
criminals, paupers, and for 10 years Chinese contract-laborers. But restrictions were
marginal.
Homestead Act: 1862
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 placed a ban on all new immigrants from China
--Then came restrictions on the immigration of “undesirable persons”
1885: prohibited contract labor in order to protect American workers
Dawes Act of 1887
Sherman Anti-Trust Act: passed in 1890 outlawed any combination "in restraint of
trade." In 1894, in the case of U.S. v. Debs, the Supreme Court ruled that the act could be
used to stop labor unions from interfering with commerce. Between 1890 and 1901, the
federal government filed 18 suits under the law, four against labor unions.