Chapter 7: Issues of the Gilded
Age
(1877-1900)
Section 1: Segregation and
Social Tension
• Post Civil War the government was
passing laws that increased the rights of
freed slaves.
• During the Gilded Age, however, most
began to have their rights narrowed.
I. African Americans Lose
Freedoms
• After Federal troops
were recalled from
the
south..southerners
went right on back to
treating AA the way
they had in the past.
• Jim Crow Laws –
Laws that kept blacks
and whites separated.
A. States’ Governments Limit
Voting Rights
1. 15th Amendment – Prohibits states from denying someone
the right to vote based on race.
2. States got around it by using;
a. Poll tax – You had to be able to pay the poll tax to vote
b. Literacy test – Had to be able to read and right to vote.
However, this also eliminated some white voters, so southern
states created the
3. grandfather clause – If your grandfather was an eligible
voter prior to 1866, you did not have to pay poll tax or take
literacy test. Only white men over 21 were legal voters in
1866.
4. as a result the # of registered black voters in the south
decreased dramatically.
B. New Laws Force Segregation
1. Jim Crow Laws became a way of life in the
South.
2. widespread segregation had become the reality
of life in America.
3. blacks were restricted on where they could live,
work, & send their kids to school.
4. Plessy Vs Ferguson – Supreme Court case
where the Supreme Court ruled that Separate,
but Equal was legal.
a. Separate facilities were rarely equal.
II. African Americans Oppose
Injustices
• African Americans
always refused to
accept their status as
2nd class citizens in
America.
• They established their
own society in order
to work towards their
goals of equality in
America.
A. Booker T. Washington
Urges Economic
Advancement
1. prominent African
American leader who
thought Africans should
pick themselves up by
their own bootstraps to
overturn Jim Crow laws.
2. build up their own
economic resources and
establish reputations as
hardworking and honest
Americans…would get
them respect once
whites saw them as
trustworthy citizens.
3. President of Tuskegee
Institute in Alabama. An
all black school.
• Booker T Washington Video (1:31)
• Click Here!!!
B. W.E.B. DuBois Attacks
Washington’s Ideas
1. PhD from Harvard Univ.
2. Critical of Washingtons
willingness to be
accommodating to
southern white.
3. believed that political
action was the only way
to gain the respect of
whites.
4. Did not feel that the right
to vote was a privilege
that blacks had to
earn…that is was a right
of citizenship.
C. Ida Wells Crusades Against Lynching
1. African –American woman who fought against
segregation in the south.
2. Worked as a school teacher and then as a
newspaper reporter.
3. Was run out of Memphis after writing a series of
articles attacking the practice of lynching in the
south.
4. She basically threatened white residents of
Memphis by stating that if whites were not
careful, that blacks may just turn the tables on
them.
III. Chinese Immigrants Face
Discrimination
A. Jim Crow of the West
1. mobs of whites attacked Chinese workers accusing them of
taking “white jobs”.
2. Chinese Exclusion Act banned Chinese immigration into
the U.S.
3. Laws told Chinese citizens were they could live and send
their kids to school.
4. Many Chinese had to turn to U.S. courts in order to protect
their rights.
IV. Mexican Americans Struggle
with the West
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo –
Guaranteed the rights of land ownership
by Mexicans who chose to stay in Texas
after the war.
• 4/5 of all Mexican landowners had their
land taken away from them in New
Mexico.
A. Abuses and Discrimination
Undermine Rights
1. When their was a conflict between MexicanAmericans and White Americans over ownership
of the land…the Mexican-American had to
PROVE he owned it…if he could not..then the
white American got it..
2. A prominent group of whites in New Mexico got
the Federal government to give them control of
large tracts of land that many Mexicans had lived
and worked on for years.
3. Mexican-Americans had no real representation of
their interests in Congress.
B. Mexican Americans Fight Back
1. Los Gorras Blancas
– Mexican- American
group who targeted
large ranch owners
property as a way of
protecting the rights
of the poor members
of society.
2. had a newspaper to
air their concerns to
the population
3. were supported by
the Knights of Labor
V. Women Make Gains & Suffer
Setbacks
A. Fighting for a
Constitutional
Amendment
1. Women fought to end
slavery then felt
slighted when 14th
and 15th Amendments
did not include equal
rights for women.
2. Susan B Anthony –
Fought in the
temperance
movement then began
to focus on equal
rights for women.
3. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
– Helped form the
National Women’s
Suffrage Association –
A women’s organization
that fought to gain
women the right to vote.
4. suffrage – The right to
vote.
5. Anthony was arrested
while attempting to
illegally vote as a sign of
defiance to laws that
banned women from
voting.
6. At the time of SBA’s
death..only 4 states
allowed women to vote
in state/local elections.
(Wyoming, Utah,
Colorado, Idaho)
B. Breaking Down Other Barriers
1. 1900 – 1/3 of all college students were women.
2. Francis Willard – Women’s Christian
Temperence Union (WCTU). Fought to ban
alcohol.
3. worked to reform health care, education, and ban
child labor.
Section 2: Political and
Economic Challenges
I.
Balance of Power Creates Stalemate
A.
Party loyalty was divided – No majority gained
by either party in Congress.
B.
Neither party held power for more than 2 yrs.
C.
Made is tough to pass laws by Congress
D. Presidents of this era, were very weak when
compared to Lincoln.
1. Rutherford B Hayes won by backdoor deal
2. Ben Harrison lost popular vote, but won electoral vote.
3. Chester Arthur became President after Garfield was
assassinated… then failed to win his parties nomination
in a re-election campaign.
4. Grover Cleveland was only really notable leader…was
known for his integrity
“A Democrat thief is no better than a Republican thief”
Grover Cleveland
4. Grover Cleveland
was only really
notable leader…was
known for his
integrity
“A Democrat thief is no
better than a Republican
thief”
a.
was known as a
reformer who
worked to clean up the
corruption within
D.C.
II. Corruption Plagues National
Politics
• Many high level
government officials
were known to accept
bribes.
A. Political Cartoonists Raise the
Alarm
•
“The Bosses of the
Senate” – Joseph
Keppler
2. Thomas Nast –
Went after corrupt
political boss the
famous William Macy
Tweed (Boss Tweed)
a. Boss
Tweed was arrested
in Spain after a
Spanish police officer
recognized him from
Nasts’ cartoons.
B. The Spoils System Dominates
the Government
•
1. Spoils System – Awarded government jobs
to people who were loyal to the political party
that was elected.
a. local, state, and federal level
b. allowed for many unqualified people to be given very
important jobs
•
“It’s not what you…it’s who you know”
President was often not involved in the
campaign process as it was thought to be
beneath him. Therefore rewarding those who
had worked so hard for your election became
common practice
C. Civil Service Reform Promotes
Honest Government
1. Civil Service System – System that includes state and
federal jobs aimed at hiring the most qualified people
for government jobs.
2. focused on what you knew, rather than who you knew.
3. Many Presidents wanted reform to the spoils system,
but could not gain any support for it from their party.
4. Political Parties fought any attempts to get rid of the
spoils system…and often back candidates based on
their ability to be controlled…ex: Chester Arthur
5. Pendleton Civil Service Act – (1883)
Established a Civil Service Commission
which wrote a civil service exam.
a. Anyone who wanted a government job now had to
take this exam and have their scores compared to
others interested in the job.
b. ones political connections did not get you a job.
III. Economic Issues Challenge the
Nation
• Tariffs – Taxes on imported goods
• Gold standard – The government uses
gold as the basis of the nations currency
A. Americans Debate the Tariff
Issue
1. New tariffs served 2 main purposes…income for
government & protection of U.S. industry.
2. A hotly debated topic among politicians going all the
way back to the founding of our nation.
3. In the Gilded Age…
a. Republicans = high tariffs would allow industries to
grow and create new jobs in manufacturing.
b. Democrats – higher tariffs raise the cost of
consumer goods and makes it more difficult to sell
goods overseas.
B. Conflicts Develop over Monetary
Policy
1. During the Civil War the government produced paper
money called Greenbacks..they got rid of it after the
war when it was thought to have contributed to
inflation.
2. Coin Act – (1873) Allowed the U.S. government to
make both gold and silver coins.
3. Many people in the U.S. wanted to see the U.S. go
to silver coins and hoped to cash in on them. Most
who supported silver coinage probably did so
because they had access to silver…same for
people who supported gold coinage.
Section 3: Farmers and
Populism
• Populism was born out of the nightmare
that was once the “American Dream” for
Americas farmers.
I. Farmers Face Many Problems
• Farmers faced all sorts of large obstacles
to success that were not expected.
• Low prices, high costs, mounting debts
A. Falling Prices and Rising Debt
1. 1870-1895 – prices plummeted
2. by the 1890’s it was costing farmers more to sell their
corn than they earned by selling it.
3. cost of business continued to climb – new machinery,
cost of seed & livestock
4. many farmers went into debt that they were not going to
be able to pay back.
5. most lost their farms and became tenant farmers.
B. Big Business Practices Also Hurt
1. farmers blamed banks for foreclosing, and RR for
unfair prices.
2. farmers across the U.S. felt as if the nation had
turned it’s back on them
3. In the past there were plenty of elected leaders in
D.C. from agriculture background. At this
time…that was not the case. More focus on
industry that concerns on American farms.
II. Farmers Organize and Seek
Change
• Grange – Organization of farmers whose
goals were to educate farmers on new
technology, and calling for new legislation
that protected farmers from unfair
business practices.
A. The Grange Tries Several
Strategies
1. Several states passed laws in 1870’s restricting
maximum $ for railroad fees and grain storage.
These became known as “Grange Laws”.
2. Many companies fought the laws all the to the
Supreme Court where they were upheld.
3. It was the Grange that pressured the federal
government to create the Interstate Commerce
Commission.
B. Farmers’ Alliance Lead the
Protest
1. As the Grange faded, other farmers rights groups
emerged.
2. formed cooperatives to sell their products in
larger quantities
3. created “postal banks” to provide low interest
loans to farmers
4. boycotted companies who “cheated” farmers
III. The Populist Party Demands
Reform
• Populist Party – Also called the Peoples
Party. Was created to elect politicians that
held the same concerns as farmers.
A. Populists State Their Goals
1. called for the coinage of silver to combat low
prices.
2. To combat high costs, they wanted government
ownership of RR.
3. They aspired to elect a Populist Party member as
President of the U.S. and did in fact nominate a
candidate.
4. Wanted to convince urban workers that they
were fighting the same people and should work
together.
B. Populists Achieve Some
Success
1. Populist Presidential candidate, James Weaver,
got 1 million votes.
2. 3 Governors, 5 Senators, & 10 Congressmen
were elected in 1894.
3. United many whites and blacks..and there was
real alarm at this…so much that Democrats
urged voters that a Populist victory would lead to
“Negro Supremacy”
IV. Economic Crisis and Populism’s
Decline
• The Populists had begun to have real
successes at the polls in back to back
Presidential Elections and many thought
they were close to being able to back a
winner.
• When William Jennings Bryan was
nominated by the Dems as their
Presidential candidate…the Populists had
a decision to make.
A. Bryan and the Election of 1896
1. William Jennings Bryan held very similar beliefs as most
Populists.
2. He wanted to fight for the common people including
farmers.
3. The Populists had to decide to support a different
candidate now and hope to win a Presidential race in
another time…or support Bryan…who held many of their
own beliefs.
4. They chose to support Bryan in hopes of tapping in to his
popularity.
5. He lost back to back elections Vs William McKinley and
with him...the Populist Party faded from popularity.
V. Populism’s Legacy
• Reforms that remained in vogue included;
graduated income tax, RR regulation,
more flexible monetary system.
• Third Party candidates now had an
example of third party candidate success.