Chapter 7
Issues of the Gilded Age
7.1 Segregation and Social
Trends
 Objectives:



Assess how whites created a segregated
society in the South and how African
Americans responded
Analyze efforts to limit immigration and the
effects
Compare the situations of Mexican
Americans and of women to those of other
groups
African Americans Lose
Freedoms
 Southern
states got around the 15th
amendment by enacting a poll tax


Literacy tests
Grandfather clauses
 Jim

Crow laws in South
Plessy v. Ferguson 1896 “separate but
equal”
African Americans Oppose
Injustices
 Booker


Should focus energy building up economic
resources and establishing reputations
Vocational education
 W.E.B.

Du Bois
Demand full and immediate equality
 Ida

T. Washington
B. Wells
Newspaper “Free Speech”
Chinese Immigrants Face
Discrimination
 1879-CA
barred cities from employing
people of Chinese ancestry
 “Oriental” School
 Chinese Exclusion Act-banned Chinese
laborers from entering the country
 Federal courts

Yick Wo v. Hopkins –people of Chinese
descent born in U.S. could not be stripped
of citizenship
Mexican Americans Struggle in
the West
 Mexican-American
War-after, Mexicans
were guaranteed property rights

Burden of proof-lost land to Americans
 Las


Gorras Blancas
Group formed to get land back
Backed by the Knights of Labor
Women Make Gains and
Suffer Setbacks
 Susan



B. Anthony
Wanted women included in 14th and 15th
amendments
Formed the National Woman Suffrage
Association
Fought for the right to vote
 Number
of women attending college
increased
7.2 Political and Economic
Challenges
 Objectives



Analyze the issue of corruption in national
politics in the 1870s and 1880s
Discuss civil service reform during the 1870s
and 1880s
Assess the importance of economic issues in
the politics of the Gilded Age
Balance of Power Creates
Stalemate
 Party

loyalties were extremely even
Made it hard to pass laws
 Weak


Presidents
Hayes, Harrison, Garfield, Arthur
Pres. Cleveland was known for integrity
Corruption in Politics
 Many
gov. officials accepted bribes
 Political cartoons expressed concerns
about the damaging effects of corruption
and big money
 Spoils System-gov. jobs to loyal party
workers
 Promoted civil service reform

Pendleton Civil Service Act: exam to get
gov. job
Economic Issues
 Gold
standard-gov. used gold as the basis
of the nation’s currency
 Debates on tariffs


Republicans-favored high tariffs=promote
jobs
Democrats-said high tariffs increased costs
and made it difficult to sell abroad
Create your own!
 Create
a political cartoon for the Gilded
age.
 Any topic from Ch. 6 or 7
 Make sure you include


Caption
description of the drawing
 Be
creative!
7.3 Farmers and Populism
 Objectives


Analyze the problems farmers faced and
the groups they formed to address them
Assess the goals of the Populists, and
explain why they Populist Party did not last
Farmers Face Many Problems
 1870-1895


Cost more to produce than they could get
selling it
Tenement farmers
 Blamed

farm prices fell dramatically
big business
Railroads and banks
 Felt
that gov. turned their back on them
Organize and Seek Change
 Oliver

H. Kelley-
The Grange: org. to promote education on
new techniques and called for the
regulation of railroads
 Farmers’

Alliance
Collectively sold crops and wanted
government to establish “sub-treasuries”
Populist Party
 The
People’s Party 1882
 “grass roots” and spread rapidly
 Goals:



fight corruption
Increase monetary supply
gov. ownership of railroads
Economic Crisis and
Populism’s Decline
 Election

of 1896-Bryan (D) v. McKinley (R)
Bryan “Cross
of Gold Speech”
 Indorsed by Populists

McKinley
 Much
more $ than Bryan
 Won election
 Party
fell apart after election
 Some reforms did become a reality