The U.S. Government and the Railroads
 In the period from 1865 to 1900, the United States Government aided the
development of the West by granting land to railroad companies
 To build a railroad is expensive and profits are not immediate; thus to encourage
private companies to build, the government gave free land to the companies
 Some of the land was used to build the tracks for the trains but the rest could be
sold at a profit – this was an incentive or reward for railroad building
 It led to the completion of a transcontinental railroad in 1869
 A transcontinental railroad made movement west easier and therefore more
Americans were willing to settle in the West
Antitrust Legislation
 A trust is another word for a monopoly
 Antitrust legislation means anti-monopoly laws
 Or laws to prevent monopolies from forming
 The purpose of antitrust legislation is to increase competition in a market
 When a monopoly exists or a single seller dominates a market, there is no
competition
 The lack of competition hurts consumers with higher prices and inferior goods
Laissez-faire Capitalism
 Laissez-faire means “Let them do [businesses] as they please”
 Laissez-faire capitalism is a completely free market where the government does not
intervene in the market
 Buyers are free to buy and sellers are free to sell
 There are no government regulations
 In a completely free market, the price of a good is determined by the law of supply
and the law of demand
 If many consumers are willing to buy a good and the supply of the good is low, the
price will be high
 Wages are also determined by the laws of supply and demand
Robber Barons
 An American capitalist of the latter part of the 19th century who became wealthy
through ruthless practices
 A business owner who used ruthless practices to dominate a market and maximize
his profits
 Robber barons unfairly eliminated competition
 Robber barons paid workers low wages
 Andrew Carnegie [steel industry] and John D. Rockefeller [oil industry] were
accused of being robber barons
 J.P. Morgan [banking] and Cornelius Vanderbilt [railroad] were also accused of
being robber barons
 A robber baron acquired wealth by any means necessary even if practices were
unfairly eliminating competition
The Gospel of Wealth
 Andrew Carnegie was a successful capitalist
 One of the captains of industry of 19th century America, Andrew Carnegie helped
build the American steel industry, a process that turned a poor young man into one
of the richest entrepreneurs of his age
 Later in his life, Carnegie sold his steel business and systematically gave his
collected fortune away to cultural, educational and scientific institutions for “the
improvement of mankind”
 While some critics called Andrew Carnegie a robber baron or a business owner who
used unfair and ruthless methods to eliminate competition, it is important to note
that he gave millions of dollars to charity
 Andrew Carnegie was a philanthropist or a person who gave money to promote the
welfare and improvement of others
 In his Gospel of Wealth, Andrew Carnegie wrote about his views regarding money,
philanthropy, and charity
 He wrote of the duties of the man of wealth: to live simply and to use his money to
improve society or for the most beneficial results for the community
The Interstate Commerce Act
 In 1887, Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act, making the railroads the
first industry subject to Federal regulation
 Congress passed the law largely in response to public demand that railroad
operations be regulated
 The act also established a five-member enforcement board known as the Interstate
Commerce Commission
 In the years following the Civil War, railroads were privately owned and entirely
unregulated
 The railroad companies held a natural monopoly in the areas that only they serviced
 The Interstate Commerce Act addressed the problem of railroad monopolies by
setting guidelines for how the railroads could do business
 The act became law with the support of both major political parties and pressure
groups from all regions of the country
 Applying only to railroads, the law required “just and reasonable” rate changes;
prohibited special rates or rebates for individual shippers; prohibited “preference”
in rates for any particular localities, shippers, or products; forbade long-haul/shorthaul discrimination; prohibited pooling of traffic or markets; and most important,
established a five-member Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC)
The Sherman Antitrust Act
 The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the first measure passed by the U.S.
Congress to prohibit trusts or monopolistic practices
 Trusts had come to dominate a number of major industries thereby destroying
competition
 The Sherman Act authorized the Federal Government to institute proceedings
against trusts in order to dissolve them
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Any combination “in the form of trust or otherwise that was in restraint of trade or
commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations” was declared illegal
A trust or corporate trust is an American English term for a large business with
significant market power
It is often used in a historical sense to refer to monopolies or near-monopolies in the
United States during the Second Industrial Revolution in the 19th century and early
20th century
Therefore, antitrust is anti-monopoly
Industrialization (1870–1900)
 A period in American history when factories became increasingly important in the
economy
 Many “New Immigrants” arrived to work in factories
 Movement to cities or urbanization increased
 Labor unions formed or organizations that promoted the interests of workers and
workers’ desires for an eight-hour workday, higher wages and safer working
conditions
 Samuel Gompers encouraged “Bread and Butter” unionism or having unions focus
on wages and working conditions and not social issues
 Mechanization or the use of machines to produce goods increased
 And Andrew Carnegie, a monopolist, wrote about the need for the wealthy to use
their wealth to benefit or improve society [The Gospel of Wealth]
The Main Benefit Gained by Labor Unions in the late 19th Century
 Higher wages
 Safer working conditions
 Even sometimes an eight-hour workday
 Yes, improved wages and hours
John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and J. Pierpont Morgan
 Captains of industry
 Formed powerful businesses that dominated their industries
 Rockefeller – Standard Oil Company
 Carnegie – Steel industry
 J.P. Morgan – Banking
 Yet also sometimes labelled robber barons
 American capitalists who became wealthy through unfair practices and the
elimination of competition
 It was said that a robber baron used ruthless business tactics against their
competitors
Henry Ford
 Henry Ford started the Ford Motor Company
 He manufactured automobiles
 But his greatest contribution to industry was the introduction of the assembly line
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Inspired by the continuous-flow production methods used in other industries, Ford
installed moving lines for bits and pieces of the manufacturing process: For
instance, workers built motors and transmissions on rope-and-pulley–powered
conveyor belts
In December 1913, Ford began using the moving-chassis assembly line
In February 1914, he added a mechanized belt that chugged along at a speed of six
feet per minute
As the pace accelerated, Ford produced more and more cars
The assembly line increased production greatly
“Eight hours for work, eight hours for sleep, eight hours for what we will”
 This slogan was used in the late 1800s by labor unions
 The eight-hour workday was a major goal of labor unions in the late 1800s
 Workers wanted shorter workdays in order to have time for sleep and a bit of
leisure
Labor Unions and the “New Immigrants” in the late 19th Century
 The “New Immigrants” were from Southern and Eastern Europe
 They escaped poverty and persecution in their native countries
 They were willing to work for low wages in factories to survive
 Labor Unions viewed the “New Immigrants” as a threat
 Unions feared that the “New Immigrants” would take jobs from Americans
Social Darwinism
 The 19th-century philosophy of Social Darwinism maintained that economic success
comes to those who are the hardest working and most competent
 Social Darwinists misapplied Charles Darwin’s “Survival of the Fittest”
 Social Darwinists believed that there were stronger races and stronger individuals
within races too
 They believed that the strong should dominate the weak
 Social Darwinists believed that the poor were poor because they were lazy and not
fit
 Social Darwinists believed that the monopolist was simply the most fit individual
and therefore was meant to be a monopolist
 Fortunately, this idea has been challenged and is largely discredited today
 Social Darwinism was also used to justify imperialism and poverty in the world
 It categorized individuals as superior or inferior
Samuel Gompers, Terence Powderly and Eugene Debs
 Samuel Gompers founded the American Federation of Labor (AFL), an early and
still existing labor union
 The AFL only organized skilled workers
 Terence Powderly was a founder of the labor union called The Knights of Labor;
this union organized skilled and unskilled workers
 The Knights of Labor was discredited after the Haymarket Affair
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Eugene Debs was a founding member of the labor union: the Industrial Workers of
the World
Thus, Samuel Gompers, Terence Powderly and Eugene Debs were all leaders in
labor unions and all wanted to improve working conditions
Monopoly
 After the Civil War, one way business leaders tried to eliminate competition was by
forming monopolies or trusts
 A monopoly occurs when a single seller dominates a market
 In a monopoly, there is no competition and the seller can increase the price of goods
and still have customers
 Monopolies harm consumers with high prices and lower quality goods
Haymarket Riot
 On May 4, 1886, a labor protest rally near Chicago’s Haymarket Square turned into
a riot after someone threw a bomb at police
 At least eight people died as a result of the violence that day
 Despite a lack of evidence against them, eight radical labor activists were convicted
in connection with the bombing
 The Haymarket Riot was viewed a setback for the organized labor movement in
America, which was fighting for such rights as the eight-hour workday
 At the same time, the men convicted in connection with the riot were viewed by
many in the labor movement as martyrs
 The following headlines: “Labor Leaders Executed for Causing Haymarket Riot;”
“State Militia Called In To End Homestead Strike:” and “1,000 Jailed as Silver
Miners Protest Wage Cuts” – reveal that the government officials frequently
opposed labor union activities
 A labor union is an organization of workers that tries to increase wages, create safer
working conditions, and advocate on the behalf of workers
 In the 1800s, the United States government was very supportive of big business and
capitalists and often tried to stop the activities of labor unions
Chinese Exclusion Act, the Gentlemen’s Agreement, and the National Origins Act
 The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first major law restricting immigration to the
United States
 It was enacted in response to economic fears, especially on the West Coast, where
native-born Americans attributed unemployment and declining wages to Chinese
workers whom they also viewed as racially inferior
 The Chinese Exclusion Act – signed into law on May 6, 1882 – effectively halted
Chinese immigration for ten years and prohibited Chinese from becoming US
citizens
 The Gentlemen’s Agreement stated that Japan would agree not to issue passports to
emigrants to the United States, except to certain categories of business and
professional men
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In return, President Theodore Roosevelt agreed to urge the city of San Francisco to
rescind an order by which children of Japanese parents were segregated from white
students in the schools
The National Origins Act or The Immigration Act of 1924 limited the number of
immigrants allowed entry into the United States through a national origins quota
The quota provided immigration visas to two percent of the total number of people
of each nationality in the United States as of the 1890 national census
It completely excluded immigrants from Asia
Thus, the Chinese Exclusion Act, the Gentlemen’s Agreement and the National
Origins Act were similar is that all were expressions of nativism
Nativism is an anti-immigrant attitude
Nativism is hostility towards immigrants
Jacob Riis, Jane Addams, and Margaret Sanger
 Are all associated with efforts to improve conditions for the poor
 Jacob Riis documented how poor immigrants lived in overcrowded and unsanitary
tenements in the cities in his How the Other Half Lives
 Jane Addams founded Hull House to provide services to newly arrived immigrants
 Hull House was one of the first social settlements in North America or center for
neighborhood social services and social reform activities typically located in densely
populated urban areas
 Margaret Sanger devoted her life to legalizing birth control and making it
universally available for women
 Margaret Sanger tried to help women determine the number of children they would
give birth to in order to improve the economic conditions of the families
Federal Civil Service System
 A civil service system is a system where government employment is determined by
merit or the taking of a test to determine ability
 Government is the largest employer in the United States
 Even before World War II began, one out of every ten civilians worked for
government
 The National Civil Service Reform League was organized in an effort to correct
abuses of the old “spoils system”
 Under the Spoils System, government jobs were given to supporters of political
parties – if the candidate won, his supporters got the jobs
 The spoils system didn’t make for high quality in government personnel or for
efficiency in their services to the public
 Today, government workers are given jobs based on ability
 The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of United States is a federal law established
in 1883 that decided that government jobs should be awarded on the basis of merit
instead of political affiliation
 The Pendleton Act provided that Federal Government jobs be awarded on the basis
of merit and that Government employees be selected through competitive exams
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The act also made it unlawful to fire or demote for political reasons employees who
were covered by the law
Nativism
 Nativism is an anti-immigrant attitude
 This hate-filled attitude views immigrants negatively
 Nativism in the late 19th century was motivated primarily by hostility toward
immigrant workers
 Immigrant workers would often work for lower wages as they were desperate for
employment
 In addition, in the late 1800s, the “New Immigrants” arrived from southern and
eastern Europe
 These “New Immigrants” did not speak the English language and were often
Catholics or Jews
 The “New Immigrants” faced discrimination
 The “Old Immigrants” were often hostile to the “New Immigrants” and treated the
“New Immigrants” poorly
 The “Old Immigrants” had come from England and Northern Europe and were
Protestants as well as English-speakers [although the Irish were Catholics and did
face discrimination in the United States]
Farmers in the 1870s and 1880s
 During the 1870’s and 1880’s, Midwestern farmers found that earning a living was
increasingly difficult because railroad companies charged high rates for
transporting farm products
 Railroad companies often charged farmers higher rates than other customers and
would charge higher rates for shorter hauls
 A railroad is a monopoly and farmers had no choice but to transport their crops on
trains
 Crops can rot easily and so even at high prices, the crops had to be transported
 But farmers wanted the government to regulate or control the railroads and to
control prices
 The Grange Movement and the Populist Party fought for the farmers and
encouraged government regulation of the railroads
The Populist Party
 Free and unlimited coinage of silver, government ownership of railroads and a
graduated income tax were first proposed by the Populist Party
 A movement toward direct political action among desperate western farmers
 In late 19th century, angered over low crop prices, crippling bank loans, and high
shipping rates, farmers began to unite in self-help groups like the Grange
 Initially, these groups primarily provided mutual assistance while agitating for the
regulation of railroads and grain elevators
 Increasingly, they became centers of support for more sweeping political change by
uniting to help form the new third-party movement known as the Populists
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The Populists wanted the government to regulate the railroads and to help the
common man
To help western farmers fight unjust economic practices
Granger and Populist Movements
 To help the American farmer in his fight against the railroad monopolies and the
high interest rates of bank loans
 The Granger Movement was a movement for the American farmer; it tried to
improve the lives of American farmers
 Indeed a goal of the Granger movement and later Populist movement was to help
western farmers fight unjust economic practices
The Dawes Act
 The Dawes Act split up reservations held communally by Native American tribes
into smaller units and distributed these units to individuals within the tribe
 Also called the General Allotment Act, the law changed the legal status of Native
Americans from tribal members to individuals subject to federal laws and dissolved
many tribal affiliations
 The goal of the Dawes Act was to encourage Native Americans to integrate into
American culture
 The passage of the Dawes Act in 1887 was primarily an attempt by the United States
government to encourage Native American Indians to give up their traditional
cultures and assimilate
 The aim of the Dawes Act of 1887 was to assimilate Native American Indians into
American culture
The Homestead Act
 Passed on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act accelerated the settlement of the
western territory by granting adult heads of families 160 acres of surveyed public
land for a minimal filing fee and 5 years of continuous residence on that land
 The Homestead Act, enacted during the Civil War in 1862, provided that any adult
citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government
could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land
 Claimants were required to “improve” the plot by building a dwelling and
cultivating the land
 After 5 years on the land, the original filer was entitled to the property, free and
clear, except for a small registration fee
 After the Civil War, Union soldiers could deduct the time they had served from the
residency requirements
 The passage of the Homestead Act and the completion of the transcontinental
railroad helped to fulfill the United States commitment to Manifest Destiny but at
the expense of the Native American Indians
Booker T. Washington
 He was born into slavery
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He founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama
He wrote Up From Slavery, an autobiography
Believed that African Americans should first concentrate their efforts on trying to
achieve economic independence before seeking full social equality
Believed economic prosperity could best be achieved by vocational training or jobrelated education
He wanted young African Americans to develop skills and attitudes that would help
them to survive in an environment of increasing violence and discrimination
Booker T. Washington believed that the most immediate means for African
Americans to achieve equality was to expand their opportunities for vocational
education
Jim Crow Laws
 Southern states attempted to limit the impact of constitutional amendments passed
during the Reconstruction Era by passing Jim Crow laws
 Segregation laws in the South
 Were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States
 Enacted after the Reconstruction period, these laws continued in force until 1965
 Separate bathrooms for whites and blacks
 Separate water fountains, separate schools, etc.
 “Although important strides were made, Reconstruction failed to provide lasting
guarantees of the civil rights of the freedmen.” – Jim Crow Laws exemplify the
failure of Reconstruction
 The Jim Crow laws of the post-Civil War Era were attempts by state and local
governments to restrict the freedoms of African Americans
Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests and Grandfather Clauses
 The Fifteenth Amendment gave African American males the right to vote
 Poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses took that right away
 A poll tax was a tax for voting - newly freed slaves could not afford to pay the tax
 A literacy test is a difficult test to pass in order to vote - newly freed slaves were
often illiterate and could not pass the test
 A grandfather clause stated that if a man’s ancestor voted before the Civil War, he
could vote and not pay the tax – the ancestors of newly freed slaves could not vote
and so newly freed slaves, unlike poor whites, had to pay the poll tax and pass the
literacy test in order to vote
 Thus, poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses kept African Americans
from exercising their right to vote
 Poll taxes and grandfather clauses were devices used to deny African Americans the
right to vote
W.E.B. DuBois
 William Edward Burghardt “W. E. B.” Du Bois (1868-1963) was a leading AfricanAmerican sociologist, writer and activist
 Educated at Harvard University
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He earned fame for the publication of such works as Souls of Black Folk (1903), and
was a founding officer of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored
People (NAACP) and editor of its magazine
W.E.B. DuBois believed that African Americans should attempt to gain equality in
the United States by demanding full and immediate participation in American
society
He differed from Booker T. Washington in his method for improving the lives of
African Americans; Booker T. Washington believed in vocational education as a
means of improving economic status and thereby eventually gaining equality
whereas W.E.B. DuBois believed that African Americans were entitled to equal
rights now as was stated in the U.S. Constitution with its 14th and 15th amendments
Plessy v. Ferguson
 Plessy, a racially mixed man, sat in a railroad car where only whites were permitted
 He was arrested for violating a state law that provided “separate but equal”
facilities for non-whites
 Plessy said this law violated his “equal protection” rights under the 14th
Amendment
 The Supreme Court held that so long as a state provided “equal” facilities, it could
legally separate African Americans from whites
 The decision allowed the continuation of “separate but equal” facilities – resulting
in whites and African Americans attending different schools, using different water
fountains, and bathing in different public beaches
 State and local governments restricted the freedoms of African Americans
 The Jim Crow laws, upheld by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896),
provided for separate public facilities based on race
The 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution
 The 14th and 15th Amendments, passed during Reconstruction, resulted in increased
individual rights for African Americans
 The 14th to the Constitution granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized
in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed
 In addition, it forbids states from denying any person “life, liberty or property,
without due process of law” or to “deny to any person within its jurisdiction the
equal protection of the laws”
 The 14th Amendment is an equal rights for citizens amendment
 The 15th Amendment granted African American men the right to vote
 Set free by the 13th amendment, with citizenship guaranteed by the 14th amendment,
African American males were given the vote by the 15th amendment
The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
 The underlying reason for the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson was a
power struggle with Congress over Reconstruction
 The Radical Republicans in Congress accused President Andrew Johnson of
blocking their Reconstruction plan
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The Radical Republicans wanted harsh punishments of Confederates and full
political and social equality of African Americans
The Radical Republicans did not support Johnson's plan for Reconstruction
Sharecropping in the South
 In the ten years following the Civil War, a large numbers of former slaves earned a
living by becoming sharecroppers on Southern farms
 Freed slaves were only given their freedom; they were not given land or money to
start their new lives
 As many freed slaves were illiterate and needed to work, they found employment
with their former masters as sharecroppers
 Sharecroppers farmed for a rich landowner and paid rents to farm the land
 The rents, however, were high and sharecroppers were often in debt to the rich
landowners
 The effect of sharecropping in the South after the Civil War was that it kept
formerly enslaved persons economically dependent
 In order to survive, sharecroppers needed to farm but without their own lands, they
were forced to depend on former masters for their survival
The 13th Amendment
 Formally abolished slavery
 “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United
States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”
Radical Republicans
 A major reason the Radical Republicans opposed President Abraham Lincoln’s
Reconstruction plan was that his plan offered amnesty to nearly all Confederates
who would swear allegiance to the United States
 Radical Republicans did not like Lincoln’s lenient plan for Reconstruction
 Radical Republicans wanted to punish Confederates for the war and change
Southern society
 Radical Republicans believed freed slaves were entitled to the same political rights
and opportunities as whites
 The provision of the Radical Republicans’ plan for Reconstruction that Southern
States found most objectionable was that a former Confederate State could not be
readmitted to the Union unless that State ratified the 14th amendment
 The 14th amendment gives equal rights to all citizens
The Louisiana Purchase
 Included the Mississippi River, the Great Plains, and the Port of New Orleans
 Americans gained full control of the Mississippi River with the Louisiana Purchase
 Allowed farmers in the Ohio River Valley to transport their goods
 A benefit for trade
 Also a benefit for farming with the acquisition of the Great Plains
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The Mississippi River was a major trade route that transported goods from North
to South
The Mississippi flows into the Gulf of Mexico which led to the development of the
trading port city of New Orleans
The Great Plains are known as the “breadbasket” of the nation as farmers grow
important grains on the Great Plains and cattle is also herded on the Great Plains
Geography of the South
 Long growing season and fertile soil
 Greater reliance on agriculture
 Because of fertile land and a long growing season, plantations in the thirteen
colonies developed in the South
Mercantilism
 The idea that colonies benefit the mother country
 Colonies only trade with the mother country
 Colonies only export raw materials or natural resources
 Colonies only import finished goods from the mother country
 Gold and silver is taken from the colonies to the mother country
 Mercantilism was a popular economic philosophy in the 17th and 18th centuries in
Europe
 In this system, the colonies were moneymakers for the mother country
 The British system of mercantilism was opposed by many American colonists
because it placed restrictions on trading
 Colonists hated mercantilism
The Mayflower Compact
 The Mayflower Compact was a document signed by 41 male Pilgrims on November
21, 1620 on the ship called the Mayflower
 By signing this document, the men agreed to form a temporary government and be
bound by its laws
 The compact became the basis of government in the Plymouth Colony
 It is an example of self-government in the colonies
 The Mayflower Compact is important to the concept of a democratic society because
it represents a clear step toward self-government
Checks and Balances
 The system of checks and balances is a system where government is divided into
different branches [executive, legislative, and judicial] and each branch limits the
power of the other branches
 To check is to limit
 Thus, in a system of checks and balances, one branch cannot become too powerful;
tyranny cannot develop
 The system of checks and balances is best illustrated by the power of the President
to veto a bill passed by Congress
The Unwritten Constitution
 The Unwritten Constitution refers to traditions and practices of American
government but traditions and practices that are not listed in the Constitution
 Examples of the Unwritten Constitution are: the President’s cabinet, judicial
review, political parties, and Congressional Committees
 These examples are not listed in the Constitution but have become a part of
American government
Dred Scott v. Sanford
 Dred Scott was a slave
 His master moved to a free state
 Dred Scott lived in a free state with his master
 The master returned to a slave state
 Once in the slave state, Dred Scott sued stating that he was free because he had lived
in a free state
 The Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution recognized slavery and protected
property; therefore, the Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott was a slave
 The Dred Scott decision on the issue of slavery upheld the Southern viewpoint that
Congress could not pass a law depriving territorial residents of their property
 The Court stated that slaves were not citizens of the United States and, therefore,
could not expect any protection from the Federal Government or the courts
 The opinion also stated that Congress had no authority to ban slavery from a
Federal territory
 This decision moved the nation a step closer to Civil War.
 The decision of Scott v. Sanford, considered by legal scholars to be the worst ever
rendered by the Supreme Court, was overturned by the 13th and 14th amendments
to the Constitution, which abolished slavery and declared all persons born in the
United States to be citizens of the United States
Marbury v. Madison
 A Supreme Court case
 Established the principle of judicial review
 Judicial Review is the concept that the Court has the power to declare a law
unconstitutional
 Chief Justice John Marshall thereby increased the power of the Supreme Court and
strengthened the power of the federal government
 The Supreme Court has the power to interpret the Constitution and determine the
constitutionality of laws
 Judicial review is not listed in the Constitution
 Judicial review is part of the Unwritten Constitution
Plessy v. Ferguson
 Plessy, a racially mixed man, sat in a railroad car where only whites were permitted
 He was arrested for violating a state law that provided “separate but equal”
facilities for non-whites
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Plessy said this law violated his “equal protection” rights under the 14th Amendment
In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation was
constitutional
The Supreme Court held that so long as a state provided “equal” facilities, it could
legally separate African Americans from whites
The decision allowed the continuation of “separate but equal” facilities - resulting in
whites and African Americans attending different schools, using different water
fountains, and bathing in different public beaches
State and local governments restricted the freedoms of African Americans
Tariff
 A tariff is a tax on imported goods
 A tariff raises the prices of foreign goods in the United States
 Since consumers prefer lower prices, a tariff discourages the consumption of foreign
goods
 A tariff encourages the consumption of domestic [Made in the USA] goods
 American manufacturers liked tariffs as tariffs increased the sale of their factory
goods
 Southerners dislike tariffs as they sold agricultural goods and not factory goods and
did not benefit from tariffs
 Alexander Hamilton urged Congress to pass a protective tariff to encourage the
growth of American manufacturing
President George Washington and Neutrality
 In George Washington’s Farewell Address, the President wrote, “Steer clear of
permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world”
 George Washington warned Americans of forming alliances
 As the nation was a new nation, it needed time to develop the nation and becoming
involved in foreign conflicts would take Americans from the business of building
America
 Yes, President George Washington pursued a foreign policy of neutrality during his
administration primarily because he believed that the United States needed time to
gain economic and military strength
 Becoming involved in Europe’s many conflicts would only weaken the United States
 George Washington gave his Farewell Address before leaving office
 In his Farewell Address, Washington warned against alliances, political parties, and
sectionalism
The Monroe Doctrine
 The nations of Central and South America gained independence from Spain and
Portugal in the early 1800s
 As Latin America is neighbor to the U.S.A., Americans feared that other European
nations might try to conquer their newly independent neighbors
 If their newly independent neighbors were conquered by new nations, the United
States might be in danger too
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Thus, the U.S.A. issued the Monroe Doctrine which stated that the Americas were
closed to future colonization
A major reason for the issuance of the Monroe Doctrine (1823) was to prevent
further European colonization in the Caribbean region
The Americas were closed to conquest
Causes of Sectional Conflict
 Sectionalism is loyalty to a region and not the nation
 In Sectionalism, a Southerner is loyal to the South and its way of life and a New
Englander is loyal to New England and its way of life
 Of course, one of the issues separating North and South was slavery
 The Southern economy depended on slave labor and the plantation economy
 The Northern economy did not depend on slave labor
 Thus, issues like Nullification crisis, Kansas-Nebraska Act, Dred Scott v. Sanford
and the Election of Lincoln (1860) are all causes of sectional conflict
 Nullification was the idea that a state could not obey a federal law – this idea of
nullification was popular in the South, particularly when Southerners threatened to
nullify a tariff
 Nullification supports the idea of states’ rights
 In the Kansas-Nebraska Act, citizens of territories becoming states were allowed to
vote to determine if they wanted states to be free or slave – popular sovereignty
 In Dred Scott v. Sanford, the Supreme Court ruled that a slave was property
 And the Election of Lincoln led to the start of the Civil War as South Carolina
seceded from the Union fearing that a Republican President would abolish slavery
Monopolies
 A 19th-century business practice was the creation of monopolies
 A monopoly occurs when a single seller dominates a market
 J.P. Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie were monopolists
 “The business of creating monopolies, crushing opposition...he made a bloody
fortune out of it.” ~ Senator Jay Rockefeller – great grandson of John D.
Rockefeller
 With his increased profits, Rockefeller, aged just 33, buys up his competitors, and
creates the country’s first monopoly
 He now controls 90% of the North American oil supply
 And his lawyers come up with the infamous “trust” solution
 “Holders of stock in the various oil companies handed over their shares to
Rockefeller and his associates acting as a board of trustees; in return they got ‘trust’
certificates which paid dividends but gave no power” ~ Hugh Brogan, Historian
 Yes, a monopolist uses unfair business practices to destroy competition, control or
dominate a market, and raise prices on consumers