Issues of the Gilded Age
Chapter 16
Page 519
Segregation and Social Tensions
Section 1
• Obj: Asses how whites created a segregated
society in the South and how AA’s responded
• Analyze efforts to limit immigration and the
effects
• Compare the situations of Mexican Americans
and of women to those other groups
A: AA’s lose Freedoms
• After reconstruction, AA’s would lose many
freedoms
• 1876, President Hayes removes troops from
the south
• Soon, southern gov’ts enact Jim Crow Lawskeep blacks segregated
• Loss of voting rights- 15th amendment
prohibited denying someone the right to vote
• South gets around this
– 1. Poll Tax
– 2. literacy tests
– 3. grandfather clauses
– 4. All white primaries
– 5. Violence
• Works- Black vote only 3%
B: Segregation Laws
• 1896- Supreme court rules “separate but
equal” Plessy v. Ferguson
• South passes all sorts of Jim Crow Laws
– Examples??
• North- de facto segregation- not in law but
still happens
C: Opposition
• Booker T. Washington- argued AA’s needed to
“accommodate themselves to segregation”
– Build resources, and demand equality later
– Established Tuskegee institute
• W.E.B. Du Bois- couldn’t disagree more. Must
seek equality now!!
• Ida B. Wells- crusade to end lynching
D: Other discriminated Groups
• 1. Chinese Americans- 1879 California passes
laws prohibiting hiring of Chinese
– Separate schools, Chinese attacked
– Chinese Exclusion Act- prohibited immigration
• 2. Mexican Americans- After treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, 4 out of 5 Mexicans
Americans lost their land to white settlers
• Courts sided with whites settlers in land
disputes
• Las Gorras Blancas- fight back, destroy fences
and property
– Take fight to labor unions
• 3. Women- help free slaves, but realize slaves
themselves
• Push for a constitutional amendment- right to
vote
• Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton –
formed National women’s suffrage association
• Tried to vote in 1872- arrested
• Four states would grant right to vote by 1906Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and Idaho
• Also fought for education and temperance
movement- WCTU
Political and Economic Change
Section 2
• During Gilded Age Political corruption ran wild
as politicians used positions to make money
and stay in power
• A. Power Stalemate
– 1877 to 1900- neither political party maintains
power
– Presidents weak and surrounded by political
scandal
• Rutherford B. Hayes- 1876
– Won on secret deal
• James Garfield- 1880
– shot
• Chester Author- 1881
• Grover Cleveland- 1884
• Benjamin Harrison- 1888
– Lost popular vote, won election
• Grover Cleland- 1892
– Only one seen as honest
B. Corruption in Politics
• Political Cartoonist brought attention to the
politics- most famous “the bosses of the
Senate”
• Most famous Boss- William Marcy Tweed- Ran
New York politics, eventually arrested, but
escaped to Spain
C. Spoils System
• First to use- Andrew Jackson
• Reward political supporters with government
jobs
• Most of the time, not qualified
• Ex. Postal service, thousands of jobs to
supporters
D. Reform
• Civil Service- gov’t jobs that serve peoplebecame very inefficient
• Chester Arthur signs Pendleton Civil Service
Act in 1883- created civil service commission
to test candidates for gov’t jobs
• Had to pass exam to get the job
E. Other Issues
• Gold Standard- gov’t backed money in gold
– Farmers want to add silver to circulation- increase
inflation
– Bankers and big business against
• Tariffs- Republicans want high tariffs,
Democrats want low tariffs
Why?
Farmers and Populism
Section 3
• A. Plight of the Farmer
– Life was already very difficult
– Prices of crops fall as more is produced
• Cotton 1870- 15cents, 1895 – 6 cents
– Cheaper to burn crops as fuel
– The more produced, the worst it got
B. Big Business Practices
• Railroad hurt farmers by over charging
• Banks, because of lack of currency, set interest
rates extremely high
• New presidents interested only in big business
C. Farmers Organize
• Oliver H. Kelly- created the Grange- union
calling for regulation of railroad and taught
new farming techniques
• Millions join
• Farmers Alliances replaces as Grange fades
– Formed coops
– Asked gov’t for low interest loans
D. Populist Party
• Created in 1892- People’s party
• Goals:
– Coinage of silver
– Gov’t ownership of railroad
– Women’s suffrage
• Tried to unite White and Black Farmers, but
Southerners would have no part
• Populist would be very successful in local and
state elections
E. WJB
• Populist try to unite farmers and industrial
workers
• William Jennings Bryan- Nebraskan, runs for
president under populist and democratic
nomination
• Gave the famous speech “Cross of Gold”
F. Election of 1896
• WJB against William McKinley
• WJB ran extensive campaign- toured nation
• McKinley didn’t leave Ohio: Back Porch
Candidate
• McKinley, backed by big business
G: Defeat
• McKinley won election
• Populist could not win urban workers
• Did lobby for 8 hour day, but minting silver
would hurt urban workers
• Populist would disappear after the election