THE GILDED AGE
Unit VA
AP United States History
Fundamental Question
► Was
the Gilded Age a “golden age” during
the years from 1877 to 1900?
The “New” South
► The
Compromise of 1877 withdrew federal
troops from former Confederate states,
ended Reconstruction with a promise of
development
► New vision
 From slave-dependency to self-sufficient and
diverse agricultural
 Industrialization and infrastructure
 Redemption…
Southern Agriculture
► Cotton
remained the dominant crop
 Cotton farms doubled
 Large supply of world’s cotton drove prices down
► Sharecropping
 50% white farmers and 75% black farmers
 Crop liens kept small farmers in constant debt
► Diversity
of crops
 Peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans
 Tobacco and cigarette companies
Southern Industry
► Growth
of cities in the South
 Textiles, steel, lumber, tobacco
► Industrialization
spearheaded by cheap
labor rates
► More railroads built and designed on
national standards
“Southern” Economy
► Northern
investment control and slow
progress kept the South poor
► Cheap labor wages and sharecropping
► Poor education attributed to Southern
poverty
Redemption
► Redeemers
pledged to rid Republican control and
enhance discrimination
 Hamburg Massacre
 Benjamin Tillman
 Origin of Bible Belt
► Supreme
Court Cases
 Civil Rights Cases of 1883
 Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
► Jim
Crow Laws and Disenfranchisement
 Segregated facilities and institutions
 Literacy tests, poll taxes, grandfather clauses, white
political primaries
Frontier Thesis
► Frederick
Jackson Turner in 1893
► The frontier defined the American identity
► It promoted independence and individualism unlike
European conformity and social structure
► The distinct American political society was a result
of surviving the frontier
► The edge of the frontier was the figurative border
of civilization and the wild
► The loss of the frontier could signal the beginning
of social conformity and rigidity
Settling the West
► Mining
Frontier
 Gold and silver strikes leading to boomtowns and states
 Employed foreign-born miners
► Cattle
Frontier
 Ranchers and cowboys
► Farming
Frontier
 Homestead Act of 1862; Land Rushes
 Barbed wire fenced off land
 Environmental impact
Manifest Destiny and the Natives
►
Most western tribes based on a nomadic lifestyle
► Reservations
► Indian Wars
 Theaters
 Sand Creek Massacre (1864)
 Little Big Horn (1876)
►
Assimilation
 Formal education and religious conversion
 A “white” education
►
Dawes Severalty Act (1887)
 Broke up tribal organizations; lands divided into 160 acre plots; citizenship grants;
disease, alcoholism, poverty, starvation
►
Ghost Dance Movement
 Wovoka’s attempt to drive the settlers out through circle dances and chants
►
Wounded Knee (1890)
 Massacre of Sioux men, women, and children signifying the end of the Indian Wars
Commercial Farming
►
Agriculture became commercialized on cash crops for national and
international markets
 From subsistence to market/stores
 Pushed out local/small farmers
►
►
Competition and overproduction lowered prices while input costs
increased
Organization of farmers against unfair practices
 National Grange Movement
►
►
►
Cooperatives
Granger laws
Munn v. Illinois (1877) allowed for regulation of businesses in public sector
 Interstate Commerce Act (1886)
►
Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), federal regulatory agency
 National Alliance and the Ocala Platform (1890)
►
►
Unity against corporations and monopolies
Favored direct election of Senators, lower tariffs, graduated income tax, federal
banking system
American Industrial Expansion
► With
the completion of Manifest Destiny
throughout continental U.S., the nation
encompassed near-perfect elements for massive
industrialization
► The timing of the Second Industrial Revolution
with innovation and technology
► Abundance of resources: coal, iron ore, copper,
timber, oil, etc.
► Abundance of labor: cheap labor, immigration,
growing population
► Investment from American and European capital
► Federal development of infrastructure (railroads);
land grants, subsidies, pro-business policies
► The rise of entrepreneurs and commercialism
Railroads Drive the Expansion
► 35,000
miles in 1865 to 193,000 in 1900
► Gauge standards connecting various local and
national lines
► Connection of rails to cities, water ports, market
centers, Atlantic to Pacific
 First Transcontinental Railroad (1869)
► Federal
land grants and subsidies
► Overexpansion and corruption led to
consolidation by business moguls
Expansion of Railroads
The Second Industrial Revolution
►
The Gilded Age owes its expansion and prosperity to the
technological innovations and efficiencies of the 2nd IR
► Iron ore to steel – Bessemer Process
► Electricity and petroleum fueled machines on assembly
lines and agricultural equipment
► Communication – telegraph lines all over the world and
Bell’s telephone
► Thomas Edison’s research labs, phonograph,
incandescent lamp, motion picture camera
► New consumer products led to brand names, chain stores,
catalogs, national advertising
Rise of American Barons
► Innovations
and resources along with limited
government regulation led to the rise of the robber
barons
► Andrew Carnegie: steel, vertical integration
► J.P. Morgan: U.S. Steel, banking/investment,
General Electric, corporate management and
restructuring
► John D. Rockefeller: Standard Oil Company
► Cornelius Vanderbilt, Jay Gould, Leland Stanford:
railroads
► Henry Flagler: Standard Oil Company, railroads
Robber Barons and Trusts
►
►
►
Limited government
regulation of business led
to the development of
trusts or monopolies
Corporate owners earned
enormous wealth through
shrewd and questionable
tactics
Sherman Antitrust Act
(1890)
 Prohibited trusts/monopolies
but lacked strong regulation
 United States v. E.C. Knight
Co. – regulation applied to
commerce and not
manufacturing
Gilded Age Socioeconomics
► By
1890s, 10% of Americans controlled 90%
of the nation’s wealth
► Socioeconomic gap extensively widened
► Horatio Alger Myth
► Corporations required
administrative/managerial labor ->
expansion of middle class/white-collar
workers
► Iron law of wages
Gilded Age Women
► 20%
of American women worked as wage earners
 Most single women; 5% married
 Low-income families required women in workplace
► Female-based
Jobs
 Typical home-associated industries: textiles, foods
 New types of jobs: secretaries, bookkeepers, typists,
communication operators
► Women
and feminized jobs considered low status
and low salaries
Unions vs. Management
►
►
►
►
Industrialization, mass
production, use of semiskilled
workers = devalued labor
Poor and dangerous working
conditions, immigrants, and
meager salaries = upset
workforce
Organized labor to appeal for
better conditions, higher
salaries, benefits
Union Methods: political action
and efficacy, strikes, picketing,
boycotts, slowdowns
►
►
►
►
Industrialization, mass
production, use of semiskilled
workers = increased profits
Poor and dangerous working
conditions, immigrants, and
meager salaries = increasing
profits and satisfied
management
Developed image of unions and
organized labor as unAmerican, socialist, anarchist
Management Methods: lockouts,
blacklists, yellow-dog contracts,
government/private force, court
injunctions
Timeline of Gilded Age Unions and Strikes
►
Local associations and guilds before the Gilded Age led to industry-specific unions in
local/state
► National Labor Union (1866) – first attempt of a national union of all workers


►
Great Railroad Strike of 1877


►
Carnegie and Frick used tactful negotiations to break unions
Lockouts and Pinkertons led to union breaking
Pullman Strike (1894)



►
Pursued more practical goals rather than reforms
Samuel Gompers and walkouts for collective bargaining
Homestead Strike (1892)


►
May Day celebration coupled with strike in Chicago led to police killing 4 people
Commemoration on May 4 led to bombing killing police officers and to a police riot
8 innocent anarchists tried and convicted in show trial and hanged
American Federation of Labor (AFL) (1886)


►
Members included women and blacks
Cooperatives, end child labor, anti-trusts
Preferred method of arbitration over strikes
Haymarket Bombing (May 4, 1888)



►
Wages cut to make up costs due to Panic of 1873
Federal troops used; unions lost support and popularity
Knights of Labor (1881)



►
Higher wages, 8-hour day (won for federal employees)
Women and black equality, monetary reform, cooperatives
Pullman wage cuts led to Eugene Debs to order boycotts of Pullman cars
Federal injunctions against workers led to arrest of Debs
In re Debs approved federal injunctions and weakened labor movements
By 1900 only 3% of workers belongs in unions
Gilded Age Demographics
►
U.S. Population Rates
 23.2 million in 1850
 76.2 million in 1900
►
Urbanization
 Population increasingly moving to
cities
 Economic opportunities with increased
industrialization
 Blacks increasingly moving to cities
 Increased infrastructure
►
►
Streetcars, bridges, subways
Skyscrapers, elevators, radiators
 Suburbs
 Urban reform developments
►
Immigration
 Population
►
►
16.2 million immigrants between 1850-1900
8.8 during 1901-1910
 Pushes
►
►
►
Mechanization removing jobs, esp. in rural
areas
Overpopulation
persecution
 Pulls
►
Political and economic freedoms and
opportunities
 Old Immigrants
►
Northern and Western Europe
 New Immigrants
►
Southern and Eastern Europe
 Unfriendly Environments
►
►
►
►
Chinese Exclusion Act (1882),
Naturalization Act (1906), etc.
Sociopolitical enemies
Ethnic neighborhoods
Machine Politics
Ellis Island
Gilded Age Reforms and Trends
►
►
►
►
►
►
►
Living and working conditions
across the U.S. inspired reform
movements
The results of unregulated business
practices and economics inspired
people to seek more influence by
the government and reforms
Settlement houses established by
idealistic middle-class reformers in
ethnic and poor neighborhoods
Christianity and Reform
Temperance Movement Builds
Regulating Morality
Gospel of Wealth
►
Educational Reforms
 Compulsory laws and
comprehensive curriculums
 Kindergarten
 Increase of colleges/universities
and development of liberal arts
curriculum
►
Social Sciences
 Scientific method applied to human
behavior
 Statistics, environment, legal
developments
►
Darwinism
 Natural selection and survival of the
fittest
 Applied to society – SOCIAL
DARWINISM
►
►
Economic perspective
Social perspective
Gilded Realism and Naturalism and
Pop Culture
►
Literature
 Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Jack London
►
Painting
 Winslow Homer, James McNeill Whistler, Mary Cassatt, George Bellows, Ashcan
School
►
Architecture
 Frank Lloyd Wright, Frederick Law Olmstead
►
Music
 John Philip Sousa – Stars and Stripes Forever
 Jazz and Scott Joplin – The Entertainer
►
Pop Culture


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Entertainment of large urban population
Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst
Vaudeville, circuses
Spectator sports dominated by men
Leisure sports distinguished by social class
Winslow Homer’s Breezing Up
George Bellow’s New York
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater
Gilded Age Politics
► Limited
government with strict interpretation
of laws and regulations
► Weak and near forgettable presidents
► Close elections between major parties led to
divided governments and high efficacy
► Campaigns run on regionalism
Democrats and Republicans
► Solid
South, Catholics,
Lutherans, Jews,
immigrants
 Bourbon Democrats
 Redeemers
► States’
rights and
laissez-faire
► Party
of Lincoln,
reformers, blacks,
WASPs, middle and
upper class
► American System-type
policies
► Stalwarts
► Halfbreeds
► Mugwumps
Civil Service Reform
► Patronage
dominated political appointments
► Corruption during Grant administration
called for reform
► Garfield’s assassination
► Pendleton Act (1881)
 Civil Service Commission
 Exams and campaign contributions
The Populist Movement
► Granger
Movement -> Farmers Alliance ->
Populist Movement -> People’s Party
► Coinage of silver, direct election of
Senators, graduated income tax, state laws
through referendums/initiatives, government
ownership of infrastructure, 8-hour workday
Silver vs. Gold
► Overproduction
led to decreased prices
therefore a call for increase in money supply
► Silver coinage would cause inflation
lessening farmer debt to banks
► Banks and businesses preferred gold
standard
► Sherman Silver Purchase Act (1890)
Tariffs and Silver Consequences
►
McKinley Tariff (1890)
 Rate would be 48%
 Passed as a compromise for Republican support of Sherman Silver
Purchase Act
►
Increase in silver led to silver dropping in value
 Trade silver for gold for value but led to decrease in gold reserve
►
►
High tariffs hurt farmers and foreign affairs
Panic of 1893
 Overspeculation and railroad failures along with stock market crash
 Silver Act repealed
 Government bailed out by J.P. Morgan
Election of 1892
Election of 1896
► Democrat




William Jennings Bryan
Depression hurt Democrats
Ran on pro-Populist platform and “free silver”
“Cross of Gold” speech
Populists endorsed him
► Republican
William McKinley
 Endorsed industry and tariffs
 Support from Mark Hanna and mass media
► Improved economy led to McKinley
► End of Populist movement
► End of Third Party System
win
Election of 1896